Two Democratic state lawmakers want to ban any drilling for oil and gas under public state lands or the bed of Lake Erie, although the bill is unlikely to secure backing from the majority party caucus.
Last Thursday, Reps. Christine Cockley (D-Columbus) and Tristan Rader (D-Lakewood) introduced House Bill 399, which would bar the director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) or “any other state authority” from awarding permits or leases to drill under designated parks.
In early 2023, Gov. Mike DeWine signed a law clearing hurdles for drilling companies to obtain leases to extract resources from public lands and parks, although drilling under them has been legal since 2011. GOP proponents have said it was done to increase natural gas accessibility and bolster tax revenue, but opponents have decried the decision since.
Since his first term, President Donald Trump has been pushing to accelerate access for fracking under federally-protected parks.
“I thought we had this agreement across society, Teddy Roosevelt really started this a long time ago where we’re going to set aside a certain amount of land,” Rader said in an interview Tuesday. “There’ll be no commercial activity on that land, it will not be for sale, and it is for everybody to use and to enjoy.”
Though he’s against fracking generally, he also worries about how close the infrastructure to do so is to protected lands that draw local naturalists and visiting tourists.
“You can only drill so far laterally, right?” Rader said. “You have to put those facilities pretty darn near the park.”
ODNR was poised to benefit from more than $30 million in bonus royalty payments from the drilling going on under its parks, but the biennial state budget ties that money to the agency’s already-existing bottom line instead.
In June, the legislature cut ODNR’s parks and recreation budget—financed by tax revenue in the General Revenue Fund—by 50% in fiscal year 2026 and 13% in fiscal year 2027, according to Legislative Service Commission documents and then redirected the royalties to fill those holes.
Aside from HB 399, Rader plans to push for other efforts he said his colleagues across the aisle may be more willing to sign onto that he believes would “minimize” the harms.
