Teresa Mills, Fracking Coordinator for Buckeye Forest Council, spoke after the status hearing for Madeline ffitch in Athens on Friday, Sept. 7. She revealed the sordid history of the Ginsburg well, including complete lack of inspections for ten years, orders to plug the well that were never carried out, and repeated well integrity failure.
Visit AppalachiaResist.wordpress.com and acfan.org injection well page for more. UPDATE: Madeline announces plea bargain, Oct. 3, 2012.
Athens Messenger(9-8-12) describes the event:
…ffitch, of Millfield, is charged with inducing panic on June 26 when she blocked the entrance to an injection well on Ladd Ridge Road by locking herself into barrels filled with concrete. Ffitch claims the well, which is used to dispose of waste from oil and gas wells, is unsafe and that the state is not doing enough to regulate injection wells. The charge she faces in Athens County Common Pleas Court is a felony. …
…After Friday’s court session, Ffitch gathered with supporters and news reporters to talk about her concern regarding injection wells — a meeting that Fitrakis pointed out was a news conference, not a protest.
ffitch, citing news reports about the radioactivity of fracking waste coming into Ohio from Pennsylvania for disposal, said she considers it a health emergency.
“Ohio state regulators are asleep on the job, and they must wake up,” ffitch said. “There is not meaningful oversight to ensure that these wells are operating safely.”
Fitratkis claimed that Ffitch has been over-charged. “Our client is not guilty of any felony. The only thing she has induced in Athens County is sanity,” Fitrakis said. “Madeline has induced a rational, sane debate.”
Read more at athensmessenger.com