State officials Friday voted to open more than 8,700 acres of publicly owned land, including a state park and two wildlife preserves, to oil and gas developers for fracking. 

The Oil and Gas Land Management Commission unanimously decided to grant mineral rights to developers, whose identities are shielded for now by state law, for oil and gas beneath Salt Fork State Park, Egypt Valley Wildlife Area and Valley Run Wildlife Area, all along Ohio’s east flank. 

The decision makes Egypt Valley the largest fracking project on public lands, eclipsing Salt Fork State Park in Guernsey County. The five commissioners, all gubernatorial appointees, made their decision despite near-unanimous opposition from the public at its meeting Friday and in written comments submitted over the past few months. 

For instance, on the biggest proposal approved Friday, more than 275 written public commenters asked the OGLMC to reject the decision in Egypt Valley (near Salt Fork). Only one writer offered a supportive comment. 

Read more: See our past coverage on fracking in Ohio state wildlife areas.

“Each well pad uses millions of gallons of locally sourced water while also producing toxic waste that must be managed forever,” reads one boilerplate comment, which was repeated verbatim by dozens of environmental activists. 

“This waste poses the risk of ending up in our drinking water or on our dinner table. At the center of Egypt Valley is Piedmont Lake, a source of water for wildlife and destination for boaters and families. Putting Piedmont Lake at risk is unacceptable.”

For Salt Fork, the written comments were unanimous. 

The decision further colors in a picture of state officials aligning the use of public and private lands with conservative interests. Just this week, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (which includes the OGLMC) proposed a formal rule that would rename a state preserve as the “Trump Wildlife Area” while the Ohio Power Siting Board rejected a $98 million solar farm proposal due to political resistance from locally elected Republicans. 

Currently, the largest project approved by the commission opened 6,600 acres of Salt Fork State Park, not far from Egypt Valley, to Infinity Natural Resources of West Virginia. The company agreed to pay a $58 million signing bonus and 20% of future production revenue. 

At least 30% of revenue from any lease agreement must flow back into the state park or wildlife area at issue. The rest goes to Ohio’s general revenue fund. 

The commission has also voted to open 1,460 acres of Jockey Hollow Wildlife Area to fracking, plus smaller tracts of land at Leesville, Valley Run, Keen and Zepernick wildlife areas, all leased to out-of-state energy companies. Wildlife preserves are similar to state parks, but they’re more focused on conservation than recreation.

Egypt Valley sits on reclaimed land from strip mining, a coal extraction technique, during the mid- to late-20th century. The state has acquired the land via funds from the Wildlife Restoration Act, which uses tax money from guns and bullets to buy land for conservation purposes. The space is popular among hunters, and its ponds are stocked with bass, catfish, and bluegills, according to Belmont County. 

The current public lands leasing process began in 2011, when statehouse Republicans launched an effort to allow gas companies to tap into gas reserves below certain state lands. However, political resistance under the gubernatorial administrations of John Kasich and Mike DeWine, both Republicans, effectively blocked any leasing efforts. 

The legislature responded with legislation to forcibly revive the program in 2022, while also declaring that natural gas – the common term for methane, a climate-change-causing atmospheric heat-trapper – is a form of “green energy.”