Save Ohio Parks volunteers across Ohio are distributing literature outside theatres and museums to educate Ohioans that pristine state parks featured in a new docu IMAX film are at risk of being despoiled if Ohio public lands continue to be fracked for natural gas.
The nonprofit has already hand-distributed brochures to hundreds of people across the state, including to many planning to view the new Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) docu film, “Wild at Heart.” The film promotes Ohio’s state parks and includes scenes from these state parks: Hocking Hills; Kelley’s Island; Magee Marsh; John Bryan; Mohican; Punderson; and Shawnee.
“We love our Ohio state parks,” said Anne Sparks, board member at Save Ohio Parks. “That’s why we need to protect them. Fracking pollutes our air and increases the risk for cancer and other illnesses. It depletes and contaminates our fresh water; destroys biodiversity; and heats the planet.”
Proposed House Bill 399, sponsored by Reps. Tristan Rader (D- Lakewood) and Christine Cockley (D- Columbus), would ban fracking state parks and Lake Erie. The bill needs a second hearing before the Ohio Natural Resources Committee, where testimony from citizens, experts, and stakeholders can be presented before it proceeds to the Ohio Senate.
Rep. Monica Blasdel (R-New Waterford), whose Columbiana County 79th district is located in East Palestine, Ohio, chairs the committee.
In 2023, a Norfolk Southern train derailment and vinyl chloride chemical explosion in East Palestine caused the deaths of seven people, including a newborn baby, and the evacuation of 2,000 residents. Many people there still suffer from anxiety and breathing-related issues from smoke, soil contamination and chemical emission exposure.
Natural gas fracking releases methane gas, which is 80 times more potent at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. It accelerates climate change. Young children who live with a mile of a fracking well pad experience rare cancers five to seven times higher than people who live further away.
Methane gas emissions from oil and gas production also increase adult cancers, asthmas, COPD, infertility, low thyroid, hormone disruption, pre-term births, and low birth-weights.
Save Ohio Parks either hosted or plans education events for theatres where the film will be shown in Toledo, Dayton, Cincinnati, Columbus, and Cleveland.
Save Ohio Parks and a coalition of 30 environmental organization members asked Gov. Mike DeWine last February to declare a moratorium on all bids, nominations, leases, and permits to frack under Ohio state parks and public lands. He has not responded.
In industrialized Ohio, half of our homes already suffer from among the highest radon levels in the nation, with more than 2,500 Ohioans dying of lung cancer each year.
Additionally, if Ohio’s proposed Artificial Intelligence data centers are powered by natural gas, not only would fracking be locked in in Ohio, but residents living close to centers would also experience similar diseases caused from increased methane gas emissions.
“It’s clear Ohio lawmakers have not considered negative health, environmental and planet-warming harms of continuing to embrace a fossil fuels energy policy,” said Sparks. “We have the technology available today to power much of Ohio with cheap, reliable and emissions-free renewable energy like wind and solar. There is no need for the state to frack our state parks and public lands.”
Save Ohio Parks offers virtual and in-person community presentations on the facts about fracking. Visit https://www.saveohioparks.org or email hello@saveohioparks.org for more information.
