Athens County residents have five business days left to make any public comments or objections for a new injection well.
As of Tuesday, Athens County residents have five business days left to make any public comments or objections for a newly proposed injection well.
An application for what would be Athens County’s ninth injection well was filed this past summer by D.T. Atha, Inc., an oil and gas company located in Albany. If approved, the injection well would be located off Route 144, making it the company’s second injection well in the county.
An injection well is a device that pumps a water mixture of chemicals and salt water into the ground below the soil that results from fracking. Fracking is the process of injecting water with chemicals at a high pressure into rocks underground to force open and extract existing oil and gas.
"We always welcome input from the public and work hard to address concerns," Eric Heis, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, said.
Heis also said in an email that part of the process to permit an injection well includes considering public comments before issuing the permit to drill.
According to the Ohio Revised Code, comments can be submitted in writing to the Underground Injection Control Section of the Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management. Residents have until Nov. 30 to submit any concerns related to the proposed injection well.
“Someone saying ‘I don’t like injection wells’ wouldn’t be a substantial comment,” Heis said.
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Heis added that the comment period is open for a specific amount of time, and if a comment is substantial, the division will look into the concern.
The Athens County Commissioners requested a public hearing in 2013, when D.T. Atha, Inc. had its first injection well placed in the county, commissioner Charlie Adkins said. Adkins said the company refused.
“We’ve had our own hearings without (the company) to get feedback from the community,” Adkins said, pointing to the request to have a hearing two or three years ago.
Adkins said during those hearings, community members brought up concerns about the barrels of waste going into the ground and monitoring of water quality.
“The state doesn’t require these companies to do that,” he said. “We think they should monitor the air and water quality.”
Adkins added that the injection well would bring no revenue into the region to help offset the tax base in the county.
“Apparently it’s clear that they have no concerns about this part of the region,” Adkins said. “There’s no doubt in my mind, if I was putting money on it, that it’ll be approved.”
Approval for the injection well won’t be determined until the public comment period is over.
Roxanne Groff, a member of the Athens County Fracking Action Network and a Bern Township trustee, said citizens of Athens County weren't happy with the first application from D.T. Atha, Inc.
She said the second well's location proposal is a big concern due to the proximity to the first well and the Hocking River.
"That makes an even more dangerous situation because of the water being in jeopardy," Groff said. "Everyone depends on springs and wells."
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