There are more than 240 injection wells for the disposal of oil and gas waste here in Ohio. That’s because decades ago, our state received permission from the federal government to regulate our own injection wells. There’s hardly any federal oversight, compared to other surrounding states, which means other states are dumping their radioactive wastewater here.
In Marietta, specifically, east of Athens, hundreds of millions of gallons of radioactive fracking wastewater has been buried beneath the city, “where it’s supposed to stay forever,” noted The New York Times in a recent article about the issue.
However, this toxic brine is now surfacing, reported The Times, posing the risk of contaminating the drinking water for around 32,000 people. The hazardous wastewater is full of heavy metals, radioactive materials, harmful chemical additives, and benzene, a cancer-causing agent…