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Trumbull prosecutor unable to file injunction in brine-well case
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
The Trumbull County Prosecutor’s Office is willing to help Vienna Township trustees research issues relating to a brine-injection well planned for state Route 193 – but could not respond as quickly as the township had wanted, an assistant prosecutor said.
Assistant Prosecutor Bill Danso said Friday the prosecutor’s office was asked Thursday to file an “immediate injunction,” but the office has “a lot of work with a lot of other clients” and could not respond that quickly.
“We always try to do as much as we can for our clients, including our townships. Unfortunately, sometimes the work we have doesn’t allow us to work immediately on the situation in front of us,” Danso said.
“If they have a request for research or something, we’d be happy to do it,” Danso said, adding that townships are permitted to hire their own legal counsel, and many times townships do that if they have a matter that requires urgent attention.
Danso said he doesn’t know if there are jurisdictional issues related to filing an injunction to stop an injection well from being drilled.
Vienna Township Trustee Phil Pegg announced after Thursday’s trustees meeting that Vienna officials believe Kleese Development Associates may be close to drilling an injection well on state Route 193 just south of the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport, where much equipment has been placed.
Pegg said township officials wanted the prosecutor’s office to file an injunction to prevent the well from being drilled, but the office denied the request on the grounds that the prosecutor’s office lacks jurisdiction.
Pegg also said it appears KDA might be close to reopening brine-injection facilities on Sodom Hutchings Road that leaked more than 2,000 gallons of “light waste oil” in early April, fouling streams, ponds and wetlands.
Pegg has said he believes the injection facilities should not reopen until after the Ohio Department of Natural Resources releases information on what caused the spill.
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, meanwhile, recently released a “30-day report” written by consulting company Hull Associates of Toledo, 30 days after the spill occurred, that speculates on the reason for the spill.
Hull, which worked for KDA and reported to the EPA, said in its May 1 report that the spill may have resulted from “excessive precipitation and snow-melt events during ... March.”
The report, dated May 1, identified the location of the spill as the “northern storage tank battery” at the KDA site on Sodom Hutchings. It said the oil “escaped the secondary containment liner system” and left the property through drainage tiles and storm sewers.
The report said the spill affected about 46,500 square feet of ground-surface area and 3,000 feet of the stream and wetlands.
Hull said it will work with KDA to implement new procedures and reconstruct the facility “once the entire investigation has been completed.”
Hull said it will recommend a new design that will have a secondary containment wall around the tank battery pad, “high-float alarms” in all of the storage tanks and audible and visual alarms.
Hull also will work with KDA to implement new procedures, employee training and volume-tracking methods.