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Members of the concerned Ohio River residents spoke to officials in the city of Martins Ferry on Thursday about the Austin Master fracking waste facility and concerns about potential contamination. In front, from left to right, CORR members Ray Cantor, Bev Reed and Robert Reed. Back row, left to right, Councilor Rick Rodgers, Geomicrobiologist Yuri Gorby and Pease Township Administrator Michael Bianconi. (Photo by Robert A. DeFrank)
Martins Ferry executives held a meeting Thursday with representatives of the environmentalist organization Concerned Ohio River Residents regarding the practices and regulations of the Austin Master Services fracking waste treatment facility at Martins Ferry.
The environmental group has raised concerns that Austin Master’s activities could pollute the city’s water and impact the water of other communities along the Ohio River, such as Bridgeport, which now buys water from Martins Ferry. They are also concerned about water pollution in Belmont County.
Martins Ferry mayor John Davies said he had listened to the concerns raised by the group and would continue to do so. He referred to the latest test results from the state’s Ohio Environmental Protection Agency indicating that radium readings were “well below” the amount 20 years earlier, when a steel plant was active at the same site. He has also been in contact with the facility, and Austin Master officials have provided reports and recommendations from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources since 2015.
CORR member Robert Reed said hazardous waste is loaded and unloaded at the facility using open containers.
“They have open containers. We’ve seen them for five or six years now. Each of these ODNR reports that come in, there are violations, ”he said. “We saw pictures… in June… there was open mud on the concrete. It is not a container. The concrete and the garbage cans they have are not a container.
“The bins are a container,” Davies said.
“Mud escapes to the ground. The trucks go by, ”said Robert Reed.
Her daughter and CORR colleague Bev Reed said they didn’t think there was enough secondary containment.
The meeting took a controversial turn.
“Everyone except your group is lying,” Davies said of his perception of the group’s implications, referring to a previous CORR meeting where he said the group claimed without evidence that contamination was inevitable and already in progress. Classes. “You are after oil and gas, you are not after Austin Master.”
The meeting became more cordial as discussions turned to the potential dangers to the water supply and the means that municipal authorities could use to protect the resource.
Yuri Gorby, a Bethany scientist in the field of geomicrobiology, said the city could install additional monitoring wells to detect water quality in underground streams.
He recommended that the city design its own monitoring wellfield.
City manager Andy Sutak inquired about the cost of such measures.
“It would be orders of magnitude less to install monitoring wells than to contaminate the pumps and the wells themselves and have to find a new source of water,” Gorby said. “It would be relatively cheap.
Davies said he shares some concerns that contaminants could enter the water, but he’s not “too worried.”
“A concrete floor. What are the chances ? Davies said. “Can this happen? It probably could. By the time it gets to … our wellfield, how diluted will it be? “
He said he visited the site daily.
“They are doing what they are supposed to do according to the ODNR. We’re doing what we’re supposed to do with the EPA, ”Davies said.
Other concerns were that companies doing business with Austin Master might not properly clean their vehicle containers.
CORR member Ray Canter said Davies should inquire about the truck wash operation.
“I want to see them in compliance,” Davies said.
Councilor Rick Rodgers said the meeting was productive.
“We were open to each other today. It’s a very, very good sign, let’s keep it at this level, ”he said.
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