OEPA admits there was no water quality study in Warren

OEPA admits there was no water quality study in Warren

WARREN

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has admitted a “poor choice of words” in a January media statement regarding Warren-based Patriot Water Treatment LLC.

In that statement, OEPA Spokesman Chris Abbruzzese said the entity drafted a water quality permit for the City of Warren based on a “science based study conducted in the Mahoning River from December 2010 until September 2011.”

The problem, however, is that such a study was never conducted.

Says who?

Says OEPA officials in emails obtained by Patriot, which the company shared with The Vindicator.

“There was no study, such as a special stream survey, etc., that we did in support of the renewal,” Gary Stuhlfauth of OEPA said in a Jan. 23 email to six other OEPA employees.

At least three other emails indicate that OEPA employees had no knowledge of the study, which was used to draft a strict water-quality standard permit on Warren.

The quality standards, if enacted, would be the toughest in Ohio and would likely spell the end to Patriot, which treats wastewater from fracking, and likely cost other businesses, like General Motors Lordstown and RG Steel to spend millions on in-house water pretreatment processes.

This isn’t the first time OEPA emails have surfaced publicly.

The Vindicator in January published excerpts from an email that showed OEPA and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources agreed to permit Patriot’s operations.

The two agencies now say that permit was illegally issued, despite the fact both OK’d the permit.

In fact, Andrew Blocksom, president of Patriot, has requested a steady stream of documents from OEPA and ODNR, so it should not have been a surprise that he’d request more emails.

An OEPA spokesman did not immediately return an email seeking comment.

Read the complete story in Wednesday’s Vindicator and at Vindy.com.