Drinking Water Dilemma: Barging Oil and Gas Waste on the Ohio River

From an Article by Robin Blakeman and Sarah Carballo, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, July 30, 2020

A new threat recently emerged for communities along the Ohio River.

Three barge docks are proposed to be built along the river to transport oil and gas waste from horizontal and vertical fracking operations. The projects, if approved, could result in the first barges carrying briny fracking wastes on the Ohio River.

The terminals would be developed by 4K Industrial Frac Water Supply and Recycling Technologies in Martins Ferry, DeepRock Disposal Solutions about 61 miles downstream at Marietta, and by Fountain Quail Energy Services about 38 miles downstream from Marietta in Meigs County, Ohio.

According to Dr. Randi Pokladnik, a retired research chemist and volunteer with the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC), these operations pose a substantial risk for the Ohio River — the primarily tap water source for approximately five million people.

“Citizens have every right to be concerned about yet another threat to their drinking water,” says Dr. Pokladnik. “A quick glance of the Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) data collected from public drinking water suppliers along the Ohio River reveals that all public drinking water sources along the river have pollutants that in many cases exceed the EWG health standards and in some cases exceed federal standards.”

Based on current regulations, it is unclear what agencies would be tasked with responding to potential spills as a result of these new barging operations, and whether or not those agencies would be able to work together successfully to address the environmental and public health hazards associated with these pollutants.

Even worse, many public water treatment facilities are not equipped to filter out the contaminants if this conventional and unconventional oil and gas waste is spilled in the Ohio River. For example, some contaminants, such as radioactive chemicals in water, can only be removed using very specific techniques that are not currently utilized by most public water treatment facilities in our region.

In response to requests and comments from concerned citizens, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has scheduled a virtual public hearing on Friday, August 7, for the DeepRock barge dock near Marietta, Ohio.

To prepare for the public hearing, an online informational session will be hosted on Monday, August 3, by the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition and other partners across the region. For more information about the issue or how to attend the public hearing, check out THIS ARTICLE from OVEC or contact robin@ohvec.org.

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See also: GREEN NEWS, WV Environmental Council, Volume 30 Issue 13 — https://wvecouncil.org/green-volume-30-issue-13/

Warwood Wheeling Hiking Trail & Storage Tanks

GreenHunter Still Eyes Panhandle for Pipeline

From an Article by Ian Hicks, Wheeling Intelligencer, July 12, 2014

WHEELING – The destination point for GreenHunter Resources’ planned pipeline to carry water, brine and hydrocarbons through Pennsylvania and West Virginia to the Ohio River will be somewhere in the Northern Panhandle, according to its vice president of business operations, John Jack.

But Jack, citing ongoing right-of-way negotiations, said he cannot yet reveal the exact endpoint of the proposed pipeline, which would be built and owned by a Michigan firm, with GreenHunter having exclusive access to the 270,000-barrel-per-day system. GreenHunter purchased the former Seidler’s Oil Service property in Warwood in March 2013 with plans to build a facility to handle condensate, recycle wastewater from natural gas drilling operations and barge the material from the Wheeling facility.

Although the Wheeling site is a potential destination for the pipeline, Jack said GreenHunter may be looking to acquire additional riverfront property elsewhere in the Northern Panhandle. He declined to comment further.

The GreenHunter Resources’ proposed site for a frack water recycling plant along the Ohio River in Warwood remains quiet as the company awaits word on whether the U.S. Coast Guard will allow barging of such material on the nation’s rivers.

Plans for the pipeline call for construction to begin early next year and for the system to be fully operational by the beginning of 2016. The system would consist of three pipelines – one each to transport fresh water, brine and hydrocarbons – from two undisclosed collection points, one in southwestern Pennsylvania and another in northern West Virginia.

