As fracking continues to boom Ohio, some property owners may not have a say in their own land

BELMONT COUNTY, Ohio ( WTRF ) — While some landowners may see fracking within the gas and oil industry as a financial windfall, others may see it as invasive. In Ohio, these landowners may not have much of a say in whether or not the land under them is drilled.

A Belmont County landowner learned her property’s fate was largely out of her hands when oil and gas representatives, or “landmen,” started contacting her with notices.

ABC News spoke to landowner and seventh-generation Ohio Valley resident Jill Antares Hunkler, who says she purchased her land in 2007, wanting a more natural, traditional life, but now she is surrounded by 78 oil and gas fracking wells.

Hunkler’s three acres of property in the Captina Creek Watershed area sits atop the Utica and Marcellus Shales in the Appalachian Basin, which ABC says became a magnet for fracking because of its large oil and natural gas reserves.

The United States Geological Survey says the sites contain 2.3 million and 120 million barrels of oil, respectively.

According to ABC, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources reported that Belmont County had 1,625 franking wells in 2024, a 25% increase from last year.

Hunkler tells ABC it was when the “landmen” came knocking that she learned of the state’s unitization laws , which, according to ODNR, consolidates multiple land parcels into a single operational unit for fracking, as long as a majority of the surrounding landowners sign lease agreements.

ABC reports that drilling multiple wells on separate properties can be insufficient, and unitization combines adjacent properties over a pool to allow for a more coordinated approach to extracting oil or gas.

Because state law only requires 65% of landowners to participate, ABC says this leaves a percentage of “non-participatory” landowners forced into fracking in the area.

According to a recent study by Nature Energy , “landmen” use persistent and personal strategies to overcome landowner reluctance, such as repeated in-person visits, calls, and sometimes contacting their family members and neighbors.

According to ABC, the study cited a log of contact between a landman and a property owner in Noble County.

The study states, “When their calls go unanswered, they send letters. When those are returned with ‘’REFUSED’’ handwritten across them, landmen drive to her house. When she refuses to answer the door, they speak to her neighbors and family members.”

The study shows that when property owners refused all requests, the gas and oil companies resorted to compulsory unitization.

The study states, “In roughly 40% of the wells drilled in Ohio, compulsory unitization applications were used because voluntary consent from landowners was not obtained.”

It is reported that unitization has been legal in Ohio since 1965. However, the last decade has seen unitization orders surge to meet fracking demands.

Records show that the ODNR has enacted 212 unitization orders since 2022. However, only 73 orders were enacted by the ODNR in 2021, and less than 50 between 2012 and 2020.

The study also shows how property owners may be disadvantaged in lease negotiations.

According to ABC, Ohio law states that landowners must receive “just and reasonable” compensation for leasing sites, which can vary depending on the location.

McCleery Law Firm , which provides consultation and legal services to landowners considering entering or being impacted by a leasing agreement, says some local drillers reported paying landowners an average of $500 per acre, but lease bonus payments in southeast Ohio can range from $3,000 to $6,000 per acre.

The firm states in its “Landowner’s Guide” that leasing agreements are areas where landowners are “chronically exploited.”

ABC says the firm claims that landmen usually offer significantly less per acre if they suspect you lack market knowledge.

According to the ODNR, property owners also receive royalties on the gas produced, which typically begins at 12.5%.

However, fracking comes with a price that some landowners say is not worth the monetary gains.

Randi Pokladnik, a lifelong resident of the Ohio River Valley and retired research chemist, told ABC News that people who don’t live in a fracking area have no idea what it’s like.

She describes the sound as a jet engine in the middle of the night and says you can smell the emissions. She tells ABC that there is a constant barrage of sand and fracking trucks filled with brine.

She calls it the “brine truck parade.”

According to ABC News, Pokladnik and her husband own property in Tappan, Ohio, and are part of the “non-participatory” population of landowners in that area. She said that despite denying leasing requests for over a decade, her property was “force pooled” without her consent in February.

As an environmentalist, she told the news outlet that it’s like the ultimate slap in the face.

According to ABC News, the Environmental Protection Agency found scientific evidence that chemicals used in fracking may travel through cracks in the rock and into underground drinking water sources, contaminating drinking water.

The EPA says contamination can also occur if a well is not properly installed, chemicals are spilled from trucks or tanks, or flow back is not effectively contained.

According to ABC News, the Yale School of Public Health also found that fracking led to heightened concerns about its impact on the environment and human health due to wastewater and greenhouse gas emissions.

It is reported that Rob Brundrett, president of the Ohio Oil & Gas Association, responded to health and environmental concerns, stating that companies work to ensure the safety of the properties they work on, and the record speaks for itself.

Brundrett, in an interview with Energy News Network, cites a record of only three major incidents since 2018, which he says is a testament to the industry’s rigorous safety standards and practices.

According to the interview, only .004% of Ohio oil and gas operations have had a major reportable incident during that timeframe. Brundrett says he would compare the industry’s safety numbers to those of any other manual industry in Ohio.

According to ABC, the incidents include a gas leak, a crude oil spill, and a combustor fire.

The ODNR released a fracking fact sheet that states the organization has addressed water well complaints for over 40 years, and none of the investigations revealed groundwater problems due to fracking.

Pokladnik does not share these views. She tells ABC that the effects of fracking in the Ohio River should be viewed by everyone, not just Ohio Valley residents.

She says the fracking done here will eventually lead to more climate change.

She tells the news outlet that the eventual outcome affects everyone, not just the Ohio Valley residents who “worry about drinking contaminated water, or breathing emissions directly.”

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