Fracking the Wayne
The federal government auctioned 2,776 acres of Ohio's only national forest to five out-of-state drilling companies for about $11 million — the first such sale in nearly a decade, at a royalty rate Congress had just cut.
In September 2026 the Bureau of Land Management sold 40 oil-and-gas parcels beneath the Wayne National Forest to companies from Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, and Texas. The headline number, $11.09 million, is real. So is the quieter part: the leases were sold at the reduced federal royalty rate written into the 2025 budget law, so the public's share of whatever comes out of the ground is smaller than it would have been a year earlier. This is what the policy we documented in “The Fire-Sale Lease” looks like in practice. We grade the sale and its terms as fact, attribute the environmental-cost claims to the groups making them, and flag the viral numbers that don't check out.
What this page is about
On September 17–18, 2026, the Bureau of Land Management held a quarterly oil-and-gas lease sale that auctioned 40 parcels — 2,776 acres in Monroe and Washington counties, under the Wayne National Forest, Ohio's only national forest, for $11.09 million. It was the first Wayne lease sale since March 2017. All five winning bidders are out-of-state: Pennsylvania's Apex Energy took 25 parcels for about $7.98 million; Oklahoma's Gulfport Appalachia, Texas's R&R Royalty and Texas Independent Exploration, and Pennsylvania's Ohio Gasco took the rest.
The part that makes this more than a local story is the rate. The 2025 budget law — the “One Big Beautiful Bill” — cut the federal onshore oil-and-gas royalty from 16.67% back down to 12.5%, so every barrel and cubic foot produced here returns less to the public than it would have under the prior rate; the bonus and royalty money is then split between the federal government and Ohio. Environmental lawyers say the sale violates protections for endangered wildlife. We treat the sale, the buyers, and the rate as documented fact; we attribute the environmental-loss estimates to the advocates making them; and we set aside two viral figures — a “$7.9 million in lost royalties” and an industry “$400 million a day” — that we could not substantiate.
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Fracking the Wayne
The federal government auctioned 2,776 acres of Ohio's only national forest to five out-of-state drilling companies for ~$11M — the first such sale in nearly a decade, at a royalty rate Congress had just cut.
The claim this page defends
The federal government auctioned drilling rights under 2,776 acres of Ohio's only national forest to five out-of-state companies for about $11 million — the first such sale since 2017 — at a royalty rate Congress had just cut from 16.67% to 12.5%, so the public gave up a public forest's subsurface and took a smaller share of the proceeds for the privilege.
From the last sale to this one: 2017 – 2026
- March 2017. The BLM holds its last Wayne National Forest lease sale, auctioning 20 parcels in Monroe County — the start of the modern fight over drilling under the forest.
- 2025. The “One Big Beautiful Bill” cuts the federal onshore oil-and-gas royalty rate from 16.67% back to 12.5% and mandates more frequent lease sales.
- January 2026. The BLM scopes the Wayne parcels for a new sale.
- July 2026. The BLM announces the quarterly auction.
- September 17–18, 2026. The BLM sells 40 parcels / 2,776 acres for $11.09 million to five out-of-state firms — the first Wayne sale in over nine years. The Ohio Environmental Council says it violates environmental law.
The record, claim by claim
The BLM auctioned 40 parcels — 2,776 acres of the Wayne National Forest — for $11.09 million in September 2026, the first sale since 2017.
FACTAt a quarterly oil-and-gas lease sale on September 17–18, 2026, the Bureau of Land Management sold drilling rights to 40 parcels totaling 2,776 acres in Monroe and Washington counties, beneath the Wayne National Forest, for $11.09 million in signing bonuses. It was the first Wayne National Forest lease sale since March 2017, when the BLM auctioned 20 parcels in Monroe County. The Wayne is Ohio's only national forest — established in 1935, about 244,000 acres across 12 counties, with units around Athens, Ironton, and Marietta.
- Ohio Capital Journal — '2,776 acres of Ohio's Wayne National Forest leased for more than $11 million for fracking' (Sept 18, 2026)
- Signal Ohio — 'Fracking industry pays $11 million for first leases in Ohio's only national forest'
- WTAP — 'BLM sells 40 oil and gas parcels in Wayne National Forest' (Sept 18, 2026)
All five winning bidders are out-of-state oil-and-gas companies.
FACTEvery parcel went to a company headquartered outside Ohio. Pennsylvania's Apex Energy Operating III took 25 of the 40 parcels for about $7.98 million — the bulk of the sale. Oklahoma's Gulfport Appalachia took 5 parcels for about $1.99 million; Texas's R&R Royalty took 6 for about $864,000; Texas Independent Exploration took 3 for about $242,000; and Pennsylvania's Ohio Gasco took a single parcel for about $26,000. The public forest is Ohio's; the drilling rights, and the profits from them, now belong to firms based elsewhere.
The leases were sold at a royalty rate Congress had just cut — from 16.67% back to 12.5% — with proceeds split federal/state.
