The Case Against ODNR’s Regulatory Authority over Fracking Waste in Ohio Ted Auch, PhD page 3 The Case Against ODNR’s Regulatory Authority over Fracking Waste in Ohio Ted Auch, PhD Ohio’s Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) has had regulatory oversight and permitting power over the state’s Class II Injection wells since 1983 through its Underground Injection Control (UIC) Program. This program oversees the primary way in which oil and gas waste is disposed of in states where fracking has boomed. These wells, termed Class II Salt Water Disposal (SWD) wells, are permitted rapidly in Ohio, which is already home to 245 wells with over 20 more wells pending approval. The high number of Class II wells in Ohio allows fracking operators in Pennsylvania and West Virginia to send significant amounts of waste to the Buckeye State, even though the geologic formations in neighboring states like Pennsylvania are described by one U.S. EPA official as “complicated†but not “unsuitable†for Class II wells. According to data organizations like FracTracker Alliance, where I have worked for ten years, demand for these waste sites has increased exponentially. As we recently demonstrated at the Ohio River Basin’s Consortium on Research and Education, the volume of fracking waste being disposed of by injection in Ohio increased by 429% between 2010 and 2019, and 15% between 2019 and 2020 alone. Unfortunately, because UIC’s program recently and inexplicably transitioned from reporting data quarterly to annually, we do not have any reliable data about how this trend changed as the petrochemicals and plastics industry expanded under the darkness of the COVID lockdown. Unless Nostradamus worked at ODNR in the early '80s, the department could not have foreseen the fracking revolution and what that would mean for our aging Class II wells, which were not designed for the types of volumes and pressures they have been subjected to since the fracking boom began. ODNR’s primacy over Class II Injection wells should be revoked for several reasons: the clear environmental injustices being foisted on Appalachia and much of Eastern Ohio’s people and ecosystems, the agency’s failure to be transparent about the permitting process and receptive to opposition, and the fact that neighboring states unfairly rely on Ohio to dispose of their potentially toxic and radioactive fracking waste. The U.S. EPA can and should revoke Ohio’s primacy if ODNR’s oversight of Ohio’s injection wells is no longer effective in protecting Underground Sources of Drinking Water (USDW). However, if you need more convincing, look no further than the case of a Class II well proposal in Belmont County, where ODNR approved a Class II well permit despite vocal opposition from members of the county’s Port Authority, nearly every resident and neighbor of the proposed facility, and even Senator Frank Hoagland — a loyal servant of the oil and gas industry. The gaps in the data we identified in the past have persisted and grown in Ohio, which is why we believe that primacy is our last best option to stop the rolling train that is fracking waste disposal in Ohio. In contrast with Pennsylvania, where the US EPA has primacy, the permitting process in Ohio is less transparent, extremely fast, and has predictable outcomes. As a result, the industry relies heavily on Ohio for its willingness to avoid authentic public involvement and ODNR’s failure to regularly and holistically monitor source water impacts. It should not fall on residents, non-profits, and academics to do this work. Responsible oversight is the job of the ODNR UIC program and it is what they told the US EPA they were committed to back in 1983 under Sections 1422 and 1425 of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). ODNR has not fulfilled the promises it made to the US EPA, and as a result, the UIC program is one that should no longer exist as it has consistently and dangerously failed Ohioans and our environment. Ted Auch, PhD FracTracker Alliance This article was originally published at cleveland.com. 
