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Frackfree service calls attention to injection wells
By Sean Barron
COITSVILLE
The Rev. Monica Beasley-Martin vividly remembers approaching her vehicle when she received a sudden, unexpected jolt.
“I heard a loud boom and saw my ranch-style house shake,” she recalled, referring to the 4.0-magnitude earthquake that shook the Mahoning Valley on Dec. 31, 2011, and was linked to a fracking-waste injection well on Ohio Works Drive in Youngstown.
The Rev. Ms. Beasley-Martin is with Defenders of the Earth Outreach Ministries, a faith-based group that tries to draw attention largely to environmental issues. She also was among those who attended a prayer service Friday afternoon at the Coitsville Township Administration Building on McCartney Road to remember the fifth anniversary of the temblor, which is Saturday.
That earthquake was the most powerful in a cluster of 11 that occurred near the site. The seismic activity prompted Gov. John Kasich to issue an indefinite moratorium while studies were done primarily to determine if a connection existed between the temblors and the injection well.
On Dec. 30, 2011, the day before the 4.0-magnitude earthquake, D&L Energy Group, which owned the injection well, agreed to shut it down after talks with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
Frackfree America National Coalition members were among those who came to Friday’s outdoor gathering, which was mainly to increase awareness for what they see as the need to legally stop a proposed injection well in Coitsville, another that could reopen in Weathersfield Township and a well now operating in Vienna near Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport.
“We remember and don’t want to repeat New Year’s Eve of 2011, or worse,” Ms. Beasley-Martin added.
“There’s no good way to safely get rid of millions of gallons of fracking waste – especially with the [earthquake] faults in this area,” said Jane Spies, a Frackfree America co-founder. “This area is too earthquake-prone, and it’s a risk to the public health and safety.”
Spies also expressed concerns related to obtaining a permit through ODNR for the Coitsville site, which is near a large farm run by the Purple Cat, a business that provides services to adults who have mental and physical challenges.
Allowing the well to operate could prove detrimental to the Purple Cat’s clients, many of whom also have secondary and tertiary health problems, noted Kathleen Berry of Youngstown, a retired Air Force nurse.
“It poses a definite health hazard for those who have disabilities, many of whom have breathing problems,” Berry said, adding that the Purple Cat property also would be adversely affected by continual diesel-truck traffic, along with likely air pollution.
Phil Pegg, a Vienna Township trustee and member of the Trumbull County Township Association, said some local and state officials have refused to adopt a set of 11 modifications and improvements to current regulations the TCTA had implemented in June 2015 regarding injection-well permit applications.
They include expanding the public-comment period for proposed applications from 15 to 28 days, having hearings on comments and objections related to proposed permits at the nearest ODNR district office and ensuring injection-well locations monitor the escape of poisonous vapors into the air while providing such data to the ODNR quarterly, Pegg said.
Maria Montanez, another Frackfree America member, brought to the prayer gathering a cake with frosting that depicted an injection well next to an earthquake fault and flames.