Gas fracking in West Virginia. Fracking waste may contain ponderous metals, radioactive chemicals and other chemical compounds. (iStock Editorial/Getty Images Plus)
This story was originally published by Canary Media.
Ohio is an extremely complex state to build renewable energy. Many counties ban wind and solar power entirely, but even in those that don’t, state regulators often rely on local opposition to deny developers permits.
Fossil fuel companies, on the other hand, do not face these obstacles. This discrepancy is highlighted by the fact that plans to build two frac and waste wells in rural Washington County, Ohio, are ready to continue despite opposition from residents, environmental groups and nearby city officials. DeepRock Disposal Solutions’ goal is to operate these deep holes in the ground to inject toxic liquid waste from oil and gas fracking into porous layers of rock deep underground.
Last week, a Franklin County Court of Appeals judge — a court official who handles preliminary issues as well as specific issues in convoluted cases — recommended dismissal of a lawsuit filed by Buckeye Environmental Network against drilling. The group claims that when issuing a permit for the project, the state illegally relied on old-fashioned regulations, which creates a risk of contamination of local groundwater resources.
DeepRock delayed applying for drilling permits 2021about a month before the state adopted more stringent well regulations to better protect public safety and health. Although the state had not completed its MOT or issued permits to DeepRock at the time 2025relied on the more relaxed standards in effect at the time the company submitted its application. Buckeye Environmental Network says current regulations would require permits to be denied.
Recommending the dismissal of the lawsuit by the Franklin County Court of Appeals, Judge Thomas Scholl he wrote that the Buckeye Environmental Network failed to adequately demonstrate that the state“had a clear legal obligation” to apply the new rules. To reach this conclusion, he noted that DeepRock had…“vested and substantial” interest in an agency using the senior framework, adding that“Completing permit applications requires significant investment of time, capital and technical resources.”
Renewable energy companies, meanwhile, have historically not received similar respect from state regulators.
Opposition from local officials and area residents was enough for the Ohio Power Siting Board to deny permits for some solar projects, even as developers spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on studies, hearings and other work to meet regulatory requirements. For example, last month a different voting situation for one of the municipal board members led to: refusal to issue a permit For 94-megawatt Crossroads solar grazing center. (The Supreme Court of Ohio is currently under consideration whether the local government’s objection was a sufficient basis to refuse to issue a permit in the case Kingwood Solar.)
Parties to the fracking lawsuit — including state regulators, DeepRock and Buckeye Environmental Network — have until April 30 object to the magistrate’s recommendation. However, if the court’s judges agree with the justice of the peace – as they often do – and dismiss the case, it could clear the way for DeepRock to drill wells in the coming months.
“We believe the decision speaks for itself, so we have no additional comment,” said Karina Cheung, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
“How much waste can one district accept?”
Ohio already has over 200 Class II injection wells that collectively receive over a billion gallons of super-saline fluids annually from fracking. This brine may contain ponderous metals, radioactive chemicalsAND ““trade secret”.. Seventeen of those wells are in Washington County, along with many other natural gas wells, according to the Buckeye Environmental Network.
“Washington County was forced to accept this proposal 71 millions of barrels of oil and gas wastewater since then 2010” said Bev Reed, an Appalachian community organizer for the network.“How much garbage can one county take out before someone looks at it and says:‘enough”?
Others push back too. The city of Marietta, which has a municipal water supply and spring water conservation area about two miles from DeepRock project sites, passed a resolution last year he opposed one of DeepRock’s permits. In March, officials in the city of Marietta and nearby municipalities also asked Republican Gov. Mike DeWine and Ohio lawmakers to impose a three-year moratorium on additional wells in Washington County. Although similar opposition from local governments paralyzed renewable energy projects, these efforts did not bring results.
