Feds To Allow Fracking In State Forest

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management wants to open more than 45-hundred acres of the Blue Rock State Forest in Muskingum County to fracking. Bids from oil and gas companies will be sought in a December 12th public sale. Environmental-advocacy groups are asking why neither federal nor state officials took any additional steps to inform the public about the sale. A bureau spokesperson says the agency followed rules for public notification and put the land up for auction only after Ohio Department of Natural Resources officials consented. State officials say the decision was made without their input.