MARIETTA, Ohio — The Ohio Department of Natural Resources faces multiple legal challenges to permits it approved for new Washington County fracking waste injection wells, the most recent lawsuit filed last Friday, Nov. 7.
The ODNR Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management granted the permits at issue this year under outdated permitting rules.
It applied the rules in place at the time of the initial permit applications. Those rules were revised in 2022, however, after the old rules proved insufficient to protect against the migration of fracking waste from southeast Ohio injection wells.
Buckeye Environmental Network, the environmental nonprofit that brought the case against ODNR, argues ODNR is obligated “to uphold the current state rules that they themselves wrote and the legislature passed into law for a reason,” Bev Reed, Buckeye Environmental Network organizer, said in a press release. “They didn’t do that when permitting these wells, so we’re holding them to account.”
Fracking waste contains highly toxic chemicals such as PFAS and radioactive compounds. Its uncontrolled spread poses a risk to drinking water and the environment, the ODNR has repeatedly found.
“Ohio’s regulations on Class II injection wells were not adequate to: prevent serious environmental issues, including waste surfacing miles beyond injection sites and earthquakes linked to multiple injection wells throughout the state,” Buckeye Environmental Network wrote in its lawsuit, filed Nov. 7 in the Tenth District Court of Appeals.
Buckeye Environmental Network argues in the lawsuit that it was unlawful for ODNR to approve the permits under outdated rules.
“Under Ohio law, because a permit is a privilege and not a right, the filing of an application for a permit cannot create a vested right in obtaining that permit, and the laws and regulations in place at the time of granting the permit must govern,” the nonprofit wrote.
The suit specifically challenges the permits granted for the Stephan No. 1 and American Growers No. 4 wells, both located in Washington County and owned by DeepRock Disposal Solutions. Ohio state Senator Brian Chavez served as DeepRock’s CEO until 2024, and he and his family maintain connections to the company.
The Dexter No. 3 well, also owned by DeepRock and permitted this year under outdated rules, was not included in the lawsuit. Buckeye Environmental Network did not learn about the well in time, Bev Reed, an organizer with the Buckeye Environmental Network, told the Independent. The well is set to be located in Noble County.
James Yskamp, an attorney for EarthJustice, represents the Buckeye Environmental Network in the lawsuit. EarthJustice is a nonprofit law firm that specializes in environmental law and represents environmental activists and communities free of charge to support environmental protection.
Yskamp stated that there is a clear legal precedent showing that permits and licenses must use current regulations to issue permits.
“I think these permits should be vacated, and ODNR should review them under the new permitting rules and decide whether it is safe to permit these two injection wells at all,” Yskamp said.
The lawsuit says the wells were approved “using less protective areas of review, injection volumes, well construction requirements, and siting requirements, as well as more restrictive public participation procedures, than the Current Rules that have been in effect since January 13, 2022 require.”
According to the suit, by using a smaller area of review, ODNR failed to consider “whether any of the approximately 179 wells triggered the need for a reduction or limitation in injection volumes for Stephan #1.” ODNR likewise failed to consider 188 oil and gas wells for impacts on the proposed American Growers No. 4 injection well.
As of the filing date, ODNR had 28 days to respond to the lawsuit. From there, the court will set a date to hear a final briefing from both parties.
Buckeye Environmental Network is not alone in fighting the permit approvals. Marietta City Council passed a resolution it shared with the Ohio Governor’s office, which calls for a pause on new injection wells in Washington County. Marietta City Council also voted to allow the City Law Director to file a writ of mandamus in an attempt to force ODNR to use the new regulations for permitting.
The city then appealed the ODNR Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management decision granting Stephan No. 1 permit to the Ohio Oil and Gas Commission, which hears cases challenging the division chief’s orders. The commission operates under ODNR’s umbrella, and it generally comprises five members appointed by the Ohio governor, at least two of whom must represent industry.
