Courts: American Management injection well stays closed during litigation

Staff report

COLUMBUS

Two Columbus-area courts ruled again Tuesday on whether the American Water Management Services injection well in Weathersfield Township can reopen, but the result is the same – the well remains closed while further litigation takes place.

The first decision came from Franklin County Common Pleas Court, where Judge Kimberly Cocroft ruled against the Ohio Department of Natural Resources in its effort to get an emergency stay of execution of her order allowing the well back open under certain conditions.

But a short time later Tuesday, the 10th District Court of Appeals in Columbus ruled the opposite way, granting a motion to stay execution of Judge Cocroft’s order.

The bottom line is the injection well will remain closed pending a decision by the three-member appeals court panel on Judge Cocroft’s ruling the well can reopen, said Steve Kilper, AWMS vice president.