A fracking company seeking oil and gas deposits deep underground asked Ohio officials Monday to open 1,460 acres of Jockey Hollow Wildlife Area in Belmont County for drilling and extraction.
If granted by the Oil and Gas Land Management Commission – a panel of gubernatorial appointees – this fracking operation would become one of the biggest on preserved lands since Republican lawmakers effectively launched the legal process for the state to lease its property to the oil and gas industry in 2023.
Jockey Hollow spans 3,469 acres of rolling terrain in eastern Ohio, popular among hunters, hikers and fishers. Some 1,500 acres of it were surface-mined for coal in the 1950s and ‘60s. However, those permits have since been retired, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, and the lands were opened for public use in 2012. The site is about a 40-minute drive from Wheeling, West Virginia.
The specter of opening the preserve follows a pattern at the state and federal level of government seeking to open public lands – preserved for conservation purposes – to the oil and gas industry. This includes Ohio’s own Wayne National Forest, where federal officials have advanced a plan to open 40,000 acres of the forest to fossil fuel developers.
The request Monday begins a public comment period. From there, the commission decides whether to open a given plot of land – usually a state-owned park, wildlife area or roadway – and picks a winning bidder.
Since Gov. Mike DeWine signed the public lands leasing program into law, the state has leased 6,600 acres of Salt Fork State Park to Infinity Natural Resources, a West Virginia company. Infinity paid more than $58 million at signing and will pay a 20% royalty to the state once the wells go into production.
DeWine has said his administration would not allow surface-level interruptions on state property. Instead, drillers must start from a well pad on adjacent property and drill thousands of feet below ground before reaching over laterally. However, future governors would not be bound to DeWine’s position.
Democrats, who wield little power in the statehouse, tried to stop the legislation, arguing that the industrial process of drilling thousands of feet into the earth for mineral extraction offends the basic principles of land conservation.
Jockey Hollow would be among the biggest state oil and gas leases
Pending the whims of the commission, Jockey Hollow would be the second or third largest land lease to the oil and gas industry.
The commission is soon set to rule on another application to open a 4,360-acre tract of Egypt Valley Wildlife Area (just a few miles from Jockey Hollow) to oil and gas development.
It has previously opened smaller tracts of land at Valley Run Wildlife Area, Leesville Wildlife Area, Keen Wildlife Area, and Zepernick Wildlife Area to industry developers.
The Oil and Gas Land Management Commission also previously considered opening 383 acres of Jockey Hollow. However, they haven’t yet ruled on the application.
State law shields the identity of the entity asking that land be opened for extraction purposes until the commission selects a bidder.
As has proven customary for such applications, public comments about the smaller Jockey Hollow request have been overwhelmingly, if not entirely, opposed to the idea of fracking public lands.
The Sierra Club, an environmental advocacy organization, argued the state’s leasing decision would worsen air pollution, interfere with the public’s access to pristine and peaceful wildlife, and worsen climate change amid an era of unprecedented planetary heat and extreme weather events.
Members of the public made similar comments.
“No fracking should be allowed in or near Jockey Hollow,” wrote Sue Stromberg. “Public spaces should not be sacrificed for corporate gain.”