OH Supreme Court Rules Against AWMS Injection Well Compensation

We’ve been tracking a story that we consider an ongoing tragedy for more than a decade. American Water Management Services (AWMS) owns a wastewater injection well in Trumbull County, Ohio, that supposedly caused a low-level earthquake (that nobody could feel) in 2014. Actually, there are two injection wells located at the site, both operated by AWMS. They were both “temporarily” shut down by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) following the quake nobody could feel (see ODNR Temporarily Shuts Down Injection Wells After Low-Level Quake). ODNR allowed AWMS to reopen one of the injection wells but denied it the right to reopen the second well. AWMS said it makes no economic sense to reopen just one of the wells and has been locked in a legal battle to reopen the shuttered well and get compensated by the state for forcing it out of business (missed revenues). Sadly, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled in favor of the state against AWMS, denying them money for the state's "taking" of their property.

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