Wayne National Forest Auctioned off for Fracking

Over 700 acres of Wayne National Forest have been sold for the eventual use of fracking. The potential sale garnered protests from environmental groups, before netting $1.7 million in oil and gas bids for the leasing rights.

Fracking is the somewhat controversial method of pumping chemicals, water and sand into deep reservoirs in an effort to free trapped oil and shale gas. Wayne is no stranger to industrialization, as it has nearly 1,200 conventional oil and gas wells across the entirety of its 240,000 acre forest.

The entire decision drew 100 “valid” complaints according to The Dispatch but despite this it reconciled and turned each of them away, denying protests with their responses to concerns raised in environmental justice letters that brought up the potential effects on air and water quality.

The eventual project will begin after a leasing period and a six-month wait period as the process and details are worked out between the Bureau of Land Management and the leasing companies.

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