GreenHunter’s plan to transport frack water by barge has drawn opposition from environmental groups who fear for the safety of their drinking water, including in Wheeling, where a group calling itself the Wheeling Water Warriors has vocally opposed the proposed Warwood plant. GreenHunter’s June 27 application to the Army Corps of Engineers to build a barge docking facility in Meigs County, Ohio, already has drawn fire from concerned residents and local officials.

But Jack points out that potentially harmful materials such as gasoline, diesel fuel and hydrochloric acid are transported on the nation’s rivers every day, and he maintains barging offers a low accident rate and helps keep heavy trucks from damaging roadways.

The proposed pipeline system is another way to reduce the number of trucks on the road, Jack said.

Although the Wheeling Planning Commission has approved the first phase of GreenHunter’s plan for the Warwood facility, Jack said the company continues to wait for the U.S. Coast Guard to rule whether it will allow barges to carry fracking waste on the nation’s inland waterways before beginning construction at the Wheeling site. The agency has received tens of thousands of comments on the issue and has yet to announce a timeline for issuing a ruling.

“Every indication is they’re coming close to finalizing a proposed policy,” Jack said.

Although the company remains in a wait-and-see mode, Jack said a ruling by the Coast Guard prohibiting the barging of frack waste on rivers wouldn’t prevent the company from moving forward in Wheeling.

“We’re currently trucking the material anyway,” he said of the company’s existing operations, which include a facility along Ohio Route 7 in New Matamoras.

Ohio County Program on Ohio River

Wheeling Water Warriors: Awareness Rally

This Saturday, 6/15/13, from noon to 4:00 pm in Garden Park in Warwood the Wheeling Water Warriors are having an awareness rally.

There will be free music provided by Joe Zelek, Cabin Fever Strings Band, and Uncle Eddie and Robin.

Dr. Ben Stout, Professor of Biology at Wheeling Jesuit University, will be speaking on the six (6) reasons Greenhunter should not open their proposed facility in Warwood. Lots of information and handouts will be available.

There will be free children’s activities as well. We hope to see you all there!!!!

Erin Bowers, Wheeling Water Warriors

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Opposition to GreenHunter Frack Water Plant Persists

From Article By Ian Hicks, Wheeling Intelligencer, June 4, 2013

As GreenHunter Water officials prepare to present their site plan for a proposed frack wastewater recycling facility in Warwood to the Wheeling Planning Commission, residents who fear for the safety of their drinking water again brought their concerns to City Council.

“You’re sitting in those chairs because the good people of Wheeling elected you to them. … The decisions you make or don’t make will impact many other people than in just Wheeling,” Warwood resident Robin Mahonen told council members during their meeting Tuesday.

Mozart Road resident Erin Bowers also presented council members with copies of a 2011 U.S. Geological Survey study on the presence of radium in fracking wastewater. The study states radium levels are higher in produced water from the Marcellus Shale compared with other shale formations in the Appalachian Basin.

Although drilling waste set off radiation alarms more than 1,000 times at Pennsylvania landfills during 2012, neither the Nuclear Regulatory Commission nor the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection consider radioactive material in that waste to be dangerous.

The company has an easement it believes gives it the right to use an existing pipe that runs beneath the trail to load water onto barges for transport, but city officials contend GreenHunter Water would need a zone change to use the docks, which would require council’s approval.

But barge loading isn’t yet part of GreenHunter’s site plan because the Coast Guard and other federal agencies have yet to decide whether to allow transport of fracking wastewater on inland waterways. Company officials have said they will proceed with the Wheeling facility regardless of that decision and simply move the water by truck if necessary.

Councilwoman Gloria Delbrugge said city officials have been invited to tour GreenHunter Water’s plant in New Matamoras, Ohio, on Thursday morning, and the Wheeling Planning Commission will meet to review the company’s Warwood site plan at 6 p.m. Monday.

Delbrugge, who represents Warwood, has been an outspoken opponent of the planned facility since the company announced its acquisition of the former Seidler’s Oil Service Property on North 28th Street in March.