Once again, the Ohio legislature has gifted the oil and gas industry with an amendment stuffed into an unrelated bill during its last committee hearing of the lame duck session with no public notice or chance to comment -- this time extending leases to frack our public lands up to eight long years. And once again, Gov. Mike DeWine has signed such a bill against the wishes of Ohio citizens, of whom 98% commenting on fracking Salt Fork State Park were opposed.
Ohioans do not want to see our beloved state parks and wildlife areas turned into industrial zones by out-of-state corporations, ruining our beautiful natural spaces for oil and gas profits. We do not want to see our freshwater sold for one-third of one cent per gallon to the oil and gas industry, turned into toxic and radioactive waste by fracking, removed from the water cycle forever, and injected into wastewater wells where it can easily migrate.
Those who claim Ohio needs to generate more electricity to meet increased demand from data centers and other technology coming to the state are correct. But it cannot be met at the expense of our most precious public lands, less than 1 percent of all land in Ohio.
The risks of fracking our state parks and wildlife areas are too great. This is an industry with over 1,400 reported incidents – spills, leaks, fires, explosions, evacuations – over the last five years – an incident about every 1.5 days. Physicians for Social Responsibility has documented the health risks of fracking – asthma, strokes, cancers, leukemias – for over 11 years through an annual compendium of studies. Climate Trace has shown that Ohio’s fracking industry is a significant contributor to methane emissions that lead to climate disasters worldwide.
If legislators really wanted to create a more reliable grid, they could have passed several Republican-sponsored bills in the 135th General Assembly to do just that:
- HB 79 sponsored by Bill Seitz would have created a new energy efficiency program after HB 6 destroyed our old one in 2019.
- SB 275 sponsored by Matt Dolan would have set up a virtual net metering program for businesses to locate energy production on distressed lands
- HB 197 sponsored by James Hoops and Sharon Ray, and SB 247 sponsored by George Lang would have created a pilot community solar program
However, they chose to kill all those bills, instead extending frack leases on our parks and wildlife areas through a sneaky backroom maneuver that has become the go-to method for doing the bidding of their oil and gas donors – all against the express wishes of Ohio citizens who pay for, own, and use our public lands.
HB 308 is a slap in the face to everyone who wants clean air, clean water, truly clean energy, and pristine state parks and public lands for us, our children and grandchildren. Every single Ohioan should be outraged at this betrayal of the public trust. Gov. DeWine and each of the lawmakers who voted for this law ought to be ashamed. We’ll continue to fight them and urge all other Ohioans to join us as well.
