Fracking opponents in Brookfield seek longer comment period, public hearing

Staff report

BROOKFIELD

Opponents of proposed plans to install additional fracking-waste injection wells in Trumbull County have sent a letter to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Oil and Gas, seeking a 60-day extension of the time for submission of public comments. They urge the deadline be moved from Dec. 25 to Feb. 25, 2018.

To have a deadline for comment on Christmas day is unreasonable, the letter said.

The letter, dated Dec. 11, was sent via electronic mail to James Zehringer, director of ODNR, and Richard Simmer, chief of the Division of Oil and Gas, by several residents of Brookfield and the Northeastern Ohio region, who also seek a public hearing on the matter.

The letter says that additional fracking-waste injection wells in the region of Trumbull County “will greatly exacerbate the potential environmental downside of drilling waste deposal wells, in the form of groundwater pollution and exhaustion of available solid waste disposal facilities.”

Construction of a fracking waste injection site in Brookfield began on about Nov. 13, 2017, but it’s not a “done deal,” say opponents, who also say that additional ODNR permits are required for the company, Highland Field Services, to fully operate an injection fracking waste well – much of it to come from out of state if the wells are eventually approved.