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Ruling by state appeals panel favors Patriot
By Karl Henkel
and Ed Runyan
WARREN
The Ohio Environmental Review Appeals Commission has ruled a state environmental official did not “substantially support” his stance regarding the revocation of permits to the city of Warren and Patriot Water Treatment LLC, once again providing a gasp of air for the nearly year-old brine-wastewater treatment plant.
In a ruling handed down by ERAC late Tuesday, the entity determined it could not grant OEPA director Scott Nally the authority to remand permits issued to the city and company.
The permits allowed Patriot to operate as a fracking wastewater treatment facility and Warren to accept the pretreated wastewater from Patriot.
The ERAC ruling solidifies the original permits and calls into question the new permits enacted Monday by OEPA that don’t allow Warren to accept Patriot’s wastewater. Patriot says there is no evidence of water-quality changes to warrant the new restrictions.
State officials claim Patriot’s operation violates Ohio law, which says “brine” or fracking wastewater can be disposed only via brine-injection wells, as dust or ice control on roads, or any other method approved by the director.
OEPA, through a series of Ohio Department of Natural Resources emails, granted permits to both Patriot and Warren in 2010.
Tuesday’s was the second ERAC ruling that favored Patriot.
In December, ERAC ruled that OEPA did not prove that it unlawfully granted permits related to fracking wastewater and that the ODNR legitimately permitted Patriot’s business in accordance with Ohio law.
ERAC has the sole and exclusive jurisdiction to decide any issue related to lawfulness or reasonableness of OEPA permits.
But because ERAC ruled lawfulness is not in question, Patriot-related legal questions now will go through the state legal system, likely Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.
Judge Andrew Logan on Tuesday canceled a pretrial hearing scheduled for today after OEPA filed a 23-page brief late Monday.
Patriot filed an approximately 50-page response Tuesday morning.
Patriot had filed for a preliminary injunction against the OEPA, seeking to stave off the entity’s newly implemented permit for the city of Warren, which will take effect April 1.
Patriot, which employs 25, could shut down operations if Warren’s new permit stands.
“We’re very comfortable with what the EPA has done,” said Rob Nichols, a spokesman for Ohio Gov. John Kasich. “We aren’t going to play this out in the press.”