By JANELL HUNTER

Times Leader Staff Writer

COLUMBUS — The Ohio House of Representatives voted to override 11 of Gov. John Kasich’s budget vetoes on Thursday, including his veto of a provision introduced by Rep. Andy Thompson that would transfer authority from the governor to the Ohio General Assembly to appoint members to the Ohio Oil and Gas Leasing Commission.

Signed into law by Kasich in 2011, the commission is responsible for approving potential drillers on state lands, including state parks but not nature preserves. Kasich has refused to appoint members to the panel, effectively blocking any drilling or fracking activity on state-owned public lands for the past five years. Failure to appoint to the panel also has private mineral rights owners upset that they are not benefiting from royalty payments that they might otherwise be receiving. According to Ohio Revised Code 1509.71, “it is the policy of the state to provide access to and support for the exploration for, development of, and production of oil and natural gas resources owned or controlled by the state in an effort to use the state’s natural resources responsibly.

There is hereby created the oil and gas leasing commission consisting of the chief of the division of geological survey and the following four members appointed by the governor: two members from a list of not less than four persons recommended by statewide organization representing the oil and gas industry; one member of the public with expertise in finance or real estate; and one member representing a statewide environmental or conservation organization.”

Initial appointments to the panel were to have been made no later than 30 days after the effective date of the law, the code states.

“This is pretty exciting that the house overrode Kasich’s veto on this,” said Rebecca Clutter of the National Association of Royalty Owners Appalachia Chapter. “Landowners with mineral rights that abut state lands are currently trapped because of the state’s inaction. This will allow the process to begin for state-owned properties to be evaluated for oil and gas exploration and allow private mineral owners adjacent to the state lands to develop and produce their privately held assets.”

NARO is a national organization promoting the rights, responsibilities and the definitions of citizens who own natural resources.

“Royalty owners are in every state. They represent every profession. They are landowners that carry the history in their ownership of the greatest freedom in the world, the American right to freely own and freely develop that ownership,” states NARO’s website.

Thompson, R-Marietta, said he introduced the provision to have the General Assembly make appointments to the board because the budget is required to be balanced and revenue has been coming up short.

“One area where revenue could be generated is in leasing state lands and those properties whose mineral rights have been locked up due to their proximity to state lands,” Thompson said.

Kasich said he vetoed the measure because it may create potential conflicts on how public lands under executive branch jurisdiction are used.

“No provision is made for how those conflicts would be resolved or how utilization policies would be harmonized, which could potentially lead to harm to Ohio’s public lands,” Kasich said in his veto.

The federal government has recently clarified that oil and gas drilling can occur in the Wayne National Forest and on adjacent properties.

“Every one of the parcels in the Wayne National Forest that the Bureau of Land Management leases, there is a stipulation that there will be no surface disruption. The Ohio Oil and Gas Leasing Commission would simply perform the functions at the state level that the BLM does on the federal level,” Clutter emphasized.

Among other duties, the Oil and Gas Leasing Commission would determine who owns the rights to the mineral resources underground to determine where royalties would be paid.

“Fifty-nine percent of sub-surface mineral rights in the Wayne National Forest are owned by private citizens,” Clutter noted. “This is a private property rights issue.”

The budget goes next to the state Senate for approval. As of Friday, the office of Sen. Frank Hoagland, R-Mingo Junction, had not been notified as to when the Senate will reconvene for a vote.