States weigh benefits, risks of drilling in parks

COLUMBUS, Ohio — State parks aren't just for hiking, camping and other recreation anymore. Increasingly, these lands are being used for oil and gas drilling as budget-strapped states seek new sources of revenue.

As they allow more energy exploration in state parks — in some cases by reversing previous bans — lawmakers are being met with resistance from environmentalists and park officials.

Opponents of the drilling say it raises troubling questions about acceptable uses of publicly shared land — even when new technology allows rigs positioned outside park boundaries to reach petroleum pockets deep beneath the parks by drilling horizontally.

Sean Logan, director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, said parks get 40 percent of their money from fees related to camping, boating, beach access and other recreational activities. If drilling affects the panoramas or the noise level, these other revenue sources could start suffering, he said.

Drilling is still barred in national parks. But the reversal of some state bans coincides with efforts to expand exploration in other previously off-limits locations: offshore in coastal states, near Aztec ruins in New Mexico and in some urban parks.

Arkansas has signed a lease allowing drilling to begin under Woolly Hollow State Park. Pennsylvania saw its first drilling on state park property this spring.

In July, a circuit court judge in West Virginia ruled against the state environmental protection agency's attempt to block drilling under Chief Logan State Park. The first well in Living Desert Zoo and Gardens State Park in Carlsbad, N.M., was drilled in 2007.

The U.S. Geologic Survey monitors oil and gas activity nationally, though no organization tracks drilling that falls within the boundary of state parks, or how much oil and gas can be pulled from that land.

In western New York, retiree Jay Wopperer is fighting a proposal to drill in Allegany State Park, 65,000 acres of forested valleys south of Buffalo.

"I don't oppose drilling," said Wopperer, of Clarence, N.Y., who has led the Audubon Society's bird hikes in Allegany for 10 years. "But there are plenty of other places to drill in western New York. This is the people's park."

To drill, roughly two acres are cleared of trees and vegetation. Gravel roads are also required to access drilling masts about 120 feet high. Producers have in some cases put mufflers on machinery and reduced other noises, but there are still trucks and other related sounds.