Thousands of acres of land the state of Ohio has agreed to purchase from American Electric Power for recreation and conservation does not include the subsurface rights. AEP is holding onto those rights for potential future drilling for oil and natural gas.

The state's planned $47 million purchase of more than 31,000 acres of land in eastern Ohio for recreation and conservation does not include the subsurface rights, and some of it likely will be the site of fracking activities, The Dispatch has learned.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine — flanked by outdoorsmen and members of the General Assembly — announced the land purchase in eastern Ohio from American Electric Power a few weeks ago. The move was applauded by conservationists because the land, formerly used by the utility for strip mining, would be used by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources for recreation and conservation and designated as a state park.

However, a draft of the purchase agreement obtained by The Dispatch shows AEP will retain the subsurface rights to the land for potential oil and gas drilling.

The draft states that AEP retains the “right to construct, install, and maintain well site locations, access roads, production equipment, pipeline systems, and utilities and to conduct seismic and geological surveys and the right to drill and extract from new water wells and reasonable use of non-domestic surface water for such purposes.”

ODNR and AEP officials provided conflicting statements to The Dispatch on whether there are already active wells on some of the land, but they agree that they will work together to coordinate any drilling activity.

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“We are reasonably certain there are active wells," said Sarah Wickham, an ODNR spokeswoman. "However, we are still in the process of identifying the exact acres we are purchasing. We will not be able to know specifically whether there are active wells on this property until survey and title work are completed.”

Damian Sikora, chief legal counsel and ethics officer at ODNR, said, "What AEP has agreed to do is to work with us ... before there is any new development that goes on in the area to make sure it's in a place that ... won't impact the recreation side of things or campgrounds or trails or things like that.”

"There is no active fracking," said Scott Blake, a spokesman for AEP. "We will work with the state to coordinate activity if any future development is planned."

As of Tuesday, there were 1,107 wells on all state-owned land. The state doesn't own any of them, Wickham said.

The Ohio Environmental Council initially was supportive of the purchase but plans to oppose any new fracking sites.

“The AEP Recreation land purchased by the state of Ohio is a huge victory for public lands — a sizable addition that Ohioans from across the political spectrum have been working hard to achieve for many years,” Nathan Johnson, public lands attorney for the OEC, said in an emailed statement. “Oil and gas development is not appropriate on public recreation land, and the OEC will advocate to oppose any new development.”

State officials said this type of arrangement with AEP is nothing new.

The estimated 10,000 acres previously purchased by the state two years ago from AEP has 58 oil-producing wells, according to records. And AEP is not the only outside company to retain subsurface rights of land sold to the state.

When The Dispatch asked for a list of all private owners who own subsurface rights on state land, Wickham said: "There are many state-owned properties where subsurface rights belong to someone else. Often mineral ownership is a checkerboard, with many facilities having at least a portion of the mineral rights severed."

Tri-Valley Wildlife Area, Brush Creek Wildlife Area, Harrison State Forest and Sunfish Creek State Forest all contain subsurface rights that are privately owned, according to the ODNR.

Cheryl Johncox, an organizer with the Beyond Dirty Fuels Campaign for the Sierra Club based in Ohio, said, "I think that's an important insight to be bringing to people's attention. Ohio is 47th in the nation for access to public land, so any new parks are a plus for us. This puts our new park in the same situation all of our other parks are in."

Former Gov. John Kasich essentially placed a moratorium on drilling in the state's parks because he refused to appoint anyone on the Oil & Gas Leasing Commission created to oversee such activity. The legislature had approved fracking in state parks in 2011 just after he took office. Kasich was later forced by legislators to make appointments. House Republicans get large campaign contributions from oil and gas groups.

"Should the Oil and Gas Commission of Ohio begin to meet this park (that would be created through the purchase from AEP) could be fracked in the future just like any other of our state parks. It is a very distinct possibility," Johncox said.

The Oil & Gas Leasing Commission, which advises the ODNR division chief on oil and gas production, drilling, plugging and exploration, is scheduled to meet Nov. 6.

bburger@dispatch.com

@ByBethBurger