Fracking

A total of 8,749 acres at the Salt Fork State Park and Egypt Valley Wildlife Area are being considered for fracking approval in late March or early April.

In Washington County, local officials have passed resolutions in an attempt to protect drinking water from fracking waste. State officials haven’t taken heed.

Washington County in southeast Ohio has more injection wells storing wastewater from oil and gas drilling than the entire state of Pennsylvania.

Ohio has hundreds of injection wells that store waste from oil and natural gas production. In one southeast Ohio city, they’re causing concern.

Two Democrats want to change Ohio law and ban any drilling for oil and gas, although the bill is unlikely to secure backing from the majority caucus.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) was poised to benefit from more than $30 million from fracking. This bill would tie that money to its regular budget.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources halted a fracking operation in southeast Ohio’s Noble County earlier this month, after about 50 small earthquakes rattled the area.

Brine from fracking can be saltier than seawater and contain numerous chemicals from the fracking operation, as well as radium, a radioactive metal.

A contingent of advocates from across Ohio again sent a letter to Gov. Mike DeWine on Monday asking that he pause on fracking under state public lands.

With time ticking before the two-year legislative session ends, lawmakers in both chamber’s GOP caucuses are rolling bills into one another to see what sticks.