Two companies selected by Ohio commission to lease parts of Noble and Monroe counties for fracking

Anti-fracking advocates hung up signs before the May 20, 2024 Oil and Gas Land Management Commission meeting. (Photo by Megan Henry, Ohio Capital Journal.)

The “highest and best bidders” were selected to lease parts of Noble and Monroe counties for fracking during Monday’s Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission meeting. 

Colorado-based company Antero Resources Corporation was the sole bidder to lease eight parcels for drilling in Noble County for $4,713.60, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Antero has previously leased land in Noble County and other Eastern Ohio counties including Harrison, Guernsey, Belmont, Monroe and Washington. 

Texas-based company Southwestern Energy was the only bidder for eight parcels of land in Monroe County for $3,378, according to ODNR.

Each lease agreement includes a 12.5% royalty paid to the state for production. The commission posted the nominated leasing parcels to bid on March 4 and May 4 was the deadline to submit bids.

Fracking is the process of injecting liquid into the ground at a high pressure to extract oil or gas and it has been documented in over 30 states, according to the Center for Biological Diversity. 

Anti-fracking advocates

Anti-fracking advocates tried to raise their concerns to the commissioners throughout the meeting. 

“I’d like to say that we have people who are very concerned about the water in that area. The water is not tested. We don’t know what it’s going to be like,” one advocate said. She tried bringing up a basket of water samples during the meeting, but a Ohio State Highway patrol officer stopped her from approaching the commissioners and intercepted the basket. 

Another advocate held up a sign during the meeting that said “commissioners or gas and oil puppets?”

There were more than 1,400 fracking incidents associated with oil and gas wells in Ohio between 2018 and September 2023, according to FracTracker Alliance — a nonprofit that collects data on fracking pipelines. About 10% of those incidents were reported as fires or explosions.

Of those, there were 71 total incidents in Noble County and 59 total incidents in Monroe County during that time period, according to FracTracker.

Failed nominations

Nominations for land in Egypt Valley Wildlife Area in Belmont County, Guernsey and Noble counties were not approved during Monday’s meeting and won’t move forward to the bidding process at this time. 

The Guernsey and Noble county nominations were denied because “ODOT indicated it lacks the ability to enter into a lease at this time,” according to ODNR.

The Egypt Valley Wildlife Area nomination was denied “due to a condition in the nomination that could render the economic benefits too low to warrant approval pursuant to Ohio Revised Code,” according to ODNR.

“ODOT submitted a comment indicating that due to their stewardship and oversight agreement with the Federal Highway Administration, they are not legally authorized to enter into mineral basis for these parcels without express pre-approval from the FHWA,” Richardson said about the nomination for land in Wills Township in Guernsey County. 

Lorraine McCosker, steering committee member of Save Ohio Parks, said this shows the importance of federal laws with the FHWA. 

“ODNR needs to address certain things that they rejected,” she said. “They disapproved Egypt Valley so I think that that’s really important.”

OGLMC resignation

Matthew Warnock resigned as an OGLMC committee, Richardson said. Warnock was not present at Monday’s meeting and the Governor’s office will be working to fill the vacancy on OGLMC. 

Warnock was the single no vote on the bid to lease land for fracking at Salt Fork State Park during February’s meeting. 

“We want to thank him for his service on the commission, and we certainly will miss him,” Richardson said. 

Warnock sent his resignation to the Governor’s office on May 6.

“Thank you for appointing me to serve the State of Ohio as a member of the Oil and Gas Land Management Commission. It has been a great group to work with and learn from.With that being said, it is a good time professionally for me to step down and allow someone else to step into this role and serve on the Commission,” he said in an email obtained by a public records request.

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