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ODNR, DeWine could take action against Patriot Water in Warren
warren
Patriot Water Treatment could face action from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and Attorney General Mike DeWine if it continues to send brine to the city’s treatment plant.
Patriot President Andrew Blocksom scoffed at the threat, saying he is still waiting for any determination from the state that the facility has done anything wrong.
“I’ve already spent nearly $1 million fighting this,” he said. “They’re trying to put me out of business.”
Sending brine water to Warren’s wastewater treatment plant would violate the law, said Chris Abbruzzese, Ohio EPA communications director.
Patriot was designed to treat low-salinity brine water from oil and gas drilling sites. The water was then to be sent to the city’s water-treatment plant.
Though the ruling from the Ohio Environmental Review Appeals Commission upheld Patriot’s treatment of brine water, Warren’s permit is solely for basic water treatment and does not allow for treatment of brine, Abbruzzese said.
“Releasing brine to the Warren treatment [facility] is not an option,” Abbruzzese said. “If they could find an alternative method, that would be fine.”
Currently ODNR allows only three potential disposal methods for water generated from oil and gas production: It can be placed into a deep injection well, used as road salt, or a company can seek a new technology permit from the ODNR’s oil and gas division to dispose of it in other ways.
State law requires that any water that will become part of surface water or ground water must meet the standards of the Safe Drinking Water Act, which requires brine fluids be made potable – or drinkable – before being released.
For the ODNR to grant a new technology permit. Patriot would have to apply and demonstrate that the water coming from Patriot was drinkable before releasing it to the water treatment facility, said Carlo LoParo, communications chief for ODNR.
At this time, Patriot has not applied to ODNR for a new technology permit to dispose of brine.
Since Patriot is not permitted through the ODNR, LoParo said the agency would not seek any enforcement if Patriot continues to send brine water to Warren’s treatment facility.
Instead, the attorney general’s office would be in charge of enforcement. According to the Ohio Revised Code, potential violations of the state’s law preventing brine from being released into the Warren water treatment plant could result in fines between $2,500 to $20,000 for each violation.
Blocksom said he believes at this point the Ohio EPA and ODNR are unwilling to accept that the agencies lost the ERAC decision, which allows Patriot to resume operations under the old permits.
The ruling from ERAC cites an e-mail from 2009 in which former ODNR head John Husted stated that Patriot’s proposal would have to be permitted by the Ohio EPA. It also shows that the Ohio EPA and ODNR communicated at that time about what laws would be applicable to the Patriot facility.
“It’s fine if they want to use the current law for our next plant,” Blocksom said. “They can’t go back and change the law for the plant we’ve already built.”
Patriot was able to get its original permit after ODNR relinquished any potential oversight to the Ohio EPA, Blocksom said.
“The only reason the e-mail used by ERAC showed up is because John Husted was honorable, stood up and mentioned them during court [the ERAC hearing],” Blocksom said. “They were trying to hide them from us.”
The city of Warren currently is not treating any water from Patriot, said Mayor Doug Franklin.
“We’re still looking for some clarification on the ruling,” he said. “We want to do what’s legal and what’s safe for the environment.”