Residents protest drilling plans near Vienna airport

By Jordan Cohen | August 18, 2015 at 12:05a.m.

VIENNA

A group of 16 residents, who are worried about plans for a brine-injection well near the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport and angered over a contamination incident last spring, hoisted signs in protest along busy state Route 193 next to the site.

“I hope nothing happens to our water supply,” said Buster Yannon, one of the sign-carriers, at the Monday protest.

Eric Heis, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, said the company, Kleese Development Associates of Warren, has not applied for a permit and is limited by its current one, which expires Thursday.

“Their permit allows them to drill on the site, but not inject or produce,” Heis said. “They’ll have to go through the entire application process again after Aug. 20.” Heis said ODNR does not grant extensions to existing permits.

What set off the residents was digging activity at KDA during the weekend and early Monday. Vindicator broadcast partner 21 WFMJ-TV shot video of the earth-moving, but the activity stopped shortly afterward.

“I saw the digging from my home,” said Michele Garman, a protester who lives next to the KDA site. “It looked to me like they stopped once the reporter showed up.”

The residents note that KDA is under investigation by the ODNR and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency because of a spill of 2,000 gallons of “light waste oil” last April that contaminated a pond on Sodom Hutchings Road and a nearby wetland.

The OEPA shut down KDA’s five injection wells, and they have not operated since.

Phil Pegg, a Vienna Township trustee, said last week the injection wells should not be allowed to resume operation until the ODNR report on the causes of the spill is issued. Heis said there is no indication when that might be.

Another apparent sign of KDA’s plans is an application the company has filed with the Federal Aviation Administration because of the site’s proximity to the airport, in particular the main runway.

KDA wants the FAA to grant permission to install a 105-foot-high drilling rig. According to the FAA’s website, the company’s application was submitted Aug. 10.

The website notes that companies “must provide notice at least 45 days before the start date” of drilling operations and that there is “no guarantee” that a final decision will be made at the end of that time period, which would be near Sept. 24.

Multiple attempts to contact the company for comment were unsuccessful.

Heidi Brown, a township trustee who joined the protest, said she supports the residents’ request for legal assistance from the township’s attorney. Vienna also has asked the Trumbull County prosecutor about the possibility of filing an injunction against the new drilling site.

Meanwhile, the residents worry about what happens if the permit is granted.

“How are we confident that [KDA] is going to follow the guidelines on this site?” asked Mary Swift, one of the protest organizers. “What you are going to see is fracking waste, and that is not what we want in Vienna.”