State not finished deciding whether to reopen Weathersfield injection well

COLUMBUS

The Ohio Oil and Gas Commission met Thursday and “continued deliberations” into whether to reverse an earlier decision by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources that ordered one of two brine injection wells in Weathersfield Township to remain closed.

Linda Osterman, director of the commission, said late Thursday that the commission did not issue a written decision, but she expects that decision to be announced in a week to 10 days.

The well is just north of the city of Niles at the North Road intersection and is owned by American Water Management Services, a subsidiary of Avalon Holdings of Howland.

The company started operating a deep brine injection well and a shallow one in the spring of 2014, followed by earthquakes of 1.7 and 2.1 magnitude several months later. The epicenter of the 2.1 quake was “almost directly beneath” the deeper injection well, the author of a study by seismologists with Miami University of Ohio.

ODNR ordered both wells shut down after the second quake and allowed the shallower one to reopen a short time later. AWMS appealed the decision to keep the deeper well closed to the Oil and Gas Commission, which meets in Columbus. A hearing was held into the matter in March. Thursday’s meeting was the first one held since March.

Osterman had told news media last month she expected the Oil and Gas Commission to issue a decision at Thursday’s meeting.