Johnson designs bill to give counties federal oil and gas revenue
Wednesday, October 25, 2017
At the end of September, U.S. Representative Bill Johnson, a Republican from Ohio’s 6th District, introduced the Providing Opportunities with Energy Revenues in Counties Act to compensate counties that contain federal lands leased for oil and natural gas operations, according to Shale Ohio.
The federal government and some states receive revenue from royalties and permit fees from companies that develop oil and gas wells on federally owned land like Wayne National Forest in southeast Ohio. Johnson’s legislation would call for 20 percent of that revenue to be redirected back to the counties that house the federal lands being leased.
Johnson hopes the redirected funds could be used to support education initiatives and infrastructure improvements.
Learn more: Shale Ohio > Johnson introduces bill to give counties share of federal oil and gas revenue
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What is fracking?
Fracking is a slang term for hydraulic fracturing. Fracturing is a process by which highly pressurized fluid is pumped thousands of feet into the ground to fracture rock formations. The goal is to release the natural gas that’s locked inside the rock.
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What most concerns people about fracturing is ground water contamination. The worry is that fractures underground, caused by the process, will extending upwards and into aquifers, releasing gas and chemicals into the ground water supply. There’s been no confirmed reports of such a thing happening. Though surface spills and drill site blowouts can lead to localized environmental concerns.
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Flammable water is caused by the release of methane gas into a drinking water supply. Methane gas occurs naturally and can be released by any kind of drilling, including water wells. In Pennsylvania officials fined Chesapeake Energy $1 million for contaminating ground water with methane. It was determined that the company had not properly cemented it’s boreholes and gas migrated up the well, between rock and into aquifers.