FACTThe 2025 budget reconciliation law (the 'One Big Beautiful Bill') rolled the federal onshore oil-and-gas royalty rate back from 16.67% to 12.5% and required the government to hold more lease sales. So the Wayne parcels were sold under the lower rate: whatever oil and gas is produced returns a smaller public share than it would have under the rate in effect a year earlier. The signing bonuses and future royalties are split between the federal government and the State of Ohio. This sale is the local, concrete face of that national policy — see our fuller account in 'The Fire-Sale Lease.'
Environmental lawyers say the sale violates laws protecting endangered wildlife and environmental quality.
SOME SMOKENathan Johnson, senior attorney for the Ohio Environmental Council, said the lease sale violates important environmental laws meant to protect endangered wildlife and the quality of the air and water, and critics argue it trades decades of the forest's carbon storage and watershed protection for a one-time payment. We grade this SOME SMOKE and attribute it: the legal objection is real and on the record, but whether the sale actually breaks the law is a claim that will be tested, not a settled finding, and the specific environmental-cost figures (years of carbon sequestration, clean air and water) are advocacy estimates rather than audited numbers. We carry the objection as what it is — a serious, sourced challenge — without adopting its quantities as our own.
The viral '$7.9 million in lost royalties' and '$400 million a day' figures do not check out as stated.
FALSE / MISLEADINGWe grade these because the meme version of this story leans on them, and getting them wrong would hand critics an easy dismissal. The claim that Ohio 'lost $7.9M in royalty fees' appears to be a confusion with the $7.98 million signing bonus that Apex Energy alone paid — it is a bonus figure, not a calculated royalty loss, and no source supports a $7.9M royalty shortfall. The '$400 million a day' industry-profit line is unsourced and we could not verify it. The real, defensible point survives without them: the royalty rate was cut from 16.67% to 12.5%, which reduces the public's future take from this and every other new federal lease. We flag the bad numbers so the sound argument isn't dragged down with them.
Which numbers hold up, and which don't
- The sale is fully documented. The acreage, the $11.09 million, the five out-of-state winners, and the first-since-2017 framing are all in contemporaneous Ohio reporting with named parcels and bids.
- The royalty cut is the real fiscal story. Not a mysterious “$7.9M loss,” but a rate cut from 16.67% to 12.5% that lowers the public's share of production — a policy choice, made in the 2025 budget law, now applied to a national forest.
- The environmental case is a live legal claim, not a verdict. We carry the Ohio Environmental Council's objection and attribute it; we don't assert the sale is illegal or put an audited price on the lost forest services.
- We threw out the bad numbers on purpose. The “$7.9M in lost royalties” and “$400M a day” lines are exactly the kind of viral overreach that lets a real story be waved away. Cutting them is what keeps the sourced case standing.
A public forest, sold cheap, to people who don't live there
This page sits in Looting the American Public because it is the pattern in miniature: a shared, permanent public asset — the only national forest an entire state has — converted into a one-time payment for out-of-state companies, at a moment when Congress has just cut the public's cut of the proceeds. It is the same machine as the fire-sale leasing mandate and the 1872 hardrock giveaway — the steady transfer of what the public owns into private hands on terms the public keeps making worse for itself. The Wayne will still be there; what changed is who profits from underneath it, and how little the rest of us get in return.
Questions worth taking seriously
Wasn't Wayne National Forest already leased for fracking years ago?
There was a big fight in 2016–17, when the BLM held its last Wayne lease sale. But this is a new, separate sale: 40 parcels, 2,776 acres, $11.09 million, on September 17–18, 2026 — the first Wayne sale since March 2017. It's not recycled; it's a fresh auction under the current administration's expanded leasing push.
Did Ohio really 'lose $7.9 million in royalties'?
No — that number appears to be a mix-up with the $7.98 million signing bonus Apex Energy alone paid, which is money coming in, not a loss. We couldn't find any source for a $7.9M royalty shortfall, so we don't use it. The real fiscal hit is the rate cut: the federal royalty went from 16.67% to 12.5% in the 2025 budget law, so the public collects a smaller percentage of everything produced.
Is the sale illegal, like the environmental groups say?
That's a claim being made, not a ruling. The Ohio Environmental Council's senior attorney says the sale violates laws protecting endangered wildlife and environmental quality — a serious, on-the-record objection that may end up in court. We report it and attribute it; we don't declare the sale illegal, because that hasn't been decided.
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This site aggregates and grades a record that other outlets and primary sources have already put on the record. Every FACT-graded claim above is sourced to court filings, government reports, sworn whistleblower disclosures, published investigative journalism, or named-source statements. The citations are the accountability mechanism; this section is how you get on the record too.
The record
- Ohio Capital Journal — 2,776 acres of the Wayne leased for $11M+ for fracking (Sept 18, 2026)
- Signal Ohio — fracking industry pays $11M for the first leases in Ohio's only national forest
- WTAP — BLM sells 40 oil-and-gas parcels in the Wayne National Forest (Sept 18, 2026)
- 10TV — Ohio's Wayne National Forest leased for fracking (buyers and totals)
- Cleveland Scene — the sale and the Ohio Environmental Council's legal objection
- Black Book Audit — “The Fire-Sale Lease” (the OBBBA leasing mandate and royalty cut)
- Black Book Audit — “The 1872 Giveaway”