 


FaCT Speaker Series: Bathsheba Demuth Floating Coast: an Environmental History of the Bering Strait March 18 at 3pm Anne Caruso page 4
February 2023 Newsletter
Fact Ohio Faith communities together for a sustainable future
Ohio Counties Lose Money by Snubbing Renewables Randi Pokladnik, PhD page 5 Ohio Counties Lose Money by Snubbing Renewables Randi Pokladnik, PhD A public meeting was held on February 15 in Lisbon, Ohio to gather comments regarding requests to “bar large scale solar and wind farm facilities from building in unincorporated areas of Fairfield, Franklin, Perry and West townships. Sadly, the local residents and county commissioners followed 10 other Ohio counties and banned utility-scale wind and solar projects. The county commissioners went on record last year against the 145 MW Kensington Solar project. Resolutions from trustees said the construction of any type of large wind warm or solar facility “would not be in the best interests of the residents.†Unfortunately, misinformation, ill-conceived laws, and politicians catering to the fossil fuel industry are all contributing to many Ohio counties missing out on economically and environmentally beneficial renewable energy projects. In 2021, the Ohio legislature passed HB 52 which allows county commissioners to restrict areas for the development of large scale wind and solar projects. The bill is “specific to wind and solar and places no restrictions on any other types of energy†such as fracked methane gas. According to the International Energy Agency report, solar now provides the cheapest electrical energy in the world. Major companies are investing in solar for its economic value and to lessen their impacts on the planet. While other states move forward with renewable energy projects, Ohio remains in the past. Sadly, there are many misconceptions about renewable energy and groups are using pseudoscience to slow down the transition away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy. Universities, including Ohio State, are studying how crops can be grown under solar panels in a process called agrivoltaics. Plants like tomatoes, kale, beets, garlic, carrots and lettuce actually grow better in the shelter of panels that help hold moisture and protect the plants from intense rain and hail events. Sheep can graze under solar panels, solar panels actually create more plant diversity for endangered pollinators and help bee populations, and solar panels can provide habitat for wild animals. Solar panels are not toxic and contain only trace amounts of metals which are sealed into the panel itself. New technology shows that both glass and trace metals can be recycled from solar panels. I live in Harrison County, where we recently welcomed the construction of the Nottingham 100 MW solar farm in Athens Township. This project will provide clean, renewable energy to the Ohio bulk transmission system. During the public meeting held by the Ohio Power Siting Board on May 18, 2022, local trade unions came out to support the project which could bring up to 400 projected local construction jobs. No one who was in attendance expressed opposition. It was announced recently that Nottingham Solar and the county commissioners entered into a payment in lieu of taxes agreement. The county school district, Belmont/Harrison JVS, county libraries, health department, and Athens Township will be receiving $29 million ($700,000 to $900,000 per year) from the 35-year agreement.
Plastics Are in Us UUCC Forums That Matter March 5, 2023 9:00 am - 10:00 am Speakers: Dr. Randi Pokladnik Emily Obringer Plastics Are in Us UUCC Forums That Matter March 5, 2023 9:00 am - 10:00 am Speakers: Dr. Randi Pokladnik, PhD Research Chemist, Environmental Activist Emily Obringer Conservation Program Coordinator, Sierra Club In an attempt to move from carbon-based fuels, including Ohio-fracked natural gas and oil, the petrochemical industry is seizing the opportunity to utilize excess fracked material for manufacturing products such as plastic and resins in the Ohio River Valley. In the manufacture of consumer plastic products, a by-product is PFAS or perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl. These unaltered substances will be released into the air, water and soil. Drinking water already contains trace amounts of PFAS substances. What is the impact on our health and quality of life? Attend in person or click here to join online.

East Palestine “I’m not going to be the country bumpkin.†Ron Prosek page 6-7
 East Palestine “I’m not going to be the country bumpkin.†Ron Prosek Those were the words of Mayor Trent Conway of East Palestine on February 9 in the aftermath of the train derailment in East Palestine on February 3 that released toxic chemicals in the air and nearby watercourses. The mayor’s full remark, as reported by CBS, was "This isn't going to get swept under the rug. I'm not going to be the country bumpkin that gets, you know, talked over by a big corporation. We're going to hold their feet to the fire. They're going to do what they said they were going to do, and they're going to protect the people of this town." East Palestine is a very small town (fewer than 5,000 residents) like many towns in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. And, like many small towns, rail traffic passes through them daily – dozens of trains, some of which carry hazardous substances like the vinyl chloride and several other hazardous chemicals that were moving on the train that derailed in East Palestine. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, some 25 million Americans live within the one-mile evacuation zone of rail lines that could potentially be the scene of accidents like the one in East Palestine. Vinyl chloride is not the only dangerous chemical that trains are transporting through small towns and large cities alike. You may have heard of the “bomb trains.†These are trains of tanker cars carrying highly volatile crude oil, such as Bakken crude. Nine years ago, one such train crashed in Lac-Mégantic, a town in Québec, Canada, exploded, killed 47 residents, and wiped out half the buildings in the center of town. Of course, this released a huge volume of VOCs and other toxins into the air. I live in Mentor, Ohio, a city of 50,000 in Lake County. According to USDOT, some 24 “bomb trains†trains pass through our county each week. I live a mile from two sets of east-west railroad tracks, and I often count the tanker cars at railroad crossings in my neighborhood. None have exploded here yet, but they are undoubtedly off-gassing VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds like benzene and toluene) and other pollutants from the highly volatile Bakken crude oil that they are carrying as they move through town. Another danger on the rails are tanker cars carrying liquified natural gas (LNG). According to Earth Justice, if just 22 tanker cars of this stuff ignited in an accident, the explosion would generate as much destructive energy as the Hiroshima bomb. The explosion of a single car of LNG could destroy an entire town. Transport of LNG had been banned, but President Trump lifted the ban in 2020. Last fall the Biden Administration suspended the rule allowing LNG to ship by rail. The final disposition of the rule is to be determined by the end of 2024. But what should happen NOW is for Congress to ban LNG-by-rail permanently -- by LAW. With regard to oil and gas operations, communities across Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia are exposed to toxic and radioactive wastes from oil and gas wells by its transport and injection into Class II injection wells. There are often spills during transport and leaks during and after injection, threatening ground water, air, and soil. There are 245 of these Class II disposal wells in Ohio—far more than the 70 in West Virginia and 14 in Pennsylvania. Moreover, in addition to handling its own well waste, Ohio is a huge importer of toxic and radioactive brine waste from oil/gas wells in both West Virginia and Pennsylvania. Beyond all this, there are more than 9,000 brownfield sites in Ohio, some in each of Ohio’s 88 counties with 34 high priority Superfund sites in the state. There are 6,000 brownfield sites in Pennsylvania and 95 high priority Superfund sites. In West Virginia there are thousands of brownfield sites and 11 high priority Superfund sites. There are toxic environmental threats in the air, soil, and water throughout these and other states—everything from abandoned coal mines, buried train cars containing toxic chemicals, and land on which gas stations or dry cleaning operations once operated.
