Speak up for state parks and public lands

On Monday, January 12, at 1 p.m., Ohio’s Oil and Gas Land Management Commission — the governor-appointed body in charge of decisions about fracking Ohio’s state parks and public lands — will hold a public hearing about changes to the standard form for leasing our lands to the oil and gas industry.

This is our chance to speak up for Ohio’s state parks, wildlife areas, and public lands. There are two ways you can let the commissioners know what you think:

• IN PERSON: Attend the public hearing at the Ohio Department of Public Safety Headquarters, Room 1110. 1970 W Broad St, Columbus, OH 43223. Save Ohio Parks board members and volunteers will be on site at noon. Register here
  
• IN WRITING: Send a written comment to Commission.Clerk@oglmc.ohio.gov

➡️ If there is any way you can make it to Columbus to give in-person testimony at the hearing, that is the most powerful way to participate. This will be the first time in three years we will be allowed to speak at a commission meeting, and we want to make the most of it.

➡️ If you can’t make it to the hearing in person (or even if you can), you can submit a written comment. These comments aren’t as powerful as being there, but they are still important. We’d like to get hundreds of written comments.

Topic of the January 12 hearing

The commission called the public hearing on January 12 to consider increasing the lease term for oil and gas companies to frack public land from three to five years. This change to the standard lease is required by HB 308, which passed in 2024. There’s not much we can do about that — but we can and should tell them what we think.

Two more years of fracking our state parks and public lands means:

• More toxic air pollution that kills wildlife and harms human health
• Billions more gallons of toxic, radioactive frack wastewater that will be injected underground.
• Thousands more truck trips hauling fracking chemicals and waste with no PPE for drivers
• More fossil fuel extraction from Appalachian Ohio, already a sacrifice zone for decades
• More money into the pockets of out-of-state fracking companies from fracked communities

So far this commission has approved fracking of Salt Fork State Park, six wildlife areas, and 14 rights-of-way along highways.

We have also just learned that after the public hearing the commission will hold a second “business meeting” to consider nominations for a long list of public lands, including Leesville Wildlife Area, Egypt Valley Wildlife Area, Jockey Hollow Wildlife Area, Noble Correctional Institute, and 14 more highway rights of way.

These lands belong to all Ohioans, yet until now we have been denied the right to speak at the meetings where decisions about what happens to our public lands are made. We must let them know on the record that the people own own these lands do not want them to be fracked.

How to participate

If you are not sure what to say in your testimony — in person or written — you can attend our testimony training workshop on Thursday, January 8, at 4:30 p.m. Register here

Need a ride to the hearing on January 12? Can you offer a ride? Sign up on our carpool board

Looking for a sample comment? Here’s ours — but please personalize this to explain why protecting our state parks and public lands matters to you. Then send your comment to Commission.Clerk@oglmc.ohio.gov

Members of the Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission,

My name is [Your Name] and I live in [Your City and State]. I am writing to comment on the standard lease adoption under Rule Number 1501:155-1-01. This change to the standard lease form would increase the initial lease term for oil and gas companies that want to frack public land from three to five years.

I oppose any lengthening of the standard lease term for fracking public lands because I do not believe public lands — owned by the citizens of Ohio who pay for and use them — should be fracked.

So far your commission has leased for fracking thousands of acres of Salt Fork State Park, Valley Run Wildlife Area, Zepernick Wildlife Area, Keen Wildlife Area, Egypt Valley Wildlife Area, Leesville Wildlife Area, Jockey Hollow Wildlife Area, and 14 highway rights of way.

I oppose extending the terms of fracking leases for two additional years because:

– Fracking creates toxic air pollution that kills wildlife and harms human health. Studies show that people who live near or often visit fracking areas have higher rates of asthma, heart disease, strokes, and cancer.

– Each frack well takes millions of gallons of our fresh water, laces it with toxic chemicals, and injects it at high pressure underground. When it comes back up, it brings back radioactive elements and must be disposed of forever. All this water can never be part of the water cycle again.

– Each frack pad requires hundreds of trips by heavy trucks on rural roads to bring in water, sand, and chemicals, and take out toxic radioactive waste — yet drivers are not told what they are hauling or given PPE.

– Research shows the most fracked counties in Ohio are not benefitting economically — they are losing jobs and population, while the money leaves the state. Appalachia is still treated as a sacrifice zone.

If you want to change the standard lease form, here are some changes you could make:
– Charge a higher severance fee for oil and gas extraction. Ohio has some of the lowest rates in the country.
– Charge a higher fee for water withdrawals. Ohio’s rate of $3 per 1000 gallons is among the lowest nationwide. Our fresh water is a precious resource and should be treated as such.
– Require not just vertical well owners but also horizontal well owners to pay into the Oil and Gas Well Fund to plug orphan wells.

Thank you for taking my testimony today. I also ask that you start allowing Ohio citizens who own our public lands to speak in all of your meetings. We deserve a voice in any decisions about our public lands.

Thank you from current and future generations for speaking out for Ohio’s state parks, wildlife areas, and public lands. These lands belong to us, and they need to be protected.