Athens County Commissioners wrestled with providing recommendations to Ohio legislators about potential state regulation of hydraulic fracturing during Tuesday’s meeting.
The Athens County Strategic Advisory Committee on Hydraulic Fracturing provided the commissioners last week with recommended changes to Senate Bill 315, which would create a regulatory framework for horizontal fracturing in Ohio.
The Ohio House of Representatives will vote on the bill Wednesday after it passed through the Senate last week.
Ohio Rep. Debbie Phillips, D-92nd, could not be reached for comment as of press time.
Commissioners Larry Payne and Lenny Eliason signed recommendations that would close some of the potential loopholes in the bill’s language, hoping to protect landowners from companies that have a history of major violations.
Commissioner Mark Sullivan was not present at the meeting Tuesday, nor at the advisory committee meeting, of which he is vice-chair, last week.
The commissioners recommended that public hearings should be held for well applications for new drilling companies and for those companies that have a history of major violations.
Also recommended were stronger requirements about disclosure of chemical names and volumes used in injection wells and that this information be made public online.
The commissioners resolved to support increasing the price of brine disposal, something that was placed in the bill by Ohio Gov. John Kasich and removed by the Senate.
The recommendations suggested the current fees for brine disposal double for in-state disposal and quintuple for out-of-state disposal.
Part of the revenue from the increased fees would be earmarked for a clean water restoration fund.
The suggestions aim to protect the interests of local residents and the environment from companies that may not always have these interests in mind, said Al Blazevisius, chair of the advisory committee.
“(These recommendations) are a way of holding companies accountable for what the companies claim is their best management,” he said.
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