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Ruling keeps Patriot Water project afloat
By Karl Henkel
WARREN
One down, one to go.
The Ohio Environmental Review Appeals Commission ruled Thursday that the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency did not prove that it unlawfully granted Patriot Water Treatment LLC and Warren permits for brine-water disposal.
OEPA Director Scott Nally, who was not director when the permits were granted in 2010, had argued that the state EPA had illegally approved permits for Patriot and the city.
ERAC overruled that claim and said the Ohio Department of Natural Resources legitimately permitted Patriot’s business in accordance with Ohio law.
ODNR is the sole governing body in Ohio of the oil and gas industry, which includes brine disposal. OEPA oversees water quality.
Patriot treats low salinity, high total-dissolved-solids water from fracking, a process in which water, chemicals and sand are blasted into rocks thousands of feet below the ground to unlock natural gas and oil.
After the water is treated to pre-approved safety standards by pressing the total-dissolved-solids out of the water, it goes to the city’s waste-water treatment plant, where it is further cleaned.
But Thursday’s ruling does not mean Patriot is in the clear to continue its expansion projects.
Warren’s brine-water permit is set to expire next month, and OEPA has said it will not renew it on the basis that “brine,” in its broad definition, cannot be disposed of through waste-water treatment plants.
Ohio law states that brine can be disposed of by injection wells, road surfaces for ice or dust control, or by any new technology or method approved by ODNR.
The problem, industry experts say, is that the definition of brine — all saline geological water used in oil or gas exploration — isn’t an appropriate definition.
They argue low-salinity, high total-dissolved- solids brine should not be accepted by injection wells in mass quantities; it has the potential to clog wells much like a swimming-pool filter. High salinity, low TDS brine is ideal for injection wells because it cannot properly be treated by waste-water plants.
If the state decides not to renew the permits, Patriot said it will be a severe detriment to its business model; Patriot’s facilities were built near Warren’s waste-water treatment plant.
Patriot has also acquired land in Youngstown, Steubenville and East Liverpool for similar facilities. It says it could create 600 jobs.