The Ohio Statehouse is in full swing, doing what it does best, which is to try to boost fracking of our beloved state parks, wildlife areas, and public lands. However, push back DOES work -- we've already gotten positive changes into one bill, and we need to keep pushing.

We need your help to call the legislators on two committees that are both hearing bills on Tuesday, April 8, at 9 a.m. Please try to make these calls on Sunday, April 6 (leave a message), or Monday, April 7. If you can't call all the legislators on each committee, just call the three legislators in each committee's leadership. If your own legislator is listed, it would be great to call them too. You can find your Senator here and find your Representative here.

House Bill 15, along with Senate Bill 2, is major legislation that will remake the energy landscape in Ohio for years to come. The good news is, both bills would repeal the remaining coal bailouts of 2019's House Bill 6, dubbed the worst energy legislation of the 21st century. The bad news is, both bills would expedite building gas plants across the state -- fueled with gas from fracking Ohio state parks and public lands.

House Bill 15 has passed the full House and is now in the Senate Energy Committee, which will meet on Tuesday, April 8, at 9 a.m. The House bill has better stipulations regarding review of proposed gas plants -- and we want the Senate Committee to keep the House language in place, not change it to the Senate language. We also want to make sure two new energy programs are included in the final bill.

That's where your phone calls come in. Please call members of the Senate Energy Committee on Sunday 4/6 (leave a message) or Monday 4/7.  A phone script and phone numbers are below. If you can't call them all, just call the three in the committee leadership: Sen. Brian Chavez, Sen. Al Landis, and Sen. Kent Smith. If your own legislator is listed, it would be great to call them too. You can find your Senator here and find your Representative here. You can also send an email, but phone calls are more powerful.

Here is a sample script (three asks):

Hello. My name is ____________, and I live at [full address if leaving a message]. I am calling about House Bill 15. I ask that you keep the 90-day accelerated review period at the Ohio Power Siting Board in the bill, and do not reduce that to 45 days. 45 days is not enough time to evaluate an application for a major gas plant. Please also keep the review time for all other applications to 180 days. Further, I ask that you retain the Community Energy Pilot Program that would allow people to subscribe to small generation facilities for their energy use. Finally, I ask that you convert the Solar Generation Fund, which HB 15 disbands, to the school loan fund for energy efficiency and renewable energy, as in Senate Bill 2. Thank you.

Here is the list of Senate Energy Committee members to contact:

Brian Chavez, chair (R) - (614) 466-6508; chavez@ohiosenate.gov
Al Landis, vice chair (R) – (614) 466-5838; landis@ohiosenate.gov
Kent Smith, ranking member (D) - (614) 466-4857; smith@ohiosenate.gov
Jerry Cirino (R) - (614) 644-7718; cirino@ohiosenate.gov
Bill DeMora (D) - (614) 466-4583; demora@ohiosenate.gov
George Lang (R) - (614) 466-8072; lang@ohiosenate.gov
Susan Manchester (R) - (614) 466-7584; manchester@ohiosenate.gov
Bill Reineke (SB2 sponsor) (R) - (614) 466-8049; reineke@ohiosenate.gov
Tim Schaffer (R) - (614) 466-8076; schaffer@ohiosenate.gov
Jane Timken (R) - (614) 466-0626; timken@ohiosenate.gov
Casey Weinstein (D) - (614) 466-7041; weinstein@ohiosenate.gov
Shane Wilken (R) - (614) 466-8156; wilkin@ohiosenate.gov

Need more information? Check out these resources:

• The good, the bad, and the ugly on Ohio’s long overdue energy legislation (Ohio Capital Journal, 3/19/25)
• Presentation on HB 15 and SB 2

House Bill 96 is the big budget bill that will determine the operating budget for Ohio in 2025 and 2026. This is a gargantuan bill that has already received dozens of testimonies during hearings in multiple committees, including the House Natural Resources Committee.

Unfortunately, the House Natural Resources Committee is chaired by Don Jones, who represents the area near Salt Fork State Park and strongly support fracking public lands.

While the bill was in the House Natural Resources Committee, Jones oversaw adding several terrible amendments including:

• Allowing oil and gas companies to extend leases to frack public lands for an additional five years
• Requiring the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to issue a permit to frack public lands within 30 days of the bid selection
• Prohibiting the Ohio Department of Natural Resources from charging any additional fees to oil and gas companies selected to frack public land

HB 96 will next be heard in the House Finance committee on Tuesday, April 8, at 9 a.m. Please call members of the House Finance Committee on Sunday 4/6 (leave a message) or Monday 4/7.  A phone script and phone numbers are below. If you can't call them all, just call the three in the committee leadership: Rep. Brian Stewart, Rep. Michael Dovilla, Ranking Member Bride Rose Sweeney. If your own legislator is listed, it would be great to call them too. You can find your Senator here and find your Representative here. You can also send an email, but phone calls are more powerful.

