State regulators to be deposed in Patriot case
Staff report
WARREN
The Environmental Review Appeals Commission has ruled that state environmental regulators will be deposed today in a case involving Patriot Water Treatment LLC.
The ERAC on Tuesday ruled in favor of Patriot in the company’s quest to retain permits for itself and the city of Warren.
The ERAC said the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency cannot avoid producing witnesses for deposition testimony in two pending pieces of litigation.
The 10-month-old company treats some brine wastewater from fracking sites.
Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is a process in which water, chemicals and sand are blasted through pipes into rocks thousands of feet below the ground to unlock natural gas and oil.
Patriot treats some of the low-salinity brine water before sending it to Warren’s wastewater plant.
Last week, before the anticipated start of depositions, the state filed a document with ERAC that claimed brine-water permits for Patriot and the city were illegally permitted based on interpretation of a statute in the Ohio Revised Code regarding the disposal of brine water by Scott McNally, director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
“While we are pleased that the commission made a clear ruling today and that we can move forward with our legal case, we remain disappointed that Ohio EPA has engaged in protracted legal posturing that has cost our business time and money,” said Andrew Blocksom, president of Patriot, in a statement.
Should Patriot and Warren lose their brine-water permits, it could stagnate the company’s growth, which Blocksom said could add hundreds of jobs to the local economy.