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Kasich opposes fracking in state forests and parks
By Marc Kovac
COLUMBUS
Gov. John Kasich says he no longer supports horizontal hydraulic fracturing on state-owned parkland and forests, three years after he signed legislation allowing those activities.
“At this point, the governor doesn’t support fracking in state parks,” Rob Nichols, the governor’s spokesman, said in a released statement Wednesday. “We reserve the right to revisit that, but it’s not what he wants to do right now, and that’s been his position for the past year and a half.”
In June 2011, Kasich signed HB 133, creating a state oil- and gas-leasing commission to oversee the leasing of state-owned land for the exploration and production of oil and natural gas.
Supporters said the leases could provide millions of dollars for state projects and park improvements and cut fuel costs for Ohioans, particularly those living in eastern Ohio.
But opponents voiced concern about the environmental impacts of expanded drilling in general and fracking in particular.
Bethany McCorkle, an ODNR spokeswoman, said Wednesday that the state has not “agreed to or entered into any leases in our properties” for fracking-related activity.
Kasich’s statement Wednesday came after criticism of a draft plan for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to market certain state-owned land to fracking.
The documents, from 2012, note intentions to “exercise state-owned drilling rights” at Sunfish Creek State Forest in Monroe County, Wolf Run State Park in Noble County and Barkcamp State Park in Belmont County “in a way that maximizes benefits and safeguards for Ohioans, completely avoids park surface disturbance and minimizes forest surface disturbance.”
A section of the plan titled “Communication Problem to Solve” states that “an initiative to proactively open state park and forest land to horizontal drilling/hydraulic fracturing will be met with zealous resistance by environmental-activist opponents, who are skilled propagandists.”
ODNR and the governor’s office said it is not out of the ordinary for agencies to develop communications strategies for responding to criticism of policy decisions. ODNR also said the draft plan was never implemented.