That meant the state could force the family to sign a lease under a state law.Ĭhesapeake declined an interview. Then in 2017, they got a notice from ODNR that Chesapeake Energy was seeking to unitize their property. They went as far as following them on vacation, even threatening to bring the sheriff over to force them to sign. “ We would express our environmental concern, the only thing that they could offer us was money – a price per acre, and royalties,” he said.īut making money wasn’t as important to the family as protecting their environment. “If there is a well pad down the road, it’s just like Hollywood.”Īnd landmen pursued Hunkler and Backs like celebrities, making hundreds of calls to the family. “ This is a beautiful dark sky out here,” he said. But he wanted a way to assure a lease would take into consideration his environmental concerns, including the bright lights used at well pads. Still, her husband, who had worked for the Ohio EPA, and built a passive-solar house with recycled materials, was open to the idea. “You can’t know that at the time that you signed a lease.” “My big concern about signing a lease would be where’s that water going to come from and then what will happen to it when they’re finished,” she explained. They are concerned that fracking could impact their water. Patrick Hunkler and Jean Backs get drinking water for their house from spring water collected in this cistern. But, she worried about the millions of gallons of water used to frack each well, and the waste it creates. After 30 years working for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), the money might have been nice. By 2014, they were offered $8,500 an acre. “$137 dollars, that’s probably the closest I ever came to signing a lease,” he said.īut they held out. The landman offered them $137 an acre for the mineral rights under their 21 acres in Belmont County, in eastern Ohio. Hunkler didn’t know much about fracking then. It began in 2010, when a landman for an energy company knocked on their door. That’s what happened to Patrick Hunkler and his wife, Jean Backs (pictured above). LISTEN: “ Ohio Law Allows Energy Companies to Force Landowners into Leases“ But when it comes to fracking, Ohio and other oil and gas-producing states have laws that can force landowners to lease their underground mineral rights to energy companies. This is part of the series, "Who's listening?" examining claims made by Ohio residents, and how state regulators have responded, supported by the Fund for Investigative Journalism and the Sears-Swetland Family Foundation.ĭeciding what happens on private property might seem like a basic right.
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