Pennsylvania fracking waste sent to Ohio injection wells

By Farah Siddiqi

Pennsylvania is sending large volumes of oil and gas wastewater out of state for disposal, with much of it injected into underground wells in Southeast Ohio, a practice raising concern among local officials and residents near drinking water sources.

As Pennsylvania remains one of the nation’s largest natural gas producers, millions of gallons of wastewater generated by fracking must be disposed of. While some waste is treated or reused, a significant portion is transported across state lines to Ohio, where injection wells are permitted.

Community advocates in Washington County, Ohio, said their region has become a destination for wastewater other states limit or prohibit, placing long-term environmental burdens on communities far from where the drilling occurs.

Caroline Eells, organizer for the group Washington County for Safe Drinking Water, said residents are increasingly alarmed by the volume and origin of the waste.

"We’re getting shipments of fracking waste from Pennsylvania, West Virginia – all the other states that don’t allow it in their state," Eells explained.

According to Ohio local officials, Washington County has 19 permitted Class II injection wells. Several are located near public drinking water sources.

Susan Vessels, president of the Marietta City Council, said the concern extends beyond Ohio. Some of the aquifers near the injection wells serve people across state lines, raising broader regional water safety questions tied to disposal decisions made far from the drilling sites.

"With the volumes that are being injected so close to our aquifers, I think that it's an inevitability that something very, very bad and irreversible (could) happen," Vessels stressed.

Ohio city officials are urging state regulators to pause new injection well permits near aquifers, while advocates say Pennsylvania residents should be aware of where drilling waste ends up and who bears the long-term environmental risk.