Press Releases
Quail Hollow Fracking Event
Monday, 22 October 2012

For Immediate Release                                                                                   October 22, 2012

 

Concerned Citizens Gather at Ohio’s First Fracked Park

 

Coalition to Protect Ohio’s Parks (CPOP)

 

 

quail_hollow_019

 

 

Contacts:

John Makley, Mohican Advocates, 419-709-6461, john@mohicanadvocates.org

Nathan Johnson, Buckeye Forest Council, 614-949-6622, nathan@buckeyeforestcouncil.org

 

(Hartville, Ohio) – On Sunday, more than 50 concerned citizens converged at Quail Hollow State Park to protest the leasing and fracking of the park through a controversial legal maneuver known as “unitization.” The event, which included a hike and discussion forum, was led by the green groups Buckeye Forest Council, Ohio Environmental Council, the Sierra Club of Ohio, and Mohican Advocates.

 

Unitization is a decades-old, almost never-used Ohio law that allows oil and gas companies to force unwilling property owners to surrender their land to drilling and fracking. “The Quail Hollow unitization essentially forced every citizen in Ohio to surrender their land,” said John Makley of Mohican Advocates.

 

“The public had no say in the process,” said Melanie Houston, Director of Environmental Policy & Environmental Health for the Ohio Environmental Council. The state legislature opened Ohio’s parks to fracking in the summer of 2011, provided that any park land at issue go through public comment and a formal review and nomination process.  However, Chesapeake’s special unitization order allowed the company to avoid the public input and review process. “The unitization of Quail Hollow shut out the public from the opportunity to have full knowledge of and comment on this use of their publicly-owned resource,” Houston stated.

 

“Ohio’s unitization law was passed decades ago to resolve disputes between oil and gas companies and was not intended to be a back door into the public’s parks,” said Nathan Johnson, Staff Attorney for the Buckeye Forest Council. Until the shale rush hit, the law was largely forgotten and almost never used. “The oil and gas industry has rediscovered unitization as a tool to take what it wants from an unwilling public,” added Johnson.

 

“Shockingly, the only legal rationale for unitization is more money for the oil and gas industry,” said Johnson. Oil and gas companies can legally force unitization if doing so is deemed “reasonably necessary” to “substantially” increase their profits.

 

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) issued a unitization order on July 10th of this year that enabled Chesapeake Energy to force-pool a 4-acre portion of the park along with land held by 23 property owners who refused to sign a lease with the company.

 

“The idea that Chesapeake needed Quail Hollow to substantially increase its profits is not acceptable – the 4 unitized acres of the park are at the extreme southeastern-most tip of a 959-acre drilling unit,” said Loraine McCosker, Co-Chair of the Forests and Public Lands Committee of the Ohio Sierra Club. “ODNR’s irrational decision makes the agency partly responsible for this betrayal of the public trust,” added McCosker.

 

“Our walk today in the woods of Quail Hollow State Park showed us the beauty that inspired the idea of setting aside land to serve as reservoirs of Ohio's natural heritage for all Ohioans to enjoy,” said John Makley of Mohican Advocates. “The idea of exploiting that land for short-term gain serves only to fill the pockets of the few at the expense of the many for generations to come,” added Makley.

 

The Coalition to Protect Ohio's Parks (CPOP) envisions an Ohio where our state parks and public forests are forever kept as places free from industrial development so that they may continue to serve as reservoirs of biodiversity, natural beauty, and recreational opportunities.

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WNF Fails on Fracking
Monday, 27 August 2012
Contact:
Nathan Johnson, Staff Attorney, Buckeye Forest Council, 614-949-6622, nathan@buckeyeforestcouncil.org

Heather Cantino, Athens County Fracking Action Network, 740-591-6632, heather.cantino@gmail.com

For Immediate Release - August 27, 2012


Wayne National Forest Fails on Fracking


Today, the Wayne National Forest (WNF) announced that it will not revise its 2006 forest plan to account for the new wave of high-volume horizontal fracking (HVHF) taking place in Ohio.

“The Wayne’s decision is extremely disappointing,” said Nathan Johnson, staff attorney for the Buckeye Forest Council.

“The Wayne is relying on an outdated 2006 plan and environmental study to justify future horizontal leasing. Neither the 2006 plan nor its accompanying environmental study considered the potential impacts that high-volume fracking brings with it,” added Johnson.

