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Advocacy Group Concerned About Ohio Fracking Waste

A Pennsylvania gas well.  fracking drilling
Gerry Dincher
/
Flickr/Creative Commons

An advocacy group says hundreds of millions of gallons of fracking waste is being dumped into oil and gas disposal wells without strong oversight. But the state stands by the strength of its program.

Ohio Citizen Action—a grassroots anti-pollution group—says the state’s inspections of injection wells are inconsistent. These are wells used to dispose of oil and gas drilling waste.

Nathan Rutz with Ohio Citizen Action adds that the U.S. EPA should do a better job at keeping the state inspectors in line.

“We need to see the U.S. EPA ensure that the ODNR’s organizational culture is one where they value human health and the environment at least as much as making oil and gas drillers happy,” Rutz said.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources says it ranks second in the nation in the frequency of their injection well inspections adding that it continues to add more inspectors to the program.

The U.S. EPA did not respond to a request for comment.

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