Sep 6, 2025
Bev Reed
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
Washington County takes in the second most amount of fracking waste fluid by county in the state. There are 17 Class Il fracking wastewater injection wells in the county — four of them within three miles of the city of Marietta and multiple aquifers that provide drinking water to over 30,000 people. Over 400 million gallons of oil and gas waste has been injected between 2023 and 2024. Our records request for total volumes pre-2023 has not yet been provided by ODNR.
There have recently been three wells proposed in addition to the existing wells, two Class Il wells and a Class I well, by DeepRock Disposal Solutions, LLC. The Ohio EPA permits and regulates Class I wells, while the Ohio Department of Natural Resources regulates Class Il wells.
DeepRock is already permitted to inject over 600,000 gallons of waste a day into its other four wells in the area. Class Il injection wells take in waste fluids from the oil and gas extraction process. The liquid contains radioactive material, harmful chemicals, high salt content and heavy metals.
The American Growers # 4 Class II well was recently permitted earlier this year by ODNR under the old, outdated rules which are not as protective of communities. The Stephan 1 injection well was public-noticed in the newspaper in late July. Under the old rules, the company does not have to do anything other than print a notice in the newspaper for one week. No notification to the local leaders or residents is required under the old rules. The comment period ended on Aug. 8. The ODNR approved that permit to drill this week.
DeepRock Disposal Solutions has applied to the Ohio EPA to drill a Class I industrial liquid waste injection well located at 39.394095, -81.488028, Marietta, Ohio. The Ohio EPA is holding a public meeting on the well on Sept. 9 at 6 p.m. at Marietta High School. If all permits are approved, there will be 21 injection wells in Washington County.
The two big issues at play here are: 1) The state is permitting additional injection wells in this geologically vulnerable area, without addressing the concerns of suspected current brine waste migration. 2) The ODNR is permitting these injection wells under old, outdated rules and regulations since the company applied in 2021, which aren’t as protective as the new rules codified in 2022. Also, there have been seven injection wells that have migrated brine out of intended injection zones in southeast Ohio. Six of them have been shut down. This is more than enough reason for ODNR to investigate the suspected issues at hand before permitting new wells.
Polluters want to make access to clean water a left versus right issue. They know that they can use that rhetoric to destabilize community consensus around protecting ground water resources and ultimately delay regulatory action that might impact their bottom line, profits. The fact is that like most years, in 2024, 99.99% of all oil and gas waste in the state was injected underground in Republican stronghold counties (approximately 30,107,697 barrels worth of toxic and radioactive oil gas waste). The vast majority of those counties are predominantly rural, Appalachian and working class. In Marietta, folks are concerned over threats to their water resources. Local small producing, family owned and operated conventional oil businesses are worried that their access to the market is being taken from them by much larger and politically better connected energy waste corporations.
The reality is that this is not a fight between the left and the right. For Appalachian Ohioans, this is just the most recent battle in a two century long war against a spectrum of corporations and government entities that have long sought to exploit the region — first through the underpriced extraction of its natural resources, and now through the redevelopment of the region as a waste land — The Ohio River Valley’s dumping grounds.
Recently, the city of Marietta has woken up to these issues. They submitted lengthy comments on the ONR on one of the proposed injection wells. Those comments can be found on the city’s website. Local water authorities in the area have also passed resolutions of objection.
Washington County residents have had enough and are declaring NO MORE INJECTION WASTE NEAR MARIETTA, OHIO!
***
Bev Reed is a community organizer and advocate for the Buckeye Environmental Network.
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Posted: September 6, 2025 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: How much is enough?
Sep 6, 2025
Bev Reed
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
Washington County takes in the second most amount of fracking waste fluid by county in the state. There are 17 Class Il fracking wastewater injection wells in the county — four of them within three miles of the city of Marietta and multiple aquifers that provide drinking water to over 30,000 people. Over 400 million gallons of oil and gas waste has been injected between 2023 and 2024. Our records request for total volumes pre-2023 has not yet been provided by ODNR.
There have recently been three wells proposed in addition to the existing wells, two Class Il wells and a Class I well, by DeepRock Disposal Solutions, LLC. The Ohio EPA permits and regulates Class I wells, while the Ohio Department of Natural Resources regulates Class Il wells.
DeepRock is already permitted to inject over 600,000 gallons of waste a day into its other four wells in the area. Class Il injection wells take in waste fluids from the oil and gas extraction process. The liquid contains radioactive material, harmful chemicals, high salt content and heavy metals.
The American Growers # 4 Class II well was recently permitted earlier this year by ODNR under the old, outdated rules which are not as protective of communities. The Stephan 1 injection well was public-noticed in the newspaper in late July. Under the old rules, the company does not have to do anything other than print a notice in the newspaper for one week. No notification to the local leaders or residents is required under the old rules. The comment period ended on Aug. 8. The ODNR approved that permit to drill this week.
DeepRock Disposal Solutions has applied to the Ohio EPA to drill a Class I industrial liquid waste injection well located at 39.394095, -81.488028, Marietta, Ohio. The Ohio EPA is holding a public meeting on the well on Sept. 9 at 6 p.m. at Marietta High School. If all permits are approved, there will be 21 injection wells in Washington County.
The two big issues at play here are: 1) The state is permitting additional injection wells in this geologically vulnerable area, without addressing the concerns of suspected current brine waste migration. 2) The ODNR is permitting these injection wells under old, outdated rules and regulations since the company applied in 2021, which aren’t as protective as the new rules codified in 2022. Also, there have been seven injection wells that have migrated brine out of intended injection zones in southeast Ohio. Six of them have been shut down. This is more than enough reason for ODNR to investigate the suspected issues at hand before permitting new wells.
Polluters want to make access to clean water a left versus right issue. They know that they can use that rhetoric to destabilize community consensus around protecting ground water resources and ultimately delay regulatory action that might impact their bottom line, profits. The fact is that like most years, in 2024, 99.99% of all oil and gas waste in the state was injected underground in Republican stronghold counties (approximately 30,107,697 barrels worth of toxic and radioactive oil gas waste). The vast majority of those counties are predominantly rural, Appalachian and working class. In Marietta, folks are concerned over threats to their water resources. Local small producing, family owned and operated conventional oil businesses are worried that their access to the market is being taken from them by much larger and politically better connected energy waste corporations.
The reality is that this is not a fight between the left and the right. For Appalachian Ohioans, this is just the most recent battle in a two century long war against a spectrum of corporations and government entities that have long sought to exploit the region — first through the underpriced extraction of its natural resources, and now through the redevelopment of the region as a waste land — The Ohio River Valley’s dumping grounds.
Recently, the city of Marietta has woken up to these issues. They submitted lengthy comments on the ONR on one of the proposed injection wells. Those comments can be found on the city’s website. Local water authorities in the area have also passed resolutions of objection.
Washington County residents have had enough and are declaring NO MORE INJECTION WASTE NEAR MARIETTA, OHIO!
***
Bev Reed is a community organizer and advocate for the Buckeye Environmental Network.
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