Ohio orders company to suspend operations at 3 drilling wastewater wells

On April 25, the Ohio Oil and Gas Commission upheld a June 2023 order by Eric Vendel, the chief of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management, suspending operations of the K&H Partners wells. The company is a subsidiary of Kansas-based Tallgrass Energy.

The chief’s order last year stated that wastewater brine had been showing up in gas production well three-quarters of a mile away. In 2019, the owner of the production wells said 100 barrels of brine flowed from the gas well for 90 minutes.

Evidence presented in the order showed that the brine could be migrating through fractures in the underground shale formation and that the impacts create an “imminent danger” to health and the environment.

Oil and gas wastewater is produced during fracking and contains salts, chemicals and heavy metals. The EPA says it can be toxic and radioactive .

K&H appealed the suspension to the Oil and Gas Commission and was allowed to restart operations in October 2023. Hearings were held in December.

On April 19, the commission issued its ruling, which sided with the ODNR, and upheld the chief’s order suspending operations at the K&H Partners injection wells.

The Commission said part of the job of the ODNR in issuing permits is to protect groundwater, and concluded that the agency acted lawfully and reasonably suspending operation of the wells.

Protecting drinking water

According to the Athens County Independent , the ODNR met with area residents in late March, explaining its plan to test private drinking water wells for contamination from nearby oil and gas wells, including the three K&H Partners wells, and four other injection wells owned by another company, Reliable Enterprises.

“We have no reason to believe there has been any impact to underground sources of drinking water,” ODNR spokesperson Andy Chow told the news outlet. He said the division is conducting its groundwater study “out of an abundance of caution.”