People from several southeastern Ohio counties gathered in Columbus earlier this month, holding signs that read things like 鈥淣o Radioactive Waste鈥� to try to get lawmakers to pay attention to what they see as the growing dangers of fracking for oil and natural gas, like transportation of wastewater, or brine.
鈥淪o, what is this oil and gas waste made of?鈥� asked Roxanne Groff, board member of the Buckeye Environmental Network, through a bullhorn to the crowd on the statehouse steps.
鈥泪迟鈥檚 . And I don鈥檛 know what else they need to freakin鈥� know about it, except that it鈥檚 full of radioactivity.鈥�
Brine from fracking can be and contain numerous chemicals from the fracking operation, as well as
These activists are worried about brine and other impacts as fracking begins under Ohio鈥檚 largest state park, Salt Fork, for the first time, thanks to a 2022 meant to spur oil and gas development on state-owned lands. But this area of Ohio is no stranger to fracking.
Fracking has become a 鈥榙aily life thing鈥� in Guernsey County
鈥淭hat鈥檚 a brine truck that鈥檚 right up there in front of us,鈥� said Austin Warehime, an attorney who drove me around the curvy, hilly roads in Guernsey County, where Salt Fork State Park is located, to show how the oil and gas industry has been changing this rural community, like the increase in trucks carrying brine from fracking operations.
鈥泪迟鈥檚 become a daily life thing for people around here,鈥� he said, then noticing traffic up the road. 鈥淎nd this looks like another brine truck that鈥檚 coming right towards us right here. So yeah, you see them quite frequently.鈥�
I first met Warehime in the summer of 2023, at nearby Salt Fork State Park, at a concerned that the state was ramping up to lease its publicly-owned lands for fracking.
Back then, he and his wife were living in Cincinnati. They were ready to start a family and wanted to move back home to Guernsey County, but it was a tough place to find a job. He said some people expected the oil and gas industry to help. And it did help him.
鈥�And so I鈥檓 here. I鈥檓 practicing law still,鈥� Warehime said. 鈥淚鈥檓 with and we represent landowners in oil and gas matters.鈥�
We drove around looking at several drilling sites where the hills had been flattened for concrete well pads. On one road, he remembered being a kid on the way to school.
鈥淭his was part of the bus route, so I saw this road every single day growing up,鈥� he said, pointing to a concrete well pad and pipeline, 鈥泪迟鈥檚 changed quite a bit. That was all just trees.鈥�
Warehime鈥檚 law firm hears from people in the area with varying views on the growth of the oil and gas industry. Some landowners are happy when a landman approaches them to build a pad or a pipeline on their property:
鈥�They feel like they hit the lottery because they鈥檝e never had really enough money to get by even, and now all of a sudden they can go buy a new car and have reliable transportation, or they can pay for medical bills,鈥� Warehime said.
He also sees clients who worry that the environment and beauty of the area are being destroyed, but there鈥檚 not much they can do to stop it.
Under Ohio鈥檚 鈥溾�� law, if a company gets 65 percent of landowners in a unit of land to agree to lease their mineral rights, it can apply to the state to force dissenting landowners in the unit into leases.
Warehime advises unwilling landowners to come to an agreement with the energy companies because citizens almost .
鈥淩easonable people look at that, and they go, 鈥榃ell, I could either get rid of all my money by trying to fight this, or I could make a lot of money, accept it, and deal with the consequences later with some money to actually deal with those consequences,鈥欌�� he said.
A county covered with wells, with oil production as a major driver
The success of the oil and gas industry is easy to see on a map on the Ohio Department of Natural Resources website. Salt Fork State Park looks like an island in a sea of hundreds of oil and gas wells covering Guernsey County.
![Guernsey County, Ohio is outlined in red. The green dots indicate producing oil and gas wells, the black lines are horizontal(fracked) wells. Salt Fork State Park sits within the small square labeled Jefferson [Township].](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/f5941de/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1536x973+0+0/resize/840x532!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F67%2F26%2F658827ed4df58ff9182fe7764b54%2Fguernsey-county-oil-and-gas-well-maps.jpg)
A by the Energy Policy Center at Cleveland State University found nearly 300 producing oil and gas wells in Guernsey County at the end of 2023, the last time the report was published.
Since then, 鈥渨e鈥檝e seen a significant increase in the number of new wells that are being drilled,鈥� said research supervisor Mark Henning, an author of the report.
He expects an increase of over 100 new wells in what he calls Ohio鈥檚 shale counties, including Guernsey, in the next issue to be published in late April.
