Thom Cmar
COLUMBUS — “This afternoon I filed a technical comment letter with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) on behalf of NRDC and ten other organizations and individuals regarding the changes that ODNR is making to its rules governing the disposal of wastewater from fracking into underground injection wells. In the comments we filed todaywe point out a number of specific, technical ways in which these new rules don’t go nearly far enough to address both seismic and groundwater contamination risks.
Ohio’s injection wells have made headlines recently because of the massive increase of fracking wastewater that is projected for disposal in the next few years. With each fracking operation requiring millions of gallons of water, and with thousands of wells projected to be drilled in Ohio (not to mention wastewater trucked into Ohio from Pennsylvania and potentially other states), billions of gallons of contaminated wastewater will likely be injected underground in the state according to the rules that ODNR is now in the process of revising. Such a large volume of fluid and number of potential wells means that even a small failure rate could have significant negative consequences for human health and the environment.”
— Thom Cmar, Natural Resources Defense Council
Rules for injection wells far too weak, critics say
— Spencer Hunt, Columbus Dispatch
