Their names appeared on letters urging fracking Ohio’s state parks. They don’t know how.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The letter from Briella Keep to her state government was simple – Ohio should for the first time allow “responsible” oil and gas exploration under state parks like Salt Fork.

But there was one problem. Briella Keep was 9 years old on July 5, the day the letter was sent to the Oil and Gas Land Management Commission (OGLMC), and there’s no way she could have written it, according to her mother, Brittany Keep.

Briella likes trees, nature, clothes, and dolls, like many girls her age. She doesn’t know anything about oil and gas exploration. She lives about 130 miles away from Salt Fork. Neither Briella nor her mother have ever visited.

Brittany Keep has no clue how her phone number, her daughter’s email address, or their home address, wound up on a letter touting “opportunities for economic development and the creation of family-sustaining jobs” in Ohio.

“This is not OK,” Brittany Keep said. “She definitely did not submit that draft.”

The Keeps are among the dozens of Ohioans who say they believe their names were used without permission in a flood of public comments urging the newly formed commission to allow fracking for oil and natural gas in Salt Fork and other state parks and protected lands, an investigation from Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer has found.

Thousands of pro-fracking comments barraged the inbox of the commission, which will decide in the coming months whether to free mineral rights under state lands for leasing and bidding from oil and gas drillers. One set of those form letters traces back to an entity that advocates for the natural gas industry.

The nonprofit Consumer Energy Alliance has previously been accused of using citizens’ names on government petitions and public comments without their permission in Wisconsin in 2014, in Ohio in 2016, and in North Carolina in 2018.

The alliance denied any wrongdoing, saying that it uses a digital trail to confirm that the names submitted for the form letters through an online portal are authentic.

Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer have interviewed 35 citizens who say they didn’t write, send, or even know about letters sent in their name urging the state to allow for drilling at state parks. Several said they didn’t know what fracking means – the process of freeing methane from shale thousands of feet underground using water, sand and chemicals at high pressure, technically known as hydraulic fracturing. Others were appalled by the letters written using their names.

Three other people wrote to the commission in early August, in emails obtained by public records request, to say their names were used without consent and asking staff to remove them from the record.

“Wow, that’s sad to hear,” said Justin Watkins, of Columbus, after he was told about a pro-fracking comment from the Consumer Energy Alliance sent in his name. “I am not in support of fracking and have never pledged to be.”

Another man whose name appeared on a Consumer Energy Alliance letter, Charles Leftwich, from Cleveland, said fracking is just “city boys exploiting the rural environment.” He said it’s infuriating to hear of people’s names like his being used without his having knowingly permitted it.

“Fracking destroys the water table, the land, it destroys everything,” he said. “It doesn’t need to be taking place anywhere near a state park, that’s why it’s a state park.”

Opponents of fracking in state parks like the Ohio Environmental Council and the grassroots Save Our Parks say letters matching the boilerplate letters should be stripped from the record. They say the comments distort the picture of who wants undeveloped nature sold to the fossil fuel industry, and they undermine a public comment process required by law.

The commission will soon decide whether to open Salt Fork, Wolf Run State Park, Zepernick Wildlife Area, and Valley Run Wildlife Area, all in Eastern Ohio, for oil and gas exploration. Ohio Department of Natural Resources spokesman Andy Chow said the commission is aware of the “concerns” about public comments that were submitted.

He said anyone who believes a comment was submitted without their knowledge or permission should alert the commission, which will remove it from the record. But he declined to comment on how anyone whose name was used without their knowledge could be expected to know as much.

“If anyone believes they are the victim of identity fraud they are encouraged to reach out to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office,” Chow said.

A swath of the letters stems from The Consumer Energy Alliance, a nonprofit funded in part by the oil and gas industry that lobbies for fossil fuel interests. The alliance submitted more than 1,000 letters stating that allowing for “energy development” in state parks will allow for more investment in state parks.

“From increasing our state’s conservation efforts to the ability to maintain and enhance the facilities at our state parks, this generational opportunity is one which we need,” the letter states.

In interviews with Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer, 25 people whose names appear on those public comments say they didn’t send them or allow someone else to do so. Notably, not a single person interviewed for this story whose name appeared on a CEA form letter said they had sent the letters showing their own name or knowingly authorized them. One man, in a voicemail, said he “may have signed something” but didn’t write any letter himself. He couldn’t be reached with follow-up calls, texts, or emails.