Henning鈥檚 team is looking at possible drivers for the drilling increase, including the war in Ukraine and natural gas exports. He also points to the 鈥渙il window鈥� in Guernsey and nearby counties. 鈥�It鈥檚 a relatively thin strip of land where there鈥檚 been more activity in the last year or so, where producers have gotten better at predicting where the oil will be,鈥� he said.
Drilling operations have created dangers
In January, a Gulfport Energy less than five miles from Salt Fork State Park.
鈥淭here has been an explosion on what we presume at this time is an unoccupied well pad,鈥� said Donald Warnock, fire chief of Antrim, an unincorporated community in Guernsey County, in a video posted to update nearby residents.
鈥淐urrently, one set of tanks is burning, possibly two. State route 22 is closed,鈥� he said.
No one was injured, but activists say incidents like this are not uncommon.
鈥淲e see fires, explosions, spills, truck accidents spilling brine. And those are the reported incidents,鈥� said Jenny Morgan of the group , which industry accidents. She points to an analysis of state data that shows nearly two thousand in Ohio over the past eight years.
Also, research has connected living near fracking sites with health problems like , , , and even .
Morgan worries about hikers, boaters, and other visitors when fracking begins to access the gas under Salt Fork State Park. Her group and 29 other organizations in February asking for a moratorium on fracking on state parks and public lands, including four wildlife areas.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 want them to frack our parks and public lands; that鈥檚 the first order of business,鈥� Morgan said. 鈥淚t absolutely needs to not happen in these public spaces.鈥�
Last year, the Oil and Gas Land Management Commission bids at four wildlife areas and two bids for to frack under Salt Fork.
Save Ohio Parks and three other environmental groups recently lost an appeal in their lawsuit challenging the commission鈥檚 process.
Fracking Salt Fork has begun
Fracking is starting to happen in Salt Fork.
The state does not allow well pads within state parks, so the first well pad Infinity has constructed is on private land about a third of a mile outside the park鈥檚 southern boundary, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. The company is drilling four wells on it.
Infinity plans a second well pad, which has not yet been constructed, about a mile from Salt Fork鈥檚 northern boundary.
The wells on these pads will go deep underground, and then turn horizontally, and run laterally for miles under the park. Drillers pump millions of gallons of water, mixed with sand and chemicals, at high pressure into the well to fracture underground rock and release oil and gas.
Infinity鈥檚 lease agreements with the state include to sample and test all water wells and sources of water, including Salt Fork Lake, within 3000 feet of any oil or gas well before it starts drilling.
The company also must reduce noise and light pollution and limit traffic in the park from fracking activities.
Visiting Salt Fork
During a visit to Salt Fork State Park in December, there weren鈥檛 any visible signs of fracking. Of the few people who were there, two hunters said they didn鈥檛 know about fracking but didn鈥檛 support anything that might affect the wildlife.
At the Salt Fork Park Lodge, Mark and Sherry Hlivko of northern Ohio were on vacation, looking at silver jewelry in the gift shop.
鈥淭his is an amazing place. It鈥檚 clean. The rooms are cabiny looking; it鈥檚 romantic. Yeah, we love it,鈥� Sherry Hlivko said. They planned to do some hiking and visit Cambridge, a nearby town.
The Hlivkos perked up at the idea of fracking in the area. Their daughter and son-in-law used to work in the industry in nearby Carroll County.
鈥淭hey were doing awesome, making good money. It was amazing. Yeah, we want the fracking to come back,鈥� Sherry said.
They didn鈥檛 know the state had permitted fracking under the park and had some concerns.
鈥淎s long as it doesn鈥檛 disturb the nature, the park, in any way,鈥� Mark said. 鈥淵eah, and the animals can still live,鈥� Sherry added.
Guernsey County Commissioner Dave Wilson hasn鈥檛 seen any problems. 鈥淪o far, the fracking activity in the area surrounding the park has had no noticeable effect within the park itself,鈥� he said.
While Wilson has heard some complaints about the impact of industrial-sized trucks on rural roads, he said fracking has been a financial boon to the local tax base and a local school district.
County commissioners recently the use of fracking wastewater on the roads, which has been used for dust suppression.
鈥淲e feel that nothing is perfect,鈥� Wilson said. 鈥淏ut in the net, this has been a very positive thing for Guernsey County.鈥�
As demand for energy increases and the state continues to approve drilling under its public lands, it looks like the industry is here to stay.