How long will we tolerate the continuous loading of our environment with toxic and radioactive wastes and byproducts of explosions, accidents, and hazardous businesses and industries? Let’s not be country bumpkins or city bumpkins. Now is the time to pray, to reflect, and to put our faith into action. We need to demand that our public officials and our federal and state agencies protect us. They need to make our health and safety their first priority – not helping polluting industries make profits at the expense of our communities. FaCT along with other groups is calling for a Weekend of Prayer, Reflection, & Action on Earth Day (Saturday, April 22) this year and Earth Day Plus One (Sunday, April 23). On April 22, FaCT will host a webinar to update faith leaders and environmental advocates on the situation in East Palestine and the needs of its residents and how we can act together to meet some of those needs. Faith communities that are participating will devote a portion of their Sunday Service on April 23 to pray for the East Palestine community and to reflect on the implications of this accident for all of us and to consider actions we can take to make sure industry and government on all levels do their parts to protect the public from future rail disasters like the one in East Palestine and to do a much better job of protecting us from other toxins and hazards in our environment.
No, Natural Gas is Not “Green Energy†Randi Pokladnik, PhD page 2 No, Natural Gas is Not “Green Energy†Randi Pokladnik, PhD During the recent “lame duck†session, Ohio’s predominantly Republican legislature and Governor DeWine rushed to pass HB 507. The amended bill allows state lands and parks to be leased for oil and gas development and would also “create a broad new legal definition of green energy that would include natural gas.†An anonymously funded, pro-natural gas, dark money group, the Empowerment Alliance, helped Ohio lawmakers spin the narrative that natural gas is green. Some Democrats are also willing to label methane as a green energy. The group “Natural Allies for Clean Energy Future†has been running TV ads claiming gas is “necessary to accelerate our clean energy future.†In January, they recruited a new Democrat to greenwash the industry: Tim Ryan (D-Ohio). This 501c4 organization says it wants to “better inform the public and policy makers about natural gas,†but labeling gas as green energy does not change the scientific facts: the combustion of methane produces carbon dioxide, and methane itself is a potent greenhouse gas. Methane produces lower carbon dioxide emissions when burned but that benefit is overshadowed by the fact that extracting methane using high pressure hydraulic fracking releases enormous amounts of methane gas into the atmosphere. These emissions can be from storage tanks leaks, compressor stations, blowdowns, pipelines, and flaring. A report published in “Energy Science and Engineering†states, “natural gas (both shale gas and conventional gas) has a higher greenhouse gas footprint than coal or oil. Pound for pound, the comparative impact of methane is 25 times greater than carbon dioxide. Actual green energy sources differ dramatically from fracked methane gas when it comes to infrastructure needed, energy costs, and environmental externalities. After initial construction, renewable energy projects such as wind turbines and solar panels require little resource inputs and produce limitless, free energy. Utility-scale renewable energy prices are now significantly below those of coal and gas. Fracking requires extensive infrastructure and constant inputs of resources such as water, sand, and chemicals used to extract the methane. Consumers are at the mercy of an industry which consistently makes record profits while it receives $20 billion a year in subsidies. Fracking has turned southeastern Ohio communities into sacrificial industrial sites. Pipelines mar wooded hillsides, well pads rise over the landscape, thousands of trucks loaded with carcinogenic chemicals, frack sand and toxic produced water travel our roads every day. Local residents are exposed to toxins from this process which releases hazardous air pollutants and contaminates water. In February 2018, a gas well in Belmont County experienced a blowout releasing methane for 20 days before the leak could be contained. The total emissions were estimated to be equivalent to the total annual emissions of several countries or 120 metric tons per hour. Given the significant contribution of methane to climate change and the environmental destruction caused by fracking, the only way “green†can be used to describe methane is by naming it a potent greenhouse gas.
