Jane Beathard

Primary lease periods for oil and gas drilling in state parks and wildlife areas were extended from three to five years following action by the Ohio Oil & Gas Land Management Commission at its May 5 meeting.
One-time lease extensions went from six to eight years and will require an additional bonus payment to the state. Commissioners were complying with legislation (HB308) recently passed by the Ohio General Assembly that permits lease extensions.

More than 62 acres of Leesville Wildlife Area in Carroll County is now open to possible fracking, following action by the Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission in late March.
Texas-based Encino Acquisition Partners submitted the only bid to extract minerals from beneath the parcel – located in Monroe Township, according to Theresa White, the commission’s chairman. That extraction will likely mean fracking – the controversial drilling method commonly used in Ohio.

Ohio’s ginseng dealers will face slightly tighter regulations if the state wildlife council approves new rules for buying the valuable plant. The vote will come at the council’s April 30 meeting.
Michele Horn, who oversees ginseng rule enforcement for the Ohio DNR Division of Wildlife, said the dozen new rules are more of an update to existing regulations. That update is based on an administrative review of the “Operation Root of All Evil” undercover ginseng investigation.

Save Ohio Parks, an organization that opposes fracking for oil and gas in state parks and wildlife areas, is leading a group of 30 environmental organizations in asking Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine to suspend that activity on public lands for the time being.
As of mid-March, 1,049 letters went to the governor’s office in support of suspension.