Looting the American Public · Investigation · 2017–2026
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.
FACT
§2 · Thesis
The BLM sold drilling rights under 2,776 acres of Ohio's only national forest to five out-of-state firms for ~$11M — first sale since 2017 — at a royalty rate cut from 16.67% to 12.5%, so the public gave up a forest's subsurface and took a smaller share for it.
The concrete face of the fire-sale leasing policy. Sale and terms = FACT; environmental case = attributed; the viral loss figures = flagged.
§5 · Graded Claim
The BLM auctioned 40 parcels — 2,776 acres of the Wayne National Forest — for $11.09M in Sept 2026, the first sale since 2017.
FACT
Quarterly oil-and-gas lease sale, Sept 17-18, 2026: 40 parcels in Monroe + Washington counties under the Wayne (Ohio's only national forest; est. 1935, ~244,000 ac, 12 counties). $11.09M in signing bonuses. First Wayne sale since March 2017.
§5 · Graded Claim
All five winning bidders are out-of-state.
FACT
Apex Energy (PA) 25 parcels ~$7.98M; Gulfport Appalachia (OK) 5 ~$1.99M; R&R Royalty (TX) 6 ~$864k; Texas Independent Exploration (TX) 3 ~$242k; Ohio Gasco (PA) 1 ~$26k. The forest is Ohio's; the drilling rights and profits now belong to firms based elsewhere.
§5 · Graded Claim
The leases were sold at a royalty rate Congress had just cut — 16.67% back to 12.5% — with proceeds split federal/state.
FACT
The 2025 'One Big Beautiful Bill' rolled the federal onshore oil-and-gas royalty from 16.67% to 12.5% and mandated more lease sales. So the Wayne parcels return a smaller public share of whatever's produced than a year earlier; bonuses + royalties split federal/Ohio. The local face of the national policy (see The Fire-Sale Lease).
§5 · Graded Claim
Environmental lawyers say the sale violates laws protecting endangered wildlife and environmental quality.
SOME SMOKE
Nathan Johnson of the Ohio Environmental Council says the sale violates environmental laws; critics argue it trades decades of the forest's carbon storage and watershed protection for a one-time payment. A serious, on-the-record objection that may go to court — attributed, not adopted as a verdict, and the specific environmental-cost figures are advocacy estimates.
▦ Still unknown
The viral '$7.9M in lost royalties' and '$400M a day' figures do not check out — we do NOT use them.
This line is still blank
The '$7.9M lost royalties' appears to be a mix-up with Apex's $7.98M signing BONUS (money in, not a loss), unsourced as a royalty shortfall; the '$400M/day industry profit' is unverified. The real, defensible point survives: the royalty RATE was cut 16.67% -> 12.5%. We flag the bad numbers so the sound case isn't dragged down with them.
Help us fill it →§7 · Why it matters now
A public forest, sold cheap, to people who don't live there.
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 just cut the public's share of the proceeds. 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.
▸ Looting the American Public →
▦ Ledger gaps
Help us fill these lines.
- OpenThe environmental case is a live legal claim, not a verdict — carried and attributed to the Ohio Environmental Council, not asserted as illegality.
- OpenWe deliberately cut the viral '$7.9M lost royalties' (bonus/loss confusion) and '$400M/day' (unsourced) — the sound argument is the rate cut, and it stands without them.
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