“We believe the Wayne is violating federal law by failing to update their 2006 study and plan, and litigation is a distinct possibility,” said Johnson.

“Federal law requires the Forest Service to conduct a new environmental study and update their plan whenever ‘significant new circumstances or information’ arise. High volume horizontal fracking is clearly a significant new circumstance demanding study and additional protections.”

“Water and air quality and the health of the forest, of wildlife, and of residents in the region are at stake.”

The footprint associated with HVHHF dwarfs that associated with conventional oil and gas development. “Greatly increased surface disturbance, water withdrawals, chemical usage volumes, wastewater volumes, waste solids generation, air impacts, and truck traffic are some of the concerns,” said Johnson. For example, the fracking of 7 HVHF wells on one well pad creates an amount of toxic waste fluid equivalent to that from 1,000 traditional wells.

Today’s report marks the end of an informal review the Wayne began last fall after pulling a proposed lease sale of 3,302 acres. The sale was cancelled in response to protests filed by several environmental groups and concerned individuals, Athens City Council, Athens County Commissioners, Ohio University, and the Burr Oak Regional Water District. The protests highlighted the fact that the Wayne had failed to consider HVHF prior to offering the leases at issue.

"The decision made by WNF Supervisor Anne Carey ignores the overwhelming evidence painstakingly provided to her by the community over the past eleven months of the highly significant impacts of fracking when compared to impacts from vertical wells," said Heather Cantino, Buckeye Forest Council Board Chair and Athens County Fracking Action Network member.

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MWCD Halts Water Sales
Thursday, 07 June 2012
For Immediate Release June 7, 2012

Contact: Lea Harper, Southeast Ohio Alliance to Save Our Water
Email: wewantcleanwater@gmail.com
Phone: 419-450-7042

Contact: Nathan Johnson,BFC Staff Attorney
Email: nathan@buckeyeforestcouncil.org
Office: 614-487-9290
Cell: 614-949-6622

For Immediate Release

Muskingum Water Conservancy District Halts Water Sales to Fracking Industry
The Muskingum Water Conservancy District (MWCD) announced today that it is halting water sales to the oil and gas industry pending the completion of a U.S. Geological Survey water availability study and the revision of its water supply policy.

The District cited concerns presented by members of the public and environmental groups as reason for the announcement.

The District’s announcement follows a Saturday, June 2nd rally and protest on the steps of the Tuscarawas County Courthouse in New Philadelphia, Ohio. At the rally led by the Southeast Alliance to Save Our Water and the Buckeye Forest Council, concerned citizens came out in force to protest a potential decision by the District to sell millions of gallons of public water to fracking operations.

The rally coincided with the annual meeting of the District’s Conservancy Court, a panel of 18 judges (one from each county in the district) whose mission includes reviewing and approving or denying proposed District water sales.

Several concerned citizens and green groups testified before the Conservancy Court to express their opposition to large-scale, fracking-related water sales, including Lea Harper, District resident and founding member of Southeast Ohio Alliance to Save Our Water; Nathan Johnson, Staff Attorney for the Buckeye Forest Council; Loraine McCosker of the Sierra Club Ohio Chapter; Melanie Houston, Director of Water Policy & Environmental Health at the Ohio Environmental Council;Alison Auciello of Food & Water Watch; and John Makley of Mohican Advocates.

“I would like to extend our sincere gratitude to the MWCD for listening to our serious concerns and for being willing to allow more public input,” said Lea Harper. “I believe this is also another good sign that progress can be made for the sake of public benefit and the long-term preservation of precious natural resources if people continue to rally together and collaborate on this important issue of unconventional shale drilling and massive water withdrawals. We at Southeast Ohio Alliance to Save Our Water will continue to do our own analysis of large water withdrawals and their potential impacts in the state. We will await the results of the proposed changes to policy and go from there. This is certainly a good day in the Muskingum Watershed!”

Harper added, “I would also like to say that we don't think this would have happened without the support of individuals travelling from all over the state to attend the rally last Saturday, and the environmental organizations who were there, too.”

“We are glad the Conservancy District listened to the concerns of the public in making its decision to suspend water sales to fracking operations,” said Johnson. “We hope the district will include the public as they consider and formulate a new water sales policy.” "The sale of millions to potentially billions of gallons from the district to fracking operations could result in a host of serious environmental impacts. All of these impacts demand close study before a new water policy is approved."
 
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