Ohio Environmentalists Lose Appeal in Anti-Fracking Lawsuit

Environmentalist groups can’t challenge in court an Ohio’s commission’s decision to allow fracking under public lands, state appeals judges ruled Thursday, rejecting pleas to revive a lawsuit.

The state Oil & Gas Land Management Commission wasn’t performing a “licensing function” when it approved most of the disputed pieces of land for oil and gas exploration, the Ohio Court of Appeals, Tenth District panel said as it dealt another blow to the environmentalists who argued otherwise. Therefore, courts don’t have the legal ability to review the commission’s approvals and the trial judge was correct to dismiss the case because the ...