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Man Charged In Trumbull Co. Fracking Protest
By: Associated Press
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A Maryland man faces two misdemeanor charges after chaining himself to a gate at a northeast Ohio deep-injection well in order to block trucks carrying wastewater from oil and gas drilling.
Vienna police said 22-year-old Ron Shalom of Potomac, Md., was charged Monday with criminal trespassing and obstruction of official business at the Trumbull County well site between Warren and Youngstown.
He was among 30 protesters from Frack Free Mahoning and Ohio Fracktion pushing for more stringent testing and monitoring of brine wastewater.
Frack Free Mahoning's Susie Beiersdorfer said environmental advocates want the state to launch its own testing program following a recent spill.
A spokesman for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, not the state, dictates how such wastewater is disposed.