A bill that prohibits the director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources from issuing a permit or lease agreement to remove oil or natural gas from Lake Erie has been introduced in the state legislature.

State Representative Nickie Antonio (D – Lakewood) introduced the bill, which supporters say is needed despite a federal ban on drilling in the Great Lakes being in effect.

House Bill 304 amends current law by not allowing the ODNR to authorize permits or leases that would be needed for the removal of “…oil or natural gas from and under the bed of Lake Erie.”

Legislation allowing for the drilling for oil and natural gas on much of Ohio’s public lands was approved in June but a provision that would have prohibited drilling in and under Lake Erie was removed during the committee process.

Jack Shaner, deputy director of the Ohio Environmental Council, said the federal ban on drilling in the Great Lakes could be vulnerable because it is subject to periodic renewal.

“Drilling and Lake Erie mix about as well as oil and water,” he said. “The industry minimizes the risk of a devastating oil spill, but the public knows better.”

Representative Dennis Murray (D-Sandusky) is a co-sponsor of the Antonio bill that comes on the heels of a veto by Gov. John Kasich of a bill that framed Ohio’s participation in the Great Lakes Compact – an agreement among the states and Canadian provinces bordering the lakes to manage water within the basin as well as setting limits on water leaving the basin.

That bill, sponsored by Rep. Lynn Watchmann (R-Napoleon), would have required permits from the ODNR for withdrawals from Lake Erie or tributary streams and rivers of 5 million gallons a day averaged over 90 days.

It also set a threshold for requiring permits of 2 million gallons per day from streams and rivers that aren’t tributaries of the lake and 2 million gallons a day for withdrawals of ground water.

Opponents, including Rep. Murray, argued permits for lower withdrawal rates were needed and that the higher rates would invite a lawsuit from other member states of the compact.

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