COLUMBUS, Ohio — A bill introduced to the Ohio House would prevent oil and natural gas drilling under Lake Erie, something environmental activists have been worried about, but the oil and gas industry said the legislation isn't necessary.
"It's an amazing lake that we need to protect," Sandy Bihn, environmental activist, said.
Lake Erie Waterkeeper is known as one of the main protectors of the body of water. Bihn is the executive director of the organization and she explained that the watershed has a rich ecosystem, one that provides drinking water for 11 million people, fishing, birdwatching and is a major source of tourism.
"It is an economic engine, it's a people engine, it's an aquatic engine, it's an eco engine," she added.
Right now, the state extracts four million tons of rock salt from the lake's underground mines, according to ODOT A study from the U.S. Department of Energy found that four trillion cubic feet of gas are thought to lie beneath Lake Erie, which is gaining attention as Ohio starts prioritizing natural gas production.
"The hydraulic fracturing is super important because it's allowed much more of the oil and gas to be reached through this, which allows Ohio really to have some of the cheapest natural gas prices in the world," Rob Brundrett, president of the Ohio Oil and Gas Association, said.
Drilling for natural gas helps create jobs, plus provides for millions in economic development, Brundrett added.
But the gas under Lake Erie could become untouchable. House Bill 43 bill would ban any removal of taking of oil or natural gas from under the lake.
State Rep. Mike Skindell (D-Lakewood) introduced the legislation with a group of other Democratic lawmakers primarily from Northeast Ohio — but this bill is more than just for the Clevelanders, he testified at the first hearing Wednesday.
"The lake provides a great ecosystem which drives millions of dollars in tourism, fishing, shipping and agriculture," Skindell said. "It is estimated that tourism alone brings in around $430 million in state tax revenue. Therefore, it is essential to protect this state treasure from potentially disastrous conditions."
There is a federal law that bans drilling in the Great Lakes, but "the law is constantly under attack by critics," the lawmaker added.
Current Ohio law allows the Director of Natural Resources, with approval of the Director of Environmental Protection, the Attorney General and the Governor, to issue permits to parties applying for permission to take and remove sand, gravel, stone and other minerals or substances from and under the bed of Lake Erie, he said.
Brundrett understands why this bill was introduced, but said it isn’t necessary.
"The companies that I represent and the companies that operate in Ohio have not really shown much of an interest in oil and gas drilling in Lake Erie," he said.
This isn't the first time the bill has been introduced, Brundrett said. His organization has never come out strongly one way or another on the legislation, he added.
"There's really no desire, as far as we know, within our membership to explore the lake," he shrugged. "So for us... if you want to ban something that no one's really doing, I guess, okay, whatever."
That being said, the industry has gotten much better in terms of safety throughout the decades, he said.
"We've seen some great strides in the industry over the last really 20 years on cracking down on everything from fugitive emissions to ensuring that spills or other things like that are either immediately mitigated or... just don't really happen anymore with the increased and enhanced safety measures that companies operate under," he said.
It is true that there has been a decline since 2015, but the data isn't as clean-cut as Brundrett stated. In 2023, there have already been 37 reported oil spills, according to government agency National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). That being said, those spills aren't calculated by size and could end up being very small and contained, the agency stated.
Bihn argued that Ohio lawmakers have already loosened environmental protections on drilling, including passing a bill that will soon go into effect that allows fracking on all state land.
"There's a lot of concern right now that they're opening up public lands in Ohio to private use," she said. "If it happens in the parks, it can happen in the lake."
Not to mention, the energy industry isn't exactly the most trusted group in Ohio these days. Oil and natural gas, however, weren't the players in the FirstEnergy bribery scandal.
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The bill has only had one hearing but may get more in the coming weeks.
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