Wayne National Forest

The Federal Government has expanded it's destructive sweetheart deal with energy conglomerates to lease National Forest land for fracking in the Wayne National Forest. They have added an additional 2,000 acres of leases to the oil and gas leases auctioned off late last year that permit fracking the Ohio River Watershed within a few hundred yards of the water supply of major cities including Cincinnati and Louisville.

A new coalition of environmental groups and community organizations from fontline areas affected by fracking will be holding a weekend of demonstrations on September 8th in Cleveland, Columbus and Marrietta.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has recently announced that it will permit oil and gas drilling by hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in the Marietta section of the Wayne National Forest. The proposal, which would release 1,600 acres in 33 lots to the environmentally destructive process, has been met with ongoing opposition from environmental groups. What the mainstream press has not reported is that 9 of those 33 lots are within a half mile of the Little Muskingum or Ohio Rivers. 5 of those seven lots are withing a quarter mile and all are within four miles of one of the two rivers.