Here is a sample phone script:

Hello. My name is ____________, and I live at [full address if leaving a message]. I am calling about House Bill 96, the Ohio budget bill. Several amendments have been added to this bill that I strongly oppose and ask you to remove from the final bill. These amendments include allowing oil and gas companies to extend leases to frack public lands for another five years; requiring the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to issue a permit to frack public lands within 30 days of bid selection; and prohibiting ODNR from charging additional fees to oil and gas companies to frack public land. The vast majority of Ohioans do not want fracking at our state parks and wildlife areas at all -- much less for the oil companies fracking them to make extra profits. Please remove these amendments from the budget bill. Thank you.

Here is the list of House Finance Committee members to contact:

Brian Stewart, Chair (R) - (614) 466-1464; rep12@ohiohouse.gov
Michael Dovilla, Vice Chair (R) - (614) 466-4895; rep17@ohiohouse.gov
Bride Rose Sweeney, Ranking Member (D) - (614) 466-3350; rep16@ohiohouse.gov
Cindy Abrams (R) - (614) 466-9091; rep29@ohiohouse.gov
Rachel Baker (D) - (614) 644-6886; rep27@ohiohouse.gov
Adam Bird (R) - (614) 644-6034; rep63@ohiohouse.gov
Jamie Callender (R) - (614) 644-6074; rep57@ohiohouse.gov
Chris Glassburn (D) - (614) 466-3100; rep15@ohiohouse.gov
Michele Grim (D) - (614) 644-6017; rep43@ohiohouse.gov
Thomas Hall (R) - (614) 644-5094; rep46@ohiohouse.gov
Jim Hoops (R) - (614) 466-3760; rep81@ohiohouse.gov
Dani Isaacsohn (D) - (614) 466-5786; rep24@ohiohouse.gov
Dontavius Jarrells (D) - (614) 466-5343; rep01@ohiohouse.gov
Marilyn John (R) - (614) 466-5802; rep76@ohiohouse.gov
Mark Johnson (R) - (614) 644-7928; rep92@ohiohouse.gov
Don Jones (R) - (614) 644-8728; rep95@ohiohouse.gov
Gayle Manning (R) - (614) 644-5076; rep52@ohiohouse.gov
Beryl Brown Piccolantonio (D) - (614) 466-4847; rep04@ohiohouse.gov
Phil Plummer (R) - (614) 644-8051; rep39@ohiohouse.gov
Sharon Ray (R) - (614) 466-8140; rep66@ohiohouse.gov
Kevin Ritter (R) - (614) 466-2158; rep94@ohiohouse.gov
Phil Robinson (D) - (614) 644-6041; rep19@ohiohouse.gov
Bill Roemer (R) - (614) 644-5085; rep31@ohiohouse.gov
Jean Schmidt (R) - (614) 466-8134; rep62@ohiohouse.gov
Veronica Sims (D) - (614) 644-6037; rep33@ohiohouse.gov

Need more information? Check out these resources

• Synopsis of provisions in HB 96 related to Ohio Department of Natural Resources
• Testimony on HB 96 by ODNR Director Mary Mertz (look for Natural Resources Committee testimony on February 19)

If you really want to go the extra mile, you can submit testimony for these two committee hearings. Testimony can be written or in person, but in either case is due 24 hours in advance, which means it must be sent by 9 a.m. on Monday, April 7. That is tomorrow morning as of the date of this email.

• For House Bill 15, please submit any testimony online through the Senate Energy Committee website. You can upload your testimony here. We recommend testifying as an Interested Party, since we support some aspects of HB 15 but would like to see changes to other aspects of the bill. You can leave the organization field blank, as you will be representing yourself and not Save Ohio Parks (we have our own testimony).
   
• For House Bill 96, the budget bill, please submit any testimony by emailing it to the House Finance Committee Chair Brian Stewart at rep12@ohiohouse.gov. Please also fill out and include this witness form. Again, we recommend testifying as an Interested Party and leaving the Organization field blank, as you will be representing yourself.

Writing and submitting testimony is time consuming and often done with very little notice, so do not feel compelled to do this. But you can submit testimony if you like.

Thank you so much for your advocacy to protect Ohio state parks and public lands from oil and gas extraction. Given the makeup of this legislature, we have a steep uphill climb. But these committee members are not used to getting a lot of phone calls, so your call CAN make a difference. Keep calling for the sake of our state parks, wildlife areas, and public lands.