Fracking-in-parks talk didn’t end

New emails show that the Kasich administration did not end its consideration of a plan to sell Ohioans on the benefits of fracking in state parks in August 2012 as previously indicated.

Meetings between highlevel officials of the governor’s office and the Department of Natural Resources continued for months afterward — even though Gov. John Kasich reportedly already had decided against fracking on stateowned lands — according to 1,572 pages of material given to The Dispatch in response to a public-records request.

The revelation in February that the department had prepared an aggressive plan to “sell” fracking in state parks

Gov. John Kasich reportedly opposed allowing fracking in state parks in August 2012, but officials kept planning its rollout.

and forests caused a ruckus that resulted in calls for independent investigations. The administration also divulged that Kasich had changed his mind to oppose fracking in state forests and parks 11⁄

2 years earlier.

But if Kasich opposed fracking on state lands in August 2012, it did not stop continued discussions of the marketing plan.

Craig Butler, at the time Kasich’s top assistant on energy and environmental issues, asked in mid-November to schedule a two-hour meeting after Thanksgiving with the Natural Resources team of top officials and key figures from the governor’s office to review the readiness of fracking in state parks, forests and wildlife areas, plus “details of under lake drilling.”

An explanation for all of this came from Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols yesterday: “This was a new issue for which Ohio had to develop a policy so options were prepared both for and against in order to be able to move forward once a decision was made. The decision was made not to drill on public lands so there was no need to utilize the ‘for’ options.”

Nichols said the Nov. 27 gathering was “just a status update meeting” and he’s not sure when the marketing effort ended.

The head of an environmental group that originally requested the records said they raise more questions than answers.

“Based on what we’ve read so far, internal Kasich administration documents clearly show that the administration fully intended to implement a strategy of promoting fracking in state parks, with high-level meetings planned to discuss the strategy specifically,” said Alison Auciello, Food & Water Watch’s Ohio organizer, in a statement to The Dispatch. “If the governor were indeed opposed to fracking in state parks, why were his top officials planning a meeting to discuss the rollout strategy for just such a thing?”