Rules on drilling in parks got more lenient

A year ago, state officials considered creating rules for oil and gas drilling rigs in state parks that were much more stringent than the rules they now have proposed.

The rigs would have had to have been placed at least 1,500 feet from campgrounds; 1,200 feet from lakes, streams and drinking-water wells; and 900 feet from trails, picnic areas and sites of historic value, under rules discussed in May, according to documents released yesterday.

Two weeks ago, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources released proposed rules that would keep the rigs at least 300 feet from most of those areas.

Information about the previous discussions comes from emails and documents that were shared among agency officials drafting mineral-rights leases and drilling guidelines for parks and other state lands.

Other emails contained a list of state parks, forests and wildlife areas in eastern Ohio that could have been offered to drilling companies as early as January. That never happened.

Officials also shared copies of draft leases and drilling guidelines with an Ohio-based oil and gas company — Chagrin Falls-based Reserve Energy Exploration Co. — in November.

“We look forward to hearing your thoughts and suggestions,” wrote Gene Wells, the agency’s real-estate administrator, in a Nov. 4, 2011, email to Joseph W. Haas of Reserve Energy. The Sierra Club’s Ohio chapter had asked to see the same leases in October. The environmental advocacy group then filed a lawsuit on April 9 demanding to see the public records.The Dispatch asked to see them this spring. “These emails confirm my earlier suspicion that ODNR has been consulting with the oil and gas industry on their rules all along,” said Jed Thorp, manager of the Sierra Club’s Ohio chapter.

Carlo LoParo, a Natural Resources spokesman, said the earlier distance limits that were discussed were “first-crack” estimates. He said Pennsylvania has a 300-foot limit for public lands. “It’s a very early draft document assembled by staff unfamiliar with shale development and best practices utilized in other states,” LoParo said.He said the agency did not offer land for leasing in January, in part because it wasn’t clear whether the state owned the mineral rights to the oil and gas. He said Reserve Energy acted as a consultant on leasing terms.On Sept. 30, state parks and other state-owned lands were opened to drilling.

Interest in drilling for oil and gas in the Utica shale has energy companies offering many eastern Ohio landowners more than $5,000 an acre to sign leases.

But environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, are concerned about pollution from drilling and “fracking” in state parks. Fracking involves injecting millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals underground to break up the shale to release the oil and gas.

Notes from an Oct. 12 ODNR meeting mention Beaver Creek, Guilford Lake, Jefferson Lake and Barkcamp state parks, along with the Yellow Creek, Beaver Creek, Fernwood, Harrison and Sunfish Creek state forests as initial offerings for leasing.The list also included the Highlandtown, Firestone-Yeagley, Leesville Lake, Valley Run, Brush Creek, Keen, Jockey Hollow and Monroe Lake wildlife areas.

LoParo said that list did not take into account that federal restrictions would prevent drilling in many wildlife areas. He said the state still is researching whether it owns the mineral rights in several state parks and forests.

Haas, who owns Reserve Energy, said Natural Resources officials asked for his opinion on how to structure oil and gas leasesHe said other issues were not discussed, including how far drilling rigs should be located from campgrounds.LoParo said the release of public records was delayed because the draft leases, guidelines and other information contained in the emails were “not reflective of the public-policy direction of the administration.”