FRANKLIN COUNTY, Ohio — A lawsuit filed last year seeks to make a fracking waste injection company pay for cleanup costs associated with a 2021 incident in which the company’s waste contaminated Noble County land and waterways, killing hundreds of animals.
According to Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Oil and Gas records, a hazardous byproduct of fracking known as brine traveled underground from fracking waste injection wells owned by DeepRock Disposal Solutions. The brine reached the earth’s surface via an oil and gas production well owned by Genesis Resources. During the brine release, 450 fish, salamanders and frogs died, according to reporting by Cleveland.com.
According to court documents from a previous legal fight, Genesis had not plugged what is known as the Gant Well, even though it had been inactive for 10 years. If the well had been plugged, brine could not have reached the surface — but brine should never have migrated from the DeepRock wells…