|
Columbus
Dispatch...
Bill would allow
drilling in state parks
Money could help maintain parks, lakes amid tight budget
Friday, March 4, 2011
By Spencer Hunt
State lawmakers will debate again opening Ohio’s parks, forests and
wildlife areas to oil and gas companies.
A House bill introduced this week would create a panel that could open
any state-owned land for oil and gas exploration to the highest bidder.
The governor would appoint the five panel members.
State Rep. John Adams, a Republican from Sidney and the bill’s sponsor,
said drilling can be done safely and help erase a projected $8billion
budget deficit and reduce a $560 million backlog of overdue repairs at
state parks.
“We don’t have the resources to keep our parks and our lakes up to the
standards that the citizens of Ohio want,” Adams said. “I think this is
the best way to go.”
Oil and gas industry officials have tried for years to gain access to
the 600,000 acres that make up Ohio’s state parks, forests and
preserves. Past attempts failed under opposition from environmental
groups and Ohio Department of Natural Resources officials.
Gov. John Kasich said he supports drilling in state parks during a Dec.
30 news conference in which he named David Mustine director of Natural
Resources.
Mustine, who led a United Arab Emirates oil and gas company before
taking this job, said in January that he is open to the idea.
Environmental groups remain opposed.
“The people of Ohio were promised their parks would always be
preserved,” said Jack Shaner, lobbyist with the Ohio Environmental
Council. Shaner said he thinks there’s now more support in the
legislature for drilling on state lands.
“I don’t think one consumer expects the price of oil and gas will drop
one penny if ‘drill baby drill’ becomes the state motto,” Shaner said.
Oil and gas industry officials say growing interest in drilling Ohio’s
Utica shale could become a big source of revenue for the state.
Buried thousands of feet underground, the shale can be tapped using a
drilling technique that uses pressurized water and chemicals to break
up the oil- and gas-bearing rock.
The practice, which already has generated large quantities of gas from
Pennsylvania shale fields, has created a new land rush in eastern Ohio,
with energy companies offering to buy mineral rights for as much as
$1,500 an acre on land that used to command $8 an acre.
Tom Stewart, vice president of the Ohio Oil and Gas Association, said
Ohio officials could see similar profits.
“It’s staggering what people are paying to acquire the rights,” Stewart
said. “The only people that aren’t benefiting from this is the state of
Ohio.”
But the method of drilling, called fracking, also generates millions of
gallons of wastewater laced with toxic metals and industrial chemicals.
The state of New York put a moratorium on such drilling while it
examines claims that the drilling waste threatens drinking water.
Neither Stewart nor Adams would offer an estimate for how much money
the state would make. It’s also not clear if Natural Resources
officials support Adams’ bill.
Laura Jones, an agency spokeswoman, said Natural Resources might offer
its own drilling plan as part of Kasich’s budget proposal.
“We do have people that handle the leasing of our lands,” Jones said.
“We have that expertise.”
Read it at the Columbus Dispatch
|
|
|
|
