November 2012 - Parks & Recreation - 23

State Park Mineral Exploration
in LWCF Project

L AW REVIEW

BY JAMES C. KOZLOWSKI, J.D., PH.D.

N A REPORT ISSUED FEBRUARY 27, 2009, the Ohio State Park and Recreational Area Study Committee identiﬁed " Oil and Gas Development on State Park Land " as a potential source of additional
revenue to compensate for " a steadily decreasing allotment from Ohio's General Revenue Fund. "
Such oil and gas revenues would support the Ohio Department of Natural Resources' mission " to provide safe and clean outdoor recreational opportunities " as well as " conserve Ohio's land and water. "
As described by the Committee, " the issue of allowing oil and gas development on State Park land...
continues to be debated in state legislatures across the nation as well as in Congress " :
The debate centers on perspectives of land
use, i.e., the purpose for which the land was
set aside as a park, and perspectives of the impact that an industrial activity would have on
a visitor's experience and the park's natural
habitat.

According to the report, " both Michigan and
Pennsylvania have a history of successful and
proﬁtable energy development on state-owned
property that rewards their citizens and supports state government. " Moreover, the report (www.dnr.state.oh.us/Portals/2/PDFs/
StParksStudyRpt_27Feb09.pdf) claimed " the small
footprint of natural gas and oil production " allowed the " ﬁnal installations " to " be unobtrusive
and may not even be noticed by most users of
the system. "
On April 12, 2012, The Huffington Post reported that the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) had " proposed guidelines for
drilling in state parks " (www.huffingtonpost.
c om /2 01 2 /0 4/1 2 /oh io -f r ac k i ng-r ule sproposed_n_1421400.html). As reported, these
proposed guidelines " would require natural gas
and oil companies to stay at least 300 feet-the
length of a football ﬁeld-from campgrounds,
certain waterways, and sites deemed historically or archaeologically valuable. " (See January
2012 ODNR report regarding best management
practices and recommendations regarding
oil and gas activities on state lands, including
state parks: http://ohiodnr.com/portals/11/pdf/
leasingbmp.pdf).
A July 2011 fact sheet from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) describes

natural gas production through
hydraulic fracturing or " fracking "
in terms which are
hardly " unobtrusive, " particularly
within the context
of land and water
resources in a state
park. According to
OEPA, this process
requires up to four
million gallons of freshwater " from a stream, river, reservoir, or lake near the drill site " are used " to
fracture a single well, " raising the specter of signiﬁcant water pollution and resource degradation
from fracking in state parks:
After the well is drilled, a mixture of water,
sand, and chemical additives is injected at
very high pressure to fracture the shale. The
sand keeps the fractured shale open and
serves as a conduit for extracting the natural
gas. The chemical additives reduce potential
problems during drilling and gas production,
such as bacterial build-up and the formation
of scale, mineral deposits, and rust...
Most of the water used to fracture the shale
remains trapped thousands of feet underground after it is injected. However, internal
pressure in the geologic formation forces
some of the water (around 15-20 percent of the
total volume injected) back to the surface
through the well bore.
Most of this " ﬂowback " or " frac " water
WWW.NRPA.ORG | NOVEMBER 2012 |

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