For years, Ohio has been a disposal destination for hundreds of millions of gallons of toxic wastewater produced by the fracking industry. The wastewater, which contains hazardous chemicals and radioactive material, is pumped deep underground into injection wells, where it’s supposed to stay.
But recently it has been bubbling up to the surface, raising fears about health risks and drinking water contamination. Now, as elections loom, the issue is gaining political traction.
On Thursday Amy Acton, the Democratic candidate for governor in Ohio, pledged her support for a moratorium on this kind of fracking-wastewater disposal during a campaign stop in the town of Marietta, Ohio, where the water has been resurfacing, alarming the community.
The leaks are “destroying local businesses and potentially contaminating Marietta’s drinking water,” said Dr. Acton, a physician who formerly led the Ohio Department of Health. “This poses a serious threat to the safety and quality of life.”
Dr. Acton called for a three-year moratorium on permits for injection wells in Washington County, where Marietta is and a halt on further injection there while Ohio regulators conduct a “thorough investigation” on the effects of underground wastewater migration.
The announcement comes as residents, public officials and water-system administrators in the rural county have urged state leaders to halt the practice, which they say threatens the drinking water sources for 32,000 people. “In Marietta, we have a chance to prevent the worst from happening, and we need to act now,” Dr. Acton said Thursday, pointing to a potential billion-dollar cleanup.
In total, Ohio pumps about 1.4 billion gallons of wastewater underground each year, and as much as half of it comes from out of state, primarily from Pennsylvania.
Ohio has permitted more than 240 injection wells for the disposal of oil and gas waste statewide. By comparison, there are 19 such injection wells in Pennsylvania, and a few dozen in West Virginia, which also borders Ohio. The state became a destination for wastewater because decades ago it received permission from the federal government to regulate its own injection wells. As a result it’s easier to drill them in Ohio than in states where there is federal oversight, like Pennsylvania.
Washington County is home to 19 permitted injection wells, which is as many as the entire state of Pennsylvania. Over the past two years, 59 percent of the 562 million gallons of waste injected under the county came from out of state, according to state records reviewed by The New York Times.
Last year, the City of Marietta declared an emergency after state regulators approved two more injection wells just outside the city limits (a third proposed injection well nearby is pending). Local officials asked the state to halt injection within six miles of the city’s aquifer and to stop permitting new wells. By March, eight local water authorities in the county had also called for a moratorium.
“This is not an anti-energy position. It is a pro-drinking-water position,” said Susan Vessels, a Republican and the president of the Marietta City Council, appearing alongside Dr. Acton. Problems with fracking wastewater migrating to the surface have occurred in Oklahoma and Texas, with documented cases of water contamination.
Mike Chadsey, a spokesman for the Ohio Oil and Gas Association, said a three-year moratorium is “a broad response to issues currently being investigated on a site-specific basis,” adding that regulators already have “the authority to investigate, suspend operations and take corrective action when warranted.”
A campaign spokesman for Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said Dr. Acton’s position is “hollow and can’t withstand scrutiny.”
Migrating fracking wastewater is also starting to affect natural gas wells in the region. When wastewater encroaches on gas wells, it can cause them to stop producing, according to Bob Wilson, who operates gas wells in the region and supplies a local utility, Knox Energy, with gas.
At least 50 of Mr. Wilson’s wells have been flooded by wastewater and no longer produce, he said, which is contributing to gas shortages at Knox.
In recent weeks, Knox has notified some residents that it will be “unable to provide reliable natural gas service,” and has urged them to seek alternate winter heating sources.
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