To the editor:

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Oil and Gas Land Management Commission (OGLMC) signed away Ohio’s state parks on November 15; approving fracking leases on Salt Fork State Park, Zepernick Wildlife Area, and Valley Run Wildlife Area.

Ohio citizens submitted over 5000 comments alerting the OGLMC to peer-reviewed health and environmental studies. These were ignored. The commission also disregarded the nine criteria contained in the statue. They demonstrated their willingness to jeopardize the $12.5 billion that wildlife-based recreation contributed to Ohio’s economy in 2022.

After the announcement, Columbiana County Commissioner Mike Halleck was interviewed by Cory McCray of Channel 21 WFMJ about the leasing of 66 acres of Zepernick Wildlife Area. Halleck said “we welcome it, it’s being done safely.” But County Commissioner Halleck, as well as the OGLMC members Ryan Richardson, Stephen Buehrer, Matthew Warnock, Michael Wise, and Jim McGregor, did not consider the health and safety studies of fracking.

A July 2023 accident at a well pad in Columbiana caused methane gas to leak from the well head for over 28 hours, necessitating the evacuation of 450 people in a one-mile radius. A 2018 well explosion in Belmont County caused a 20-day gas leak. That accident is now considered “among the worst methane leaks in human history.”

Accident reports obtained from a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the ODNR illustrate that this industry is anything but safe. Just since 2018, the ODNR data has documented over 800 accidents considered serious enough to require inspectors, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, and hazmat intervention to remediate the sites.

The recently released report, “Compendium of Scientific, Medical, and Media Findings Demonstrating Risks and Harms of Fracking and Associated Gas and Oil Infrastructure, Ninth Edition, October 19, 2023” states, “Our examination uncovered no evidence that fracking can be practiced in a manner that does not threaten human health directly or without imperiling climate stability upon which human health depends.”

Fracking requires millions of gallons of water to frack just one well and produces millions of gallons of toxic waste water. Peer reviewed studies show that watersheds surrounding frack well pads test positive for radioactive substances.

Over 100 studies have documented nearly 200 chemical compounds in the air around fracking sites. Sixty-one of these chemicals are classified as hazardous air pollutants and some are known carcinogens. “Evidence shows that compressor stations along natural gas pipelines are sources of air pollutant exposures that may contribute to adverse human health outcomes.”

Commissioner Halleck said, “when it’s done, you’ll never know it was there.” I disagree. Fracking well pads and infrastructure require four to thirty acres of land. We are losing forest acreage to well pads, infrastructure, roads, and pipelines. Well pads are a major source of noise pollution and light pollution from flaring. Fracking has also been shown to induce seismic activity.

Commissioner Halleck also said, “get used to it, it’s gonna happen,” but do we want a toxic industry next door to a wildlife refuge? Let the ODNR know Ohio parks belong to us.

Randi Pokladnik,

Steering Committee of Save Ohio Parks,

Urichsville