Another, John Goodwin, said he never would have sent a letter like the one that appears under his name. He doesn’t necessarily oppose fracking, so long as the spent brine, a toxic byproduct, is responsibly disposed. But he’d never support fracking state parks.

“I would never do it under park land or anything like that,” he said. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

Ten more people whose names appeared on form letters of unknown origin also told Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer they didn’t send them or knowingly agree to it and don’t know who did. However, two people said they did allow their names to be used.

In an interview, Consumer Energy Alliance spokesman Bryson Hull said his agency did not use names without permission.

The alliance gathered its letters via an online system for supporters to submit their names. Hull said no form of digital mass advocacy is perfect, but the alliance maintains a “digital trail” that tracks the devices and locations of people whose names appear on CEA’s letters. The alliance cross checks names, IP addresses, user locations, and other data points to determine within “a reasonable degree of certainty” that people are who they say they are.

For instance, one woman who asked in an interview that her name not be used said she was legally blind, doesn’t use the computer, and didn’t recall allowing anyone to affix her name to the letter, which was read to her over the phone.

Hull said she’s probably right.

“If she can’t see, chances are it wasn’t her. I wouldn’t disagree with you,” he said. “What I’m saying is somebody who put that email in, that IP address tracks back to a location that is listed as that woman’s address. So within a reasonable degree of certainty, those are the right people. One thing that needs to be very clear, Consumer Energy Alliance has no interest, does not make it standard practice, and in fact it would be terrible business to use people’s names without their consent. We don’t need to.”

Hull said those who disputed that they authorized the letters could have forgotten, or perhaps shied away from telling a reporter about a controversial opinion. He said 25 is a small subset of the more than 1,000 comments submitted.

He said the Alliance works with a vendor and “funnels” people from different websites, which he provided. The sites ask for information with offers to provide guaranteed credit card approvals, to help find money from class-action lawsuits, to enter sweepstakes for cash, to provide $40,000 cash loans or access to “the newest” $1,400 stimulus checks.

Hull said CEA’s vendor places ads on those websites, which ask users for their names, addresses and contact details. Anyone who enters those details is filtered to receive information specific to their location. When they reached the form letter, Hull said, users were asked to verify biographical details again and given a chance to personalize the letter before clicking send.

Hull declined to comment about the substance of the websites, saying the decision belongs with a subcontractor, whom he declined to identify.

“CEA is very concerned if there’s anything that’s false here,” he said. “Or if anybody feels their name was – that’s an important thing. We take that very seriously. And it’s unfortunate.”

A Cleveland.com/The Plain Dealer reporter tested the CEA’s online system by entering a fictitious name with a genuine email address and phone number. The organization’s filters identified this before it was entered into the public comments.

Hull repeatedly accused “the other side” – referring to Save Ohio Parks – of using similar advocacy tactics as the Consumer Energy Alliance.

Indeed, Save Ohio Parks encourages Ohioans to comment to the commission via an online submission that offers “sample text.” But Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer reached 27 authors of those letters. Most were unique and didn’t rely on the provided sample text. Every author who responded to inquiries confirmed that they wrote their letter, and many went on to press their case against fracking in state parks.

Willard Loudermelt, of North Royalton, said he most definitely wrote his letter urging against fracking in state parks.

“In fact, I believe this is the dumbest idea anyone has ever had,” he said in an email. “Unfortunately the money is going to determine whether they do this, no matter what we say.”

The Consumer Energy Alliance has left a trail in three states over about 10 years of people saying the organization used their names on government petitions without consent.

The organization, based in Houston and staffed and operated by HBW Resources, a public relations and lobbying firm, runs on dues from its members, which include major oil and gas companies like Dominion Energy, Columbia Gas, Shell, and others.

In 2014, the Consumer Energy Alliance submitted 2,500 comments to the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin as it reviewed a proposed electricity rate hike, according to a regulatory filing. The purported signees said they believed “every energy consumer should pay a fair share for maintaining the electrical grid.” However, the Madison Capital Times reported that several signees said they were misrepresented and opposed the rate hike. Environmental advocates asked the commission to toss the petitions.

