May 2, 2017: the Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity, Ohio Environmental Council, and Heartwood sued the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management over plans to allow fracking in the Wayne National Forest, Ohio’s only national forest. The lawsuit aims to void BLM leases and halt fracking in the national forest. The agencies failed to analyze threats to public health, endangered species and the climate before auctioning off more than 670 acres of forest land for large-scale, high-volume fracking. Fracking will industrialize the national forest with roads, well pads and gas lines. This infrastructure would destroy Indiana bat habitat, pollute watersheds and water supplies that support millions of people, and endanger other federally protected species in the area. The Forest Service and BLM violated the National Environmental Policy Act by approving oil and gas leases without addressing these risks. The BLM intends to lease 40,000 more acres of the Wayne National Forest’s Marietta Unit, setting up two-thirds of the unit to be auctioned off in upcoming quarterly BLM lease sales.
For more information check out the press release here and an E&E News article here.