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Ohio About to Net $60+ Million for Drilling Under State Parks
A request by the Ohio Office of Budget and Management (OBM) to set up two new bank accounts to accept payments from drillers is the tipoff that drilling is about to begin under some of Ohio’s state land, including state parks. The state will receive nearly $60 million in lease signing bonus payments to drill under Salt Fork State Park (in Guernsey County), Valley Run Wildlife Area (in Carroll County), and the Zepernick Wildlife Area (in Columbiana County). The vast majority of that is for drilling under Salt Fork.
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Last Thursday, MDN brought you the news that U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (from West Virginia) and Congressman Troy Balderson (from Ohio) introduced a resolution to block the EPA’s latest attack against the natural gas industry (see 
In February, the Ohio Oil & Gas Land Management Commission (OGLMC) met to award contracts to drill under (not on) several Ohio state parks, including 5,700 acres of the 20,000-acre Salt Fork State Park in Guernsey County (see 
Two weeks ago, 16 new permits were issued to drill in the Marcellus/Utica region. Last week, May 20-26, the number increased by two to 18. Two drillers tied for the top prize for most new permits. Chesapeake Energy received five new permits, all of them for drilling in Sullivan County, PA. Ascent Resources also received five new permits, with four of them to drill in Jefferson County, OH, and one in Guernsey County, OH. Antero received three permits for drilling in Wetzel County, WV. EQT Corporation got two permits to drill in Washington County, PA. Range Resources, Olympus Energy, and INR each got a single new permit (see below for where).
Yesterday, the Ohio Oil & Gas Land Management Commission (OGLMC) met in a public forum and voted to allow shale drilling under (not on top of) three different state-owned tracts of land: all 20,000 acres of Salt Fork State Park in Guernsey County, more than 300 acres of Valley Run Wildlife Area in Carroll County, and 66 acres of the Zepernick Wildlife Area in Columbiana County. In addition, commissioners voted against shale drilling under Wolf Run State Park. Approximately 100 anti-fossil fuel zealots were on hand at the meeting and nearly made the votes impossible with their prancing, chanting, and singing. They made horses rear ends of themselves by making the meeting miserable for everyone else.