Category
May 17, 2025
Save Ohio Parks was founded in the wake of House Bill 507, which changed one word in state law from "may" to "shall" to mandate fracking of Ohio state parks, wildlife areas, and other public lands.
Mandating fracking of our state lands was an amendment to an unrelated bill on how many chicks could be sold in a batch. It was added to the bill on its last day in Senate committee during the lame duck session of 2022 with no public notice or chance to comment, then pushed through the legislative process that day. Gov. Mike DeWine signed HB 507 on January 6, 2023.
When that happened, Loraine McCosker, a longtime advocate for public lands, called another longtime anti-fracking activist, Roxanne Groff, and said, “What are we going to do about this?” Another longtime Ohio environmental advocate, Cathy Cowan Becker, got involved, and together the three started what was then called the Public Lands Campaign.
Setting up the commission
The first order of business was to show up at meetings of the Oil and Gas Land Management Commission, which in spring 2023 held hearings to set the rules by which they would hear “nominations” for public lands to be fracked.
These meetings in February and April 2023 were the only times the commission has taken spoken testimony from the public, so we wanted to make it count.
We recruited and trained over a dozen people to testify at each meeting asking for strong public notice and commenting procedures.
We worked with the Ohio Environmental Council to shape the specific asks – 60 days of public notice with an email list for people who wanted to receive nomination notices.
The statute initially provided for only 21 days of notice – together we got 45 days and the nomination notice list. (Email Commission.Clerk@oglmc.ohio.gov to get on that list.)
We were very worried that oil and gas companies would take advantage of the “shall lease” clause in HB 507 to take our public lands for fracking before procedures were in place. That did not happen, thanks we believe to a lawsuit we filed with Earthjustice, OEC, Sierra Club, and Buckeye Environmental Network. (That lawsuit is currently in the appeals process with no final decision yet.)
Once the rules were officially approved on May 28, 2023, the “shall lease” clause expired – and at least a dozen nominations hit the commission. (But as we found later, commissioners still felt they had been ordered by the legislature to approve all nominations to frack Ohio public lands.)
Codifying as Save Ohio Parks
At that point Save Ohio Parks codified as an LLC and expanded our steering committee to six. Together with you, we:
Created a website that catalogs the harms of fracking, and includes nominations of public lands, news and opinion pieces, and actions you can take.
Started an email advocacy list on Action Network -- that's the list you are receiving this message from now.
Started monthly campaign meetings for volunteers across the state.
Since then:
Thousands of Ohioans including many of you have submitted written comments against multiple nominations to frack two state parks and five wildlife areas.
Hundreds of you have driven long distances to attend meetings of the Oil and Gas Land Management Commission to make your voice heard -- even though they do not allow us to speak.
Many of you showed up for rallies we organized at Salt Fork State Park and the Ohio Statehouse.
We also undertook a broad public education campaign including:
Placing over 200 articles and opinion pieces in media outlets in Ohio and across the country, with a total reach to billions of people -- work led by Melinda Zemper
Posting daily on social media platforms Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, and now Blue Sky -- work led by Melinda Zemper and Mary Huck
Passing out flyers and brochures at local parks and state parks events -- work led by Anne Sparks and our regional groups
Producing an original song and animated film, as well as a daily report of oil and gas accidents in Ohio -- work led by Jenny Morgan with support from Buckeye Environmental Network
With the help of a dozen brave volunteers, we even proved that over 100 public comments that supposedly supported fracking our public lands were not submitted by the people whose names were on those comments, but by an oil and gas front group. We reported this to the attorney general's office, which eventually issued a new rule classifying such behavior as a “deceptive act,” meaning it can now be prosecuted under Ohio consumer protection law.
None of this work over the last two years would have happened without your action and support. With your help, Save Ohio Parks remains committed to protecting our state parks, wildlife areas, and public lands from oil and gas extraction.
What's next?
For the past two years, Save Ohio Parks has worked within the system to push back on fracking public lands. Thousands of us have filed public comments, and hundreds of us have attended meetings and protests as well as contacted commissioners and elected officials.
We have raised public awareness about the harms of fracking our public lands through traditional media and social media, and we even got a new attorney general rule that stopped oil and gas front groups from submitting thousands of deceptive comments.
Save Ohio Parks is now obtaining its own nonprofit designation as both a 501(c)(4) and 501(c)(3) organization -- and we plan to launch an internship program in 2025!
Together we have accomplished so much ... but what we have not been able to do is stop approvals for fracking public lands. Despite massive opposition to two nominations to frack Salt Fork, in its last meeting of 2024 the commission approved both nominations.
Even worse, the legislature has just increased the length of oil and gas leases to frack public lands up to eight years -- yet again by adding an amendment to an unrelated bill during its last committee hearing of the lame duck session, with no public notice or chance for comment.
The bill was HB 308, which declares nuclear energy to be "green." It passed the rest of the legislative process the following day. DeWine signed the bill into law on December 19.
We want to hear from you
And so Save Ohio Parks is again at a crossroads. We have been huddling with allied organizations and key volunteers to get their thoughts on next steps moving forward.
Now we'd like to hear from you: What do you think Save Ohio Parks can or should do to fight fracking of our state parks, wildlife areas, and public lands? And what can you do to help?
Please fill out this google form to share your thoughts with us -- and thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your support of Save Ohio Parks.
Sincerely,
Save Ohio Parks Steering Committee
Cathy Cowan Becker
Mary Huck
Jenny Morgan
Anne Sparks
Melinda Zemper
P.S. If you would like to make a donation to Save Ohio Parks, you can do so here -- or contact us at hello@saveohioparks.org. Although donations are not tax deductible, anything you give will be used for immediate campaign needs such as printing flyers, poster supplies, renting event space, etc. Our steering committee and volunteers are not paid for their work.
