The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) was poised to benefit from more than $30 million in bonus royalty payments from drilling under state parks, but the latest version of House Bill 96 ties that money to the agency’s already-existing budget instead.
The Senate on Tuesday released language that would cut ODNR’s parks and recreation budget—financed by tax revenue in the General Revenue Fund—by 50% in fiscal year 2026 and 13% in fiscal year 2027, according to Legislative Service Commission documents. Then, it would redirect the royalties to fill those holes.
Sen. Jerry Cirino (R-Kirtland) said in an interview Thursday his caucus was accounting for General Revenue Fund shortfalls, like those coming from cutting state income taxes, by shifting the additional money over. Before this, the royalty payments from private companies were said to be additional money for the Division of Parks and Watercraft.
“It’s moving the royalties generated from fracking on public lands, which are, by the way, public lands,” Cirino said. “They don’t belong to ODNR. They belong to the people of the state of Ohio.”
In early 2023, Gov. Mike DeWine signed a law clearing hurdles for drilling companies to obtain leases to extract resources from public lands and parks, although drilling under them has been legal since 2011. GOP lawmakers have said it was done to increase natural gas accessibility and bolster tax revenue. A large cohort of opponents have decried the decision since.
In December, the Oil and Gas Land Management Commission advanced the bid for Infinity Natural Resources to drill under almost 1,000 acres of Salt Fork State Park.
Matt Misicka, executive director of the Ohio Conservation Federation, said he sees this version of HB 96 differently than Cirino does. Misicka worries that with lower tax revenue levels this two-year budget cycle, future lawmakers might not restore tax revenue funding when the royalties go dry.
“Any time you lose [General Revenue Fund money], it’s awful hard to get it back,” he said in an interview Thursday. “Oil, gas, these are finite resources for any given well, right?”
Cirino rebuffed that idea.
“We’re in the thick of it right now, where justifications can be made for additions to GRF [General Revenue Funds], we’re doing it all the time, so I think that’s a that’s a false narrative,” he said.
An ODNR spokesperson said Thursday evening the agency was reviewing the proposal.
(Note: This story was edited to correct Matt Misicka’s name.)