The city argues in its appeal that the Division should have applied the current rules when considering the permit application for the Stephan No. 1 well. While it does not delve into this claim in its appeal, the city has also maintained that regardless of which rules are applied, the Stephan No. 1 permit should “be denied for the reasons of public health, safety, and good conservation practices.”
DeepRock argues in response to the city’s appeal that it “fully complied with all applicable laws and regulations in applying for the Permit, and ODNR … properly evaluated the controlling facts and followed Ohio law.”
DeepRock also argues that the Ohio Oil and Gas Commission does not have jurisdiction to consider the case, and that the Division was correct under established Ohio case law to consider DeepRock’s permit application under the old rules. The division’s response to the city’s appeal hinges on the same legal arguments.
Fahimeh (Faye) Kennedy, executive director of the Ohio Oil and Gas Commission, told the Independent in an email that the Marietta case has been fully briefed and that no hearings in the case have yet been scheduled.
The Independent contacted an ODNR spokesperson about the Marietta appeal and Buckeye Environmental Network lawsuit and was told that the department does not comment on pending litigation.
Community concerns for clean water
The Buckeye Environmental Network first got involved in organizing around Washington County injection wells in April, after members of the group participated in a conversation hosted by the Warren Water and Sewer Association and Warren Township Trustees about concerns over fracking waste contamination.
From there, members of the Buckeye Environmental Network worked to inform Washington County residents, spoke with local elected officials and filed records requests with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
Marietta City Council President Susan Vessels told the Independent that she feels too much fracking waste injection takes place too close to drinking water aquifers.
“We have too many injection wells, too close to aquifers serving 32,000 people. I mean, within currently injecting, we have four injection wells, all less than two miles away, and those wells are permitted for up to 20,000 barrels a day,” Vessels said.
“That’s my drinking water that is at risk,” Dawn Hewitt, a member of Washington County for Safe Drinking Water, said in the Buckeye Environmental Network press release.
Jay Huck, manager and operator at Putnam Community Water, said in the release that the agency is “greatly concerned of the potential dangers that injection wells pose to not only our water system’s aquifer but the water aquifers of several other water systems including the City of Marietta.”
“Should these aquifers become polluted with toxic brine waste there is no possible way of treating the water to make it potable again,” Huck continued. “The Board of Directors for Putnam Community Water stand with the City of Marietta and other local water systems boards in Washington County opposing these injection wells.”
Buckeye Environmental Network’s release notes that the new wells the Division sued over “would add millions of gallons of hazardous waste to an area that has already seen the environmental toll of the industry.”
“The total amount of brine wastewater injected in Washington County from 2015–2024 into Class II [fracking waste injection] wells totaled 2,455,748,022 gallons (2.4 billion),” the release added. “That is equivalent to 3,720 Olympic swimming pools.”
Vessels emphasized in an interview that the community concern about injection wells is a bipartisan issue. The comment and objection letter Marietta City Council submitted to ODNR was signed by five Republicans and four Democrats.
The comment and objection letter requested that ODNR apply the current regulations, deny the permit for the Stephan No. 1 well out of concern for public health and conservation, and that ODNR host a public meeting discussing the Stephan No. 1 well application as required by the current version of the Ohio Administrative Code.
ODNR issued two responses to the comment and objection letter, the first Sept. 3 and the second Oct. 1.
In the Oct. 1 response, ODNR reiterated that they reviewed the Stephan No. 1 permit application using the rules at the time of the application and denied that they gave special treatment to DeepRock due to its ties to Chavez.
The Oct. 1 response also stated that the Stephan No. 1 well may have had to be moved and may have required corrective action if the current rules were applied to the permit application.
Additionally, as in its response to the Marietta appeal, ODNR disputed the claim that past legal precedent required them to apply the new rules and points to it currently being litigated before Ohio’s Oil and Gas Commission.
Note: This story was updated 9:50 a.m. Friday, Nov. 14, 2025, to remove a typo of ours made citing from the Buckeye Environmental Network’s press release.
Let us know what's happening in your neck of the woods!
Get in touch and share a story!
