The Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission approved 21 bids to frack more than 15,000 acres of Ohio’s public land during Monday’s meeting. 

Nearly 13,000 of those acres are in Egypt Valley Wildlife Area in Belmont and Guernsey counties. The commission is required to pick the “highest and best bid” per Ohio law. 

There was no discussion for most of the bids or nominations. Commission Chair Theresa White did not take questions from the media after the meeting. 

These bids in Egypt Valley Wildlife Area were approved for fracking during Monday’s meeting: 

  • Oklahoma-based Gulfport Appalachia, LLC had the winning bid for 4,360 acres for $76,306,755 ($17,500/acre). There is an additional financial incentive of 7.5% of production. 

  • Oklahoma-based Ascent Resources – Utica, LLC had the winning bid for 366.495 acres for $4,583,752.97 ($12,507/acre). There is an additional financial incentive of 5.5% of production. 

  • Texas-based Grenadier Energy III, LLC had the winning bid for 3846.934 acres for $61,577,872.54 ($16,007/acre). There is an additional financial incentive of 7.5% of production. 

  • Grenadier Energy III, LLC had the winning bid for 2792.67745 acres for $44,702,387.94 ($16,007/acre). There is an additional financial incentive of 7.5% of production. 

  • Grenadier Energy III, LLC had the winning bid for 849.881 acres for $13,604,045.17 ($16,007/acre). There is an additional financial incentive of 7.5% of production. 

  • Grenadier Energy III, LLC had the winning bid for 746.85 acres for $11,954,827.95 ($16,007/acre). There is an additional financial incentive of 7.5% of production.

Fracking is the process of injecting liquid into the ground at a high pressure to extract oil or gas.

There were approximately 2,000 incidents associated with oil and gas wells in Ohio from 2015-2023, according to FracTracker Alliance — a nonprofit that collects data on fracking pipelines. 

There’s evidence that shows increased exposure to fracking impacts health, in particular children’s health, including low birth weight, preterm births, congenital anomalies, and asthma, according to Yale School of Medicine. 

Bids for about 1,840 acres in Jockey Hollow Wildlife Area in Harrison County were approved for fracking during Monday’s meeting: 

  • Gulfport Appalachia, LLC had the winning bid for 382.810 acres for $6,699,175 ($17,500/acre). There is an additional financial incentive of 7.5% of production. 

  • Ascent Resources had the winning bid for 1,460.559 acres for  $18,267,211.41 ($12,507/acre). There is an additional financial incentive of 5.5% of production.

West Virginia-based Infinity Natural Resources was awarded the bid to frack 513 acres in Salt Fork State Park in Guernsey County for $3,848,325 ($7,500/acre). There is an additional financial incentive of 7.5% of production. 

Texas-based EOG Resources Incorporated was awarded the bid to frack 6.8 acres at Noble Correctional Institution in Noble County. 

Gulfport Appalachia, LLC was approved to frack four bids, EOG Resources was approved to frack seven bids, Ascent Resources was approved to frack four bids, and Grenadier Energy III was approved to frack four bids. 

Each lease agreement includes a 12.5% royalty paid to the state based on production of oil and gas at that site, per state law, with an additional financial incentive paid by the winning bidder to the state, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. 

The lease bonuses for this round of nominations totals more than $241.2 million, according to ODNR. 

All but one bid was approved during Monday’s meeting. About six acres in Tuscarawas County along State Route 800 was the only bid that was not approved because the nominator withdrew the bid, so no valid bids were submitted, according to ODNR. 

The bidders now go through the regulatory and permitting process through the ODNR Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management, as required by law. 

Four different bid selections totaling more than 8,360 acres of land in Egypt Valley were denied to be frack — 5,439 acres, 1,285 acres, 777 acres, and 863 acres. 

“Those nominations included parcels that have already been bid out,” said ODNR spokesperson Andy Chow.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed a bill into law last week that would speed up the process to frack Ohio state parks and public lands. 

Ohio Senate Bill 219 was introduced by Ohio state Sen. Al Landis, R-Dover and it will give the Oil and Gas Land Management Commission 90 days to decide on a nomination to frack public land — half the amount of time they previously had.  

It will also require the commission to pick the “highest and best bid” within 60 days; currently there is no deadline. 

Advocates for protecting Ohio’s public lands from fracking booed and shouted their disapproval during the meeting: 

“No fracking our parks.” 

“Sounds like a rubber-stamping broken record to me.” 

“Hands off our land.” 

About a dozen people gathered outside the Ohio Department of Public Safety building before Monday’s meeting to protest fracking Ohio’s land. 

“Wake up, commissioners. We cannot give any more of our land to gas and oil,” said Judy Smucker, with Third Act Ohio.

“We care for the future of our children, and we will not give up. We have to follow the science, and unless someone like you, all of us cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better.” 

Randi Pokladnik lives about 20 minutes from Jockey Hollow and had a well pad less than a mile from her home during the fracking phase. 

“It was like living on an airport runway,” she said. “We couldn’t even talk to ourselves. My husband and I had to yell in the driveway when we were outside.” 

Terri Sabo lives outside the Salt Fork State Park. 

“Our lands are being destroyed by the oil and gas industry,” she said. “Our parks are being sold off to out-of-state companies from Texas, Oklahoma or West Virginia for the ‘best and highest bid,’ even if there is only one bid.” 

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This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.