News
Companies sue alleging contamination from fracking waste fluids in southeast Ohio
By: David Forster
Posted on:
ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — Three companies that drill for oil and gas claim in nearly identical lawsuits that toxic waste fluids from fracking are spreading underground in southeast Ohio and have contaminated their properties.
The lawsuits were filed against several companies that operate injection wells, which are cavities deep underground where fracking waste fluids are injected under high pressure for storage.
The defendant companies have injected billions of gallons of waste fluids into their wells in Athens, Meigs and Washington counties, according to the lawsuits.
The lawsuits cite studies indicating the earth deep under southeast Ohio is riddled with faults and fractures that allow the waste fluid to migrate well beyond the area where it is supposed to be contained.
The lawsuits were filed by Standard Oil Co., Anderson Drilling and R.D. Wiles. Each claims the waste fluid has spread into underground reservoirs for which it owns, or previously owned, the rights to drill for oil and gas.
Standard Oil and R.D. Wiles both have or had operations in Washington County, and Anderson Drilling operates in Athens, Meigs and Washington counties, according to the lawsuits.
The migration of waste fluids has caused “widespread, regional pollution and contamination” that has made it no longer economically viable to extract oil and gas from the reservoirs, the lawsuits allege.
Ohio laws regulate the disposal of fracking waste fluid, which “is widely understood and scientifically accepted … to pose a potential danger when conducted in an improper location, or with improper care,” according to the lawsuits.
The lawsuits allege the defendant companies violated these rules and operated their injection wells in a way likely to “cause recurring harm and permanent harm to adjacent properties, and, to the economy, geology, and ecology of Ohio.”
The lawsuits also allege the high volume of waste fluid injected under high pressure has “greatly exacerbated, expanded, and increased the fault and fracture” pathways under Athens, Meigs and Washington counties, making it even easier for the fluid to migrate.
Many other gas and oil wells that lie within a few miles of the injection well sites have been impacted by waste fluids, according to the lawsuits.
The three plaintiffs want compensation for the money they have already invested into the sites and for the potential revenue they will no longer realize because of the contamination they contend has made oil and gas development no longer viable.
The companies are also seeking punitive damages, arguing the defendants acted with “conscious disregard” for their property rights and the property rights of others. Punitive damages are warranted not only to punish the defendants in this case, according to the lawsuits, but also to deter “other waste fluid injection well drillers and/or operators from engaging in similar conduct in the future.”
The lawsuits were filed in Athens County Court of Common Pleas by attorneys from the Wheeling, West Virginia, office of Bordas & Bordas.
WOUB attempted to contact the defendants for comment. Some could not be reached. Messages left with others were not returned by the time this story was published.