Oil and Gas in Ohio

Does this sound all too familiar?


CLEVELAND (AP) — Gas wells have proliferated in northeast Ohio since the state took regulatory authority for drilling away from local governments in 2004, angering many residents who have little control because of what critics say are some of the most lenient drilling laws in the country.
Critics say residents don't have much power to keep rigs away because the boards that hear challenges to gas well locations consist largely of gas industry representatives. And the Ohio Department of Natural Resource is funded mainly by fees paid by the gas industry and with taxes paid for the gas that's extracted.

"All the other states I've seen, they would have more stringent regulation," said Bruce Baizel, an attorney for the national Oil & Gas Accountab