David Holt, president of the alliance, said in a letter filed with the commission that the organization “reviewed its internal procedures and verified the authenticity of all the respondents and the accuracy of our petition process.” Regardless, he requested the petition be withdrawn. An administrative law judge agreed, issuing an order doing so due to “fundamental flaws” in the document and “inadequate and incorrect information” provided by the Consumer Energy Alliance.

Hull provided a copy of a letter the Milwaukee District Attorney’s office wrote saying that while the Consumer Energy Alliance apparently provided false information, no evidence exists to show this was done so intentionally. The office closed the investigation without criminal charges.

Two years later, a similar issue boiled over in Ohio as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission weighed approval of the Nexus Gas Transmission pipeline, which runs between Ohio and Michigan. The Consumer Energy Alliance submitted 347 supporting letters to the federal regulators, regulatory filings show.

Opponents of the pipeline later challenged those letters, submitting sworn statements from 14 purported signees disputing that they ever signed such a letter or gave anyone permission to send it in their names. Several added handwritten notes to their affidavits calling the actions a “travesty” and a “fraud.”

The Alliance answered to the allegation in regulatory filings, arguing it conducted legitimate, automated telephone surveys that trigger the generation of its letters. It said perhaps some people changed their mind after receiving phone calls from opponents “questioning their position and harassing those individuals into retracting or altering their support.” In other instances, people could have changed their phone numbers, not understood the question, or have forgotten taking the survey, the alliance said.

As Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer reported at the time, one of those letters listed the name of a man who died in 1998.

In 2018, another similar instance arose. Lawmakers in South Carolina were considering legislation that could kill a proposed utility company acquisition. Suddenly they received a deluge of Consumer Energy Alliance-originated form letters from constituents urging against it. But as the Post & Courier reported, some of the people whose names appeared on the letters said they were impersonated.

A spokesman for the South Carolina Attorney General said the office received a request from then-House Majority Leader Gary Simrill about the letters. The AG’s office asked state law enforcement to investigate. State law enforcement “told us they were not able to determine where the emails came from,” according to office spokesman Robert Kittle. He didn’t provide further clarification.

There, according to Hull, the Consumer Energy Alliance hired a subcontractor, Media Bridge, which in turn hired another company called LCX Digital. LCX Digital, without Consumer Energy Alliance’s knowledge, slapped real state residents’ names and information on the letters without consent. The latter two companies were later outed in a Buzzfeed News investigation for deploying similar tactics on the scale of millions as the Federal Communications Commission deliberated the then high-profile issue of net neutrality.

“In that case we were 100% victimized for about 200 letters and it was done on a scale by LCX Digital and Media Bridge that was unprecedented in net neutrality,” Hull said.

An attorney who has represented LCX Digital in the past didn’t respond to a call. A number listed in an online directory for the company is no longer in service. Media Bridge founder Shane Cory said in a LinkedIn message that he hasn’t worked with CEA since 2017. He didn’t respond to further inquiries.

Save Our Parks, in a statement, said its members were outraged to learn of Cleveland.com’s findings.

“The public commenting process is critical to decisions that will determine the fate of our Ohio state parks, wildlife areas, and other public lands. Where does the buck stop in ensuring that Ohioans whose names are on these comments actually submitted them?” said Cathy Cowan Becker, a Save Ohio Parks steering committee member.

“No decisions should be made on any fracking nominations until the investigation regarding these emails is complete and the public is confident the commission’s evaluation process is thorough, ethical, democratic, and legal.”

Molly Jo Stanley, the Southeast Ohio Regional Director for the Ohio Environmental Council, in a statement noted that the state has a sordid history with fossil fuels, the most notorious example coming with the recent arrest and subsequent jury conviction of ex-Ohio GOP House Speaker Larry Householder for taking a bribe from a power company in exchange for passing legislation establishing ratepayer funded coal and nuclear bailouts.

She called on the commission to investigate and ensure that all comments in the public record are authentic.

“This is yet another attempt by fossil fuel interests to undermine our democratic processes for their own financial gain,” she said. “Ohioans deserve to know that the public record of comments accurately reflects what the people of Ohio want for their public lands.”

Jake Zuckerman covers state politics and policy for Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer.