Please write to State Senator Lou Gentile and tell him that you as a citizen want Class II injection wells, which receive hazardous waste from fracking wells, to be banned in Ohio. Your letter will be hand delivered to the Senator on Wed., March 6, when a group of Athens County folks meet with him. Individuals and groups from around the state are meeting in Columbus to protest injection wells, lack of local control regarding fracking and injection wells, and medical right to know. Check out nofrackohio.com and buckeyeforestcouncil.org for more info on March 6 event: Ohio is Not for S(h)ale Legislator Accountability Day rally and march. Please write a short letter for us to take to Sen. Gentile if you can’t join us. Send to acfanohio@gmail.com by 9 a.m. Wed. or send on your own but let us know you have. Thanks!
Some points to choose from or write your own:
• Waste from fracked wells, commonly called “brine,” is actually toxic waste laden with radioactivity and carcinogens.
• Many hundreds of chemicals that would be considered hazardous waste when used by any other industry are not disclosed to the public due to exemptions from federal and state laws (the Halliburton Loophole exempting the industry from the Safe Drinking Water Act and Community Right-to-Know laws, among others).
• Ohio accepts tens of millions of gallons of waste from fracked wells in Pennsylvania and West Virginia each year. It is hauled on our county roads by drivers who don’t even know they’re carrying highly toxic radioactive waste. Truck accidents and consequent spills are common in the oil and gas industry. We do not get to know what is in this waste!
• Injection wells are basically tubes of concrete and steel with openings at the bottom (and who knows where else). Concrete and steel deteriorate in a matter of decades, especially under highly corrosive conditions. There are no monitoring wells around Class II wells to determine migration of waste. (Class I wells are Hazardous Waste injection wells with stricter regulation, including monitoring wells to find waste migration.)
• Injection wells are known to leak. A ProPublica review of well records, case histories and government summaries of more than 220,000 well inspections found that structural failures inside injection wells are routine. From late 2007 to late 2010, one well integrity violation was issued for every six deep injection wells examined
• Citizens have NO input on the injection well permit process. It is often a challenge to even know if there is a permit application submitted to ODNR. We are denied the right of a public hearing to express concerns.
• Injection Wells have caused earthquakes (Youngstown, Marietta, Oklahoma—the largest earthquake ever recorded in OK has been linked to injection wells.)
• Mechanical Integrity tests are only required to be done every 5 years on Class II Injection Wells. If a leak is discovered it may have been leaking for some time. Operators with long histories of serious violations are allowed to continue operating in Ohio with infrequent and insignificant penalties.
Please address letter to Sen. Lou Gentile, Senate Building, 1 Capitol Square, Ground Floor, Columbus, OH 43215 (614) 466-6508 Web e-mail form if you’d prefer to e-mail directly. Please let us know you have: acfanohio@gmail.com. Thank you!