A group of local residents have researched hydraulic fracturing for months to build a regulatory framework for the controversial drilling practice in Athens County.
The six-member Athens County Strategic Advisory Committee on Hydraulic Fracturing has worked since February to gather information about fracking and injection wells, which they will present to the Athens County commissioners.
The committee voted unanimously in favor of a set of recommendations about the use and regulation of fracking and injecting wastewater into wells in Athens County during their final meeting Wednesday.
Committee Chair Al Blazevicius said the charter would be immediately sent to the commissioners for review before a public hearing between the public and the commissioners.
“The main assessment is that the immediate and foreseeable issue in Athens County is the disposal of waste in injection wells,” he said.
Horizontal fracking is not a “near term prospect” for Athens County and the injection of out-of-state waste was the committee’s main concern, Blazevicius said.
Rob Wiley resigned from the committee before Wednesday’s meeting. Committee members Pat Smith, Athens County Sheriff Pat Kelly, and Commissioner Mark Sullivan were not present at the meeting.
“I don’t think there’s anything missing in our charter that (the commissioners) wanted us to address,” Blazevicius said.
The committee gathered information from university studies — including Ohio University and Marietta College — and analysis of government studies and information, Blazevicius said.
The committee also considered oil and gas industry reports and the American Petroleum Institute guidelines when forming their recommendations.
The charter of the committee’s findings mainly outlines suggestions on how to regulate injection wells in Athens County, Blazevicius said.
In addition to the potential for environmental damages, Blazevicius said the lack of local economic benefit from wastewater injection wells is a concern — especially considering the damages to county roads from industry trucking.
The Athens County engineer’s office purchased a $300 camera to document the current condition of local roads, said committee member John Branner. If fracking operations do come to Athens County, the video could be used to show the condition of the roads before the industry traffic increases.
“(The camera on the car) gives you a graph so you can see the pot holes and the road conditions,” Branner said. “Six months later you drive (the car with the camera), and you could compare the two graphs and see what disintegrated.”
Committee member Pat Davidson updated the group on $2 million dollars in funding that Ohio University received for research on treating fracking wastewater.
“There is still a ton of interest within the university with working with these issues,” she said. “That could be something really great and they might be able to work with some of the wells here in Athens County.”
ls114509@ohiou.edu
