As extensive amounts of property continue to be leased throughout Southeast Ohio to the oil and gas industry, Ohio University property could soon be adding to the growing tally.
A mineral-rights review board comprising members from each of OU’s campuses is collecting an inventory of all OU property that could be leased for oil and gas drilling. This inventory is required by Ohio House Bill 133, a law that overhauled the process of how state-owned or controlled land is leased for oil and gas development.
Donna Goss, OU’s director of engagement and real estate management, said the inventory is in only its preliminary stages and should be finished by April.
“The university owns an extensive amount of property, and not all of it will be impacted by HB 133,” Goss said.
HB 133, passed in June 2011, gave the Ohio Oil and Gas Leasing Commission the power to lease any state property. This commission is responsible for evaluating the viability of the land presented through a state agency’s inventory.
With hydraulic fracturing creating controversy throughout Athens County, Becky Watts, chief of staff to OU President Roderick McDavis, said the university has been in an ongoing research phase to learn more about oil and gas drilling.
“Until you get answers to your questions, you can’t form a position on such a big issue,” Watts said.
Although the university has not presented a formal position on fracking, many OU students stand firmly against the drilling practice.
Tyler Barton, a senior studying chemistry, recently helped organize the group Ohio University Students Against Fracking. The group’s main goal is to prevent any and all drilling that could occur on HB 133-approved university property.
Barton said the anti-fracking group has met with McDavis and other university officials to discuss different options the university has to combat HB 133. One of the options the group is looking into is drafting a lease agreement for the university that would be unappealing to oil and gas companies.
“I think drilling on land set aside for student and university to make a profit for another industry is both sad and infuriating,” Barton said.
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