This story was inspired by a reader question. To submit a question through our Open Source portal, follow this link. This story is Part III of a 3-part series. Part I published on Feb. 5 and Part III will publish on Feb. 6. House Bill 507 was approved by the Ohio Legislature in December and takes effect April 7. State senators Mark Romanchuk and Andrew Brenner and state representatives Darrell Kick and Marilyn John all voted in favor of the bill.
MANSFIELD — Annette McCormick has lived in a house on the edge of Malabar Farm for almost 40 years, but her love for the forest dates to childhood.
“We had friends with a great big farm with a giant woods on it,” she said. “I do a lot of hiking, especially in Mohican Forest on the mountain bike trails and the hiking trails.”
As an adult, McCormick has worked to preserve Ohio’s natural spaces through advocacy with the North Central Ohio Land Conservancy. She also gets involved with the dirty work — uprooting invasive species inside Mohican Forest and on her own wooded property.
“I’ve been involved many years with trying to stop the commercial logging at Mohican Forest, even issues at Malabar Farm, that go back to the early ’80s, late ’90s,” she said.
“Years ago, when they had a lot of logging planned, I got very involved in getting some of those logging contracts off the books.”
When McCormick heard a proposed bill might make it easier to drill for natural gas in state parks, she wasn’t happy.
House Bill 507 requires state agencies in Ohio to lease agency owned or controlled oil and gas resources for development. The Ohio Legislature passed the bill in December and Gov. Mike DeWine signed it on Jan. 6.
Nevertheless, state officials say the bill won’t allow for new surface-level drilling inside state parks. Stephanie O’Grady of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources said the bill only requires the state of Ohio to lease subsurface mineral rights.
“Neither H.B. 507 nor the (Oil and Gas Land Commission’s) nominating process permit the leasing of above-ground surface rights, but rather relate only to formations below state-owned and controlled lands,” O’Grady said.
Ohio Sen. Mark Romanchuk said the bill will allow for companies to drill horizontally into underground resources via a neighboring property.
“There’ll be no oil rigs or anything like that on state park property,” Romanchuk said. “If there’s any activity at all, it will be on adjacent property and it won’t be seen. You won’t know that it’s happening.”
McCormick said drilling on adjacent property could still have a negative impact. Nearby traffic could disturb wildlife. The drilling of new wells would cause air pollution. The tires on equipment driven from other parts of the state could be covered in seeds, bringing invasive species into the area.
Mostly, she worries about water quality. Natural gas production can also produce large volumes of contaminated water. If mismanaged, that fluid could contaminate the ground and water sources.
DeWine said in a statement that H.B. 507 does not fundamentally change the criteria and processes established by the Ohio General Assembly in 2011, which first established the policy of leasing mineral rights under state parks and lands.
“I am instructing the Director of the Department of Natural Resources to continue to follow the processes first established by the General Assembly in 2011 in this area,” DeWine wrote. “This includes continuing my administration’s policy of prohibiting any new surface use access in our state parks.”
It’s also worth noting that H.B. 507 requires state agencies to lease oil and gas formations only until ODNR’s oil and gas land management commission adopts rules managing the process.
An existing law requires those new rules to include a prohibition of surface level drilling unless the state agency chooses, at its discretion, to negotiate a separate agreement.
Romanchuk said its unlikely the commission or the governor’s office would ever permit surface level drilling in state parks.
“I’m not in favor of putting up an oil drilling rig in the middle of a state park,” he said. “I don’t see that ever happening.”
According to Romanchuk, the Ohio legislature decided in 2011 to allow drilling underneath state parks for the benefit of oil and gas production, but rules were never written to guide that process. He said the leasing requirement in H.B. 507 is designed to motivate the commission to establish more permanent rules.
“It doesn’t change anything. All it does is tell the executive branch get these rules written,” he said. “Then that requirement of having to absolutely approve every permit that might come across your desk goes away and the rules kick in.”
Romanchuk said any rules proposed by the oil and gas commission will have a public comment period and require final approval by state legislators.
