TORCH, Ohio — Two fracking waste injection wells in Torch have been injected with waste likely containing hazardous “forever chemicals,” according to a recent report by industry watchdogs.
Polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are linked to birth defects and increased risk of some types of cancer, among other health issues. They were at the heart of a Parkersburg, West Virginia-based lawsuit against the chemical giant DuPont, dramatized in the 2019 thriller Dark Waters.
The injection of fracking waste containing PFAS could have both short and long-term health impacts on area residents, according to guidance from the CDC and experts interviewed by the Independent.
Underground injection wells are extremely deep holes drilled or bored into the earth to dispose of various kinds of waste. Three wells in Torch, an unincorporated area outside of Coolville in eastern Athens County, are used to dispose of brine, the waste used in the process of fracking natural gas, a major extractive industry in central Appalachia.
Research released in December by the FracTracker Alliance and Environmental Health News shows that two of the Torch injection wells received brine from Pennsylvania-based fracking wells. Usually, the makeup of the fluid used in the fracking process has been considered a “trade secret” of the companies that operate these sites.
FracTracker, a Johnstown, Pennsylvania-based nonprofit, requested and obtained state data about where brine was transported from eight fracking sites in western Pennsylvania that are known to use PFAS.
Those disposal sites included the two in Torch, as well as one in Morgan County and several in Washington County, in addition to dozens in eastern and northeastern Ohio.
Information about fracking waste transport and disposal is not publicly available in Ohio, according to FracTracker’s Ted Auch and Matt Kelso. However, other research, published in September by the nonprofit Physicians for Social Responsibility, found that Ohio fracking operations have also used PFAS.
Other brine containing PFAS may have been injected in the Torch wells; the site is advertised by its owner as having an “unloading time [that] is one of the best in the industry.” Tallgrass didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The physician-led advocacy group criticized the “extensive use of ‘trade secret’ claims” by oil and gas companies, and called for “sweeping reform” of Ohio’s disclosure rules. It also cited research showing that fracking waste can contain potentially radioactive material.
Each Torch well installation was met with community pushback. Athens community members were voicing opposition to the then-booming fracking industry as far back as 2011.
In 2013, Parkersburg-based K&H Partners applied to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to open a brine injection well in Athens County. In Ohio, all fracking-related applications go directly to the state; county or local officials have no role in the approval process.
Over community opposition, K&H opened three facilities in Torch by 2015. In 2019, the wells came under the ownership of the $951 billion investment fund Blackstone when it purchased Tallgrass Energy, a Kansas-based natural gas company that previously bought K&H.
ODNR did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Potential effects
PFAS from brine could affect Athens County residents in multiple ways, according to the PSR report. These include spills from the trucks that haul brine from fracking sites to injection wells, cracks in injection well infrastructure that cause leaks into groundwater and “underground migration” of fracking fluids over time once they’re injected.
Some of these effects are more immediate than others. Ted Auch, FracTracker’s Great Lakes program coordinator, said he is far more concerned about spills from brine trucks than he is about the immediate effects of underground migration, for example. At least one spill from a brine truck already occurred outside Coolville.
“The actual manifestation of this on a day-to-day basis is thousands of brine trucks all over the place, with poor oversight and just residual waste placards on them, carrying who knows what from who knows where,” Auch said.
This side of the industry was explored in a 2020 investigation published by Rolling Stone, which found that brine hauling is an essentially unregulated industry without protections for workers or citizens.
However, potential long-term effects in Ohio are already being seen in other heavily fracked states and areas. In Texas — where PSR found use of PFAS in fracking was “far and above” than in other states — fracking operations are causing increasing numbers of earthquakes, prompting landowners to fear that the integrity of injection wells will be compromised and chemicals will migrate into groundwater.
“Induced seismic” events have also been recorded in southeastern Ohio, which led to an injected brine migration in Washington County in 2020.
Over a decade ago, a ProPublica investigative project into injection wells reported on a case in southern Ohio where an injection well built in 1989 and meant to last over 1,000 years leaked a deadly chemical known as phenol into water supplies within 25 years.
Activists refer to Appalachian Ohio as the region’s “dumping ground for toxic waste.” There are far more injection wells than gas-producing wells here than in nearby states, like Pennsylvania. For years, different groups have called on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to revoke Ohio’s ability to regulate its underground injection well program, which it was granted in 1983.
In 2014, one such complaint was filed with the EPA’s Region V administrator by activist groups Appalachia Resist! and Athens County Fracking Action Network (now known as the Athens County Future Action Network).
More recently, a coalition of groups including EarthJustice, the Sierra Club of Ohio and Buckeye Environmental Network filed a new petition making similar arguments that the state has failed to effectively regulate its underground injection well program in such a way that puts the health and safety of Ohioans at risk, and in violation of federal law.
The EPA has acknowledged the petition, but hasn’t responded yet, according to Megan Hunter, an attorney for EarthJustice.
Water quality
One of the water systems closest to the Torch injection wells is the Tuppers Plains–Chester Water District. District Director Derek Baum isn’t worried about the immediate effects of underground migration, he said, because the system draws water from wells that are not close to the injection wells.
However, TPCWD and the Little Hocking Water Association, which both border the Ohio River, installed granular activated carbon treatment systems after leaks of a PFAS-related chemical called C8 from DuPont’s Washington Works plant in the mid-2000s. Those leaks led to some residents receiving settlements of over $1 million.
“Still,” Baum added in an email, “even though we have the GAC treatment, any contamination that could raise the levels of ‘forever chemicals’ in the aquifer is concerning.”
Some residents near the injection wells have their own personal water wells, because they’re not able to connect to any city, county or regional water district lines. These wells are tested for C8, but it’s unknown whether tests for any other PFAS are conducted.
The U.S. EPA proposed strict regulations of PFAS in drinking water for the first time earlier this month, but some environmental engineering experts question whether rural water systems will be able to afford the new testing and treatment equipment needed to meet the new standards. Testing of untreated water in the Ohio River conducted last year found some amount of PFAS at every test site.
Ohio EPA tests of water from selected water systems around the state found that most — including TPCWD and Little Hocking — did not have signs of PFAS. However, several of the systems found to contain some level of PFAS were in Meigs and Washington counties.
Correction: This story initially referred to four injection wells in Torch. The company’s application for a fourth well was still under review when this story was published, and was denied in June 2023.
