Technicality details appeal for Weathersfield injection company

Staff report

COLUMBUS

A technicality has derailed an appeal filed by Howland-based American Water Management Services of a decision by the Ohio Oil and Gas Commission regarding an AWMS injection well in Weathersfield Township.

On Friday, Judge Kimberly Cocroft of Franklin County Common Pleas Court dismissed the appeal on the grounds the company failed to notify the Oil and Gas Commission of the appeal by the deadline.

The company filed the appeal Sept. 8 with the court and the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, but notified the commission Oct. 20, the ruling said.

Ron Klingle, president of AWMS’s parent company, Avalon Holdings, said the decision will be appealed.

The commission’s 27-page Aug. 12 order said the injection well on state Route 169 just north of Niles must remain closed while the state attempts to write new regulations to address earthquakes that injection wells have produced in the Mahoning Valley.

The well was closed after it caused a 2.1-magnitude earthquake in summer 2014. Officials said the Weathersfield earthquake might also be linked geologically to earthquakes that hit Youngstown in 2011 as a result of the Northstar 1 injection well off Ohio Works Drive.