[Green] Fwd: They want to frack our Ohio state parks - here's what you can do to help

[anne sparks]

George, I want to make sure you all received this.
Anne Sparks

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Cathy Cowan Becker <cathy.becker at benohio.org>
Date: Sat, Apr 1, 2023 at 2:42 PM
Subject: They want to frack our Ohio state parks - here's what you can do
to help
To: Cathy Cowan Becker <cathy.becker at benohio.org>


Dear Friends of Buckeye Environmental Network,

First, I'd like to introduce myself as a new organizer with Buckeye
Environmental Network. My name is Cathy Cowan Becker, and I am working on
two major campaigns: public lands and pyrolysis. This message concerns the
public lands campaign.

*Right now our public lands are under attack*

As many of you know, last December the Ohio state legislature rushed
through HB 507, also known as the "stuffed chicken bill."

They took a bill about poultry sales and stuffed it with amendments that
declared gas to be green and directed state agencies that manage our public
land -- state parks, state forests, wildlife areas, college campuses,
historical sites, and highway rest stops -- that if an oil and gas company
wants to frack on that land, the agency must allow it (the "shall lease"
clause).

Since then, the Oil and Gas Land Management Commission has drafted rules
and a lease form for oil and gas companies to use in applying to lease
public land for fracking. Those items are making their way through the
administrative approval process, but will not be in place before late May
-- while HB 507 and its "shall lease" clause go into effect on April 7.

So starting April 7 -- *THIS FRIDAY* -- until the commission's procedure is
in place, oil and gas corporations can go directly to state agencies, with
no public notice or comment, and demand that they be allowed to frack
public land -- and the agency will have to let them.

We know oil and gas companies have had their eyes on our state parks for
over a decade, and are now circling parks and forests in the shale play
<https://www.cleveland.com/open/2023/03/the-next-fracking-frontier-gas-drillers-circling-ohios-state-parks-after-state-law-change.html>
to begin fracking as soon as possible, with no public notice or chance to
comment. And we need your help to stop it.

*Here's what you can do to help*

Since January, a group of concerted advocates has been meeting to push back
against this open raid on our public land. We rounded up over 750 comments
to the Oil and Gas Land Management Commission, as well as 15 people to
testify in person at their February 1 meeting. Thank you very much if you
were someone who sent in a comment and/or testified.

Now we have two more asks.

*Petition to DeWine*

*First, please SIGN and SHARE our petition to Gov. Mike DeWine
<https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/tell-mike-dewine-to-protect-ohios-public-lands-from-oil-and-gas-extraction>.*
In signing HB 507, DeWine issued a statement directing ODNR not to allow
"surface impacts" -- frack rigs, pipelines, access roads, timber removal,
water use, and the like -- in our state parks. Yet the lease form tells oil
and gas companies that if they want these surface impacts, they can make a
"separate agreement" with the state agency, and get them with no public
notice or comment.

*We need your signature to tell DeWine to keep his promise to protect our
state parks. Please sign and share our petition here:
http://bit.ly/nofrackdewine <http://bit.ly/nofrackdewine>*

If you like, you can use our Sharing Tool Kit
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xXtdmm3uZFNXIA975kD2YqHLvEOhV91hWeSjTSwon5I/edit?usp=sharing>
to find sample emails and social media posts.

*ODNR public hearing*

*Second, ODNR will be holding another public hearing about oil and gas
extraction from our public lands, and we need you to testify. *

The hearing will be Monday, April 10, at 10 a.m. at the Ohio Department of
Natural Resources headquarters, Building E Assembly Center, 2045 Morse
Road, Columbus, OH.

According to the hearing announcement
<https://ohiodnr.gov/static/documents/oil-gas/lm_commission/JCARR-Public-Hearing-Notice.pdf>,
any person affected by the proposed rule changes may present their comments
by attending the public hearing or may email comments for inclusion in the
hearing record to Commission.Clerk at oglmc.ohio.gov.

*This Wednesday, April 5, at 7 p.m., we will offer testimony training to
provide you with talking points and instructions. *


*Sign up here to get the zoom
link: https://actionnetwork.org/events/testimony-training-for-odnr-hearing-on-oil-and-gas-extraction-from-ohio-public-lands/
<https://actionnetwork.org/events/testimony-training-for-odnr-hearing-on-oil-and-gas-extraction-from-ohio-public-lands/>*

We have tried valiantly, and will keep trying, to get ODNR to add a virtual
option for this hearing, so people do not have to travel to Columbus to
give testimony. But as of now, they are telling us there is no virtual
option and that you must either be there in person to testify, or you can
send in a written comment. We will keep you posted if a virtual option
becomes available.

*Thank you so much for your commitment to protecting Ohio's public lands.
Please help by signing our petition
<https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/tell-mike-dewine-to-protect-ohios-public-lands-from-oil-and-gas-extraction>
demanding that DeWine keep his promise, and by submitting testimony for the
April 10 hearing at ODNR - we can train you on Wednesday, April 5
<https://actionnetwork.org/events/testimony-training-for-odnr-hearing-on-oil-and-gas-extraction-from-ohio-public-lands/>.
*

Best regards,

Cathy

-- 
Cathy Cowan Becker (she/her)
Organizer
Buckeye Environmental Network
cathy.becker at benohio.org
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