State geologist demoted for excluding boss

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

Ohio’s state geologist has been demoted for failing to adequately vet with his supervisors work that included a new map of the Utica Shale formation rich with oil and gas.

Larry Wickstrom lost his position leading the Ohio Division of Geological Survey on May 9, according to Matt Eiselstein, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, which houses the division. Wickstrom, a nearly 30-year veteran of state service, remains a department employee.

A copy of Wickstrom’s quarterly review released by the department Wednesday says Wickstrom failed to meet repeated requests by his supervisors to notify and involve ODNR Director James Zehringer’s staff on “matters that would set or significantly impact state policy.”

His review says Wickstrom didn’t “follow explicit directions from the executive staff in how he administers” the division.

Kasich and other state policymakers are hinging much of Ohio’s job-growth strategy on the boon in shale-gas drilling. The industry has flooded the state in search of newly reachable wet gas, dry gas and oil deposits and is projected to create tens of thousands of jobs.

Kasich also is relying on a proposed severance tax on major oil and gas producers in Ohio to fund statewide income-tax relief over the next two or three years. Delivering such relief was a key promise of his 2010 campaign.

A message left for Wickstrom on Wednesday wasn’t immediately returned. His demotion and the contents of his review first were reported by The Athens News.

Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols said he does not comment on personnel matters.

The Wickstrom review, covering the period from Nov. 21 to April 12, cited three particular instances in which superiors believed the top geologist’s performance fell short — one involving a map Wickstrom developed “changing public perception” about the potential of Utica Shale in the state.

Wickstrom presented the map to the Ohio Oil & Gas Association’s annual meeting March 16 but did not share it with administrators at the Natural Resources Department until four days later, the review says.

The review said the division overseen by Wickstrom also lagged in informing the administration of a 12th earthquake in the Youngstown area that occurred in January.

Public concern over a series of earthquakes near a Youngstown deep- injection well that disposed of wastewater from hydraulic fracturing and other forms of drilling increased after back-to-back temblors on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. Kasich has imposed a moratorium on further injection drilling in the vicinity.

The subsequent quake occurred Jan. 13, a Friday, and was not reported to Wickstrom’s superiors until the following Tuesday, the review said. That Monday, Jan. 16, was a state holiday.

Ware said the department’s expectation was that such an earthquake would have been reported within an hour.

Wickstrom also was faulted in the review for leaving key officials, including ODNR’s chief legal counsel, out of the loop as legal action loomed over creation of an Ohio Rocks license plate. The plate contained a slogan copyrighted to a private individual. The review said Wickstrom didn’t mention the issue even as a bill creating the plate moved through the state Legislature and neared Kasich’s signature.