Thank you for reading our newsletter! We welcome your comments and look forward to hearing from you. When you submit your comment, please indicate if you give permission for us to print it. Submit comments to factohio@gmail.com. Linda New
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MAKE A PHONE CALL TODAY: Contact US EPA Administrator Debra Shore’s office, 1-888-445-5134 Phone Script: Hi, this is (insert name), I live in (insert city in Ohio), and I’m calling today to ask Administrator Shore to begin actions to remove Ohio’s authority to manage the class II oil and gas waste Injection well program. The program managed by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), continues to endanger underground drinking water sources and public health.

The Bering Strait is part of the world just a few degrees south of the Arctic Circle, bordering on the United States and Russia. The narrowest part of the Strait leaves only 51 miles separating the two countries. For generations the region, called Beringia, has been inhabited by the Chukchi, Iñupiat, and Yupik indigenous people who freely crossed various boundaries in the region until the Cold War. From then on crossing these boundaries became impossible because of Soviet restrictions on their borders. To the people living there, the Bering Strait border then became known as the "Ice Curtain.†When Bathsheba Demuth was 18, she moved to the Yukon in the Arctic Circle, just north of th,e Bering Strait. She learned survival skills in the Arctic and honed the skills necessary to train sled dogs, which became her occupation. Her affection for and interest in the area deepened as she lived there. Eventually, this became the foundation of her pursuit of an academic career in Environmental History at Brown University. Environmental History is a discipline that came out of the environmental movement of the 1960’s and 1970’s. It studies the interaction of humans and nature over time and documents how humans change nature and how nature changes humans. It also records how humans use nature as well as the changing attitudes of humans toward nature. This encompasses population growth and consumption and production of food and other uses of natural resources. In 2019, Bathsheba Demuth’s book, Floating Coast: a Environmental History of the Bering Strait was published by W. W. Norton & Company. She has received high praise for her poetic writing and deep grasp of the elements and history she writes about, including the political influence of both communism and capitalism on the region. Jack E. Davis, Pulitzer-prize winning author of The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea wrote this about Floating Coast: a History of the Bering Strait: “Brilliant, compelling, and beautifully executed. Demuth writes with the poetry and wisdom of the land and the sea, drawing the human-wrought past of a faraway place close to the lives and future of us all.†This is a good time for us to be reminded how intimately we affect and are affected by our environment and how deep the consequences are. Indeed this perspective has generally been ignored until recently. As humans wake up to the reality of our use of nature in pursuit of growth and wealth, we are desperate for a crash course on how those pursuits got us to the precipice we find ourselves on and what can be done about it. We’re fortunate a gifted historian and author took up this task. Please join us on March 18th at 3 pm to hear Bathsheba Demuth, the next speaker in our Distinguished Authors Presentations. Register to receive the zoom link here.
FaCT Speaker Series: March 18 at 3pm Bathsheba Demuth Floating Coast: an Environmental History of the Bering Strait Anne Caruso
Tanker cars ruptured in East Palestine on February 3, emitting highly toxic vinyl chloride and other toxins.

The aftermath of the crude-by-rail disaster in Lac-Mégantic in 2013
From the Treasurer Ron Prosek
Not much to say this month, except, again, thank You for your continued support! Here is a brief summary of how we are doing in raising money to fund our budgeted programs. Our total budget for FY 2023 amounts to $48,800. We are hoping to raise $20,000 of this from grants. So far, we have received one grant in the amount of $4,821 from Center for Health, Justice, and the Environment (CHEJ). We’re working to find the additional $15,000 in grant money. We planned on raising $7,000 from donations from individual faith communities. We haven’t raised any of this yet, but we’re planning for it. In our End-of-the-Year Fund Appeal to individuals like you, dear reader, we raised $16,000 surpassing our goal of $14,000. That leaves $5,000 yet to raise from your individual donations. We appreciate whatever you can do this month. Thank you!
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 Do you prefer an e-version only of the FaCT Newsletter? If you are currently receiving a paper copy of the FaCT Newsletter via U.S. mail but would prefer to receive an e-version only, please let us know by emailing Ron Prosek at rprosek.factohio@gmail.com
 On the other hand, if you are currently getting only the e-version but would also like the paper version, which comes out every other month, please email Ron Prosek at the email address above. Please include your full mailing address.