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Out-of-state company selected to lease land for fracking at Leesville Wildlife Area • Ohio Capital Journal [1]
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Date: 2025-03-31
A Texas-based company was chosen as the “highest and best” to lease land in Leesville Wildlife Area in Carroll County for fracking at Friday’s Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management meeting.
Encino Energy was chosen to lease 62 acres of land in Leesville, which is property of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Friday’s meeting lasted about 15 minutes.
The commissioners posted the nominated leasing parcel for bid on Jan. 2, and the deadline to submit bids was Feb. 1. Each lease agreement includes a 12.5% royalty paid to the state for production, per state law, with an additional financial incentive paid by the winning bidder to the state, according to ODNR.
The lease bonuses for these nominations chosen by the committee is $218,715 for ODNR properties, according to ODNR.
Fracking is the process of injecting liquid into the ground at a high pressure to extract oil or gas. Anti-fracking advocates from Save Ohio Parks shouted questions and concerns while the commissioners conducted their meeting.
Two nominations were considered and approved to go to bidding for fracking by the commission on Friday — 171 acres of Leesville and a possible right-of-way along SR 149 owned by the Ohio Department of Transportation in Belmont County. These nominations will go out to bid in April.
Two nominations were up for a vote during Friday’s meeting that were not voted on — 3.6 acres in Valley Run Wildlife Area in Carroll County and a possible right-of-way along SR 151 owned by ODOT in Harrison County.
“I propose we bring it up only for discussion today,” OGLMC Chair Theresa White said. Even though the commissioners approved the motion, there was no discussion on either piece of land. OGLMC plans to take action on these nominations at a future meeting.
Melinda Zemper with Save Ohio Parks said Ohio needs a moratorium on natural gas fracking under state parks and public lands.
“Gov. Mike DeWine and state legislators risk good health, our pristine lands, our water and air and livable planet by continuing to support this dangerous and polluting 20th century energy industry in our quickly warming 21st century,” she said.
Before the meeting, Roxanne Groff also with Save Ohio Parks talked about the Jan. 2 well pad explosion in Guernsey County. The well pad is operated by Gulfport Energy and no one was injured. The Guernsey County Emergency Management Agency issued an evacuation notice within half a mile of the well pad.
“Salt Fork State Park is going to be completely surrounded by frack well pads, and any one of those pads can have an explosion,” Groff said. “What are you going to do when there are 2,000 people in that park and there’s a well padded explosion?”
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.
“Our parks, our children, our grandchildren’s lives are at stake here, and you’re about to just say that doesn’t matter,” Groff said.
Andrew Goode and Anthony Jesko are two new members of OGLMC. Both men were appointed to the commission by DeWine on Dec. 19, 2024. Jesko is an attorney from Northeast Ohio and his term will expire Sept. 29, 2028, and Goode is an attorney from central Ohio and his term expires on Sept. 29, 2029.
“I’ve listened intently to what you guys have said, and I will continue to listen to that, just so you guys are aware,” Goode said, referring to the comments Groff made before the meeting.
Follow Capital Journal Reporter Megan Henry on Bluesky.
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