Plans for injection wells warrant speedy approval

One month ago today in this space, we argued that a spill of at least 2,000 mucky gallons of light waste oil from an underground storage tank at a Vienna Township injection well exposed troubling gaps in Ohio law governing some segments of today’s oil- and gas-drilling industry.

In that editorial, we noted that although Ohio boasts some of the toughest regulations in the nation to ensure public health and safety are not compromised at hydraulic fracturing well sites, many of those regulations do not extend to the storage, transit and deep-earth disposal in injection wells of the sometimes toxic byproducts of fracking. As a result, spills such as that at the KDA site in Vienna last March become all too predictable.

Fortunately, a trio of state representatives from Trumbull and Ashtabula counties – Sean O’Brien of Bazetta, D-63rd, John Patterson of Jefferson, D-99th, and Michael O’Brien of Warren, D-64th – are leading the charge to implement taut regulatory reforms to firmly close the gap exposed in Vienna as well as fill a slew of other similar holes in state drilling law. Their legislation would wisely add multiple layers of stronger transparency, responsibility and accountability for those who operate injection wells and drilling-waste disposal enterprises in the state.

That thoughtful and comprehensive legislation, House Bill 422 introduced last week, deserves a fast-track ride toward approval and enactment this year.

Sean O’Brien, a primary sponsor of HB 422, clearly explains the premise of the needed reforms. At a press conference earlier this week, he noted, “Ohio hasn’t kept pace with the the public safety demands stemming from a rapidly developing industry. This law would modernize the way we do business in Ohio to strike the right balance between corporate profits and protecting people.”

Had the proposed amendments to state drilling statutes been in place last spring, those residents and wildlife in the path of the foul Vienna spill would have been protected. That’s because the bill calls for a ban on the use of underground storage vaults, from which the petroleum derivative leaked and wreaked havoc in Trumbull County last year.

OTHER NEEDED PROTECTIONS

That provision, however, is only one of many that would promote public health and safety while preventing or lessening the likelihood of recurrences of a variety of injection-well calamities in our state and region in recent years. Among some of the other noteworthy public-spirited provisions are:

A requirement that all waste- water transported from drilling sites be infused with dye when it enters tanker trucks so that any spills from trucks or storage tanks at injection sites can be detected and stopped more quickly than in the KDA spill.

“The KDA spill occurred over several days, but nobody knew it,” Sean O’Brien said.

A provision would require GPS equipment be installed on all tankers hauling gas and oil wastewater to better ensure waste isn’t dumped by unscrupulous haulers into streams or ditches.

Several provisions would greatly increase transparency to the public. One would mandate detailed documentation of well leases with county recorders. Another would require notification of injection-well plans with a wide swath of public officials and public advertisement of public hearings on well proposals.

Locations of new wells would not be permitted near occupied dwellings, public buildings or near 100-year floodplains or known fault lines. Many Valley residents remember only too well the unnerving disturbances of earthquakes directly tied to injection wells in Youngstown in recent years.

Establishment of fees from injection well operators would feed a statewide fund to strengthen groundwater monitoring near such drilling and waste-disposal sites.

To be sure, that latter provision and others would bring some added costs, tasks and time to those in the business of storing, transporting and disposing of fracking wastes.

But those added costs, tasks and time pale in comparison to the additional perils to the environment and to human lives that Ohio’s woefully deficient system of drilling-waste regulation currently invites.