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Austin Master Services Cleanup in Martins Ferry One-Third Complete

In July, the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) opened up the shuttered Austin Master Services (AMS) radiological waste management solutions company in Martins Ferry (Belmont County), Ohio, to begin cleanup work at the facility (see Flurry of Activity at Austin Master Services Site in Martins Ferry). AMS is permitted by the ODNR to temporarily store up to 600 tons of fracking waste, like shale drill cuttings and wastewater. ODNR estimates there were some 10,000 tons of fracking waste at the site. AMS ran out of money, and vendors quit accepting the waste. After failing to meet a court-ordered deadline, ODNR stepped in to handle the cleanup. A local TV station is reporting one-third of the cleanup job is now completed. The facility is supposed to be completely cleaned up by May 2025. Read More “Austin Master Services Cleanup in Martins Ferry One-Third Complete”

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30 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Nov 11 – 17

For the week of Nov 11 – 17, permits issued in the Marcellus/Utica were strong, with 30 new permits issued, down just slightly from the 34 issued the prior week (but way up from the piddly numbers issued in prior weeks). The Keystone State (PA) issued 16 new permits, with seven going to Range Resources, all in Washington County. Six permits went to EQT in Lycoming County. Two permits were issued to Olympus Energy in Westmoreland County. A single permit was issued to Chesapeake Energy (now Expand Energy) in Susquehanna County. Read More “30 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Nov 11 – 17”

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34 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Nov 4 – 10

For the week of Nov 4 – 10, permits issued in the Marcellus/Utica came roaring back with a total of 34 permits issued (up from 13 issued the prior week). There were some VERY interesting things to note about some of the permits issued. The Keystone State (PA) issued 16 new permits, with five going to Range Resources in Washington County. And that’s the first of three interesting things to note. All five Range permits were issued for Cecil Township, which recently passed a ban on new fracking via a 2,500-foot setback regulation (see Cecil Twp Supervisors Pull the Trigger on Frack Ban Via Setbacks). Read More “34 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Nov 4 – 10”

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17 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Oct 21 – 27

For the week of Oct 21 – 27, there were 17 permits issued to drill Marcellus/Utica wells, up from 14 permits issued the prior week. The Keystone State (PA) had 12 new permits, with five going to Chesapeake Energy (now Expand Energy) in Wyoming County and two each for PennEnergy Resources (Beaver County) and Coterra Energy (Susquehanna County). Single permits were issued to Pennsylvania General Energy, Inflection Energy, and XPR Resources. The Buckeye State (OH) had five new permits, with four going to Gulfport Energy in Belmont County. The other OH permit was for Infinity Natural Resources (INR) in Guernsey County. The Mountain State (WV) issued a big, fat zero new permits last week. Read More “17 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Oct 21 – 27”

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DOE Spending $44M on Drilling Two CO2 Injection Wells in WV & OH

The Biden-Harris administration continues to spend money like drunken sailors. They can’t hand it out fast enough ahead of November 5th. We can’t even count how much has been doled out just this week—certainly several billion dollars. Some of the money flowing out of D.C. this week ($44 million) will go to a project that is part of the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2) to establish new carbon dioxide injection wells, one in Marshall County, WV, and one in Belmont County, OH. Read More “DOE Spending $44M on Drilling Two CO2 Injection Wells in WV & OH”

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32 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Sep 16 – 22

There were 32 permits issued to drill new shale wells in Marcellus/Utica for the week of Sept. 16 – 22, more than doubling the 15 issued the prior week. The Keystone State (PA) had nine new permits, with five of them going to EQT in Greene County. The Buckeye State (OH) had 20 new permits. The floodgates opened up! The top recipient in OH was Encino Energy, which received eight permits divided between Guernsey and Carroll counties. EOG Resources received five permits in Harrison County. The Mountain State (WV) had three new permits after getting skunked the prior week. All three were issued to Northeast Natural Energy (NNE) in Monongalia County. Read More “32 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Sep 16 – 22”

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Phase 1 of Austin Master Serv. Cleanup in Martins Ferry “Complete”

In late July, the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) opened up the shuttered Austin Master Services (AMS) radiological waste management solutions company in Martins Ferry (Belmont County), Ohio, to begin cleanup work at the facility (see Flurry of Activity at Austin Master Services Site in Martins Ferry). AMS is permitted by the ODNR to temporarily store up to 600 tons of fracking waste, like drill cuttings and wastewater. ODNR estimates there are (were) some 10,000 tons of fracking waste at the site. AMS ran out of money, and vendors quit accepting the waste. After failing to meet a court-ordered July 22 deadline, ODNR stepped in to handle the cleanup. The mayor of Martins Ferry reports that Phase 1 of the cleanup is already done, and work is now underway on Phase 2. Read More “Phase 1 of Austin Master Serv. Cleanup in Martins Ferry “Complete””

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EOG Wins Contract to Frack Under OH’s Keen Wildlife Area for $212K

The Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission (OGLMC) continues to do its job. Yesterday, the group held a meeting and awarded five contracts for drilling and fracking UNDER (not on) several state-owned lands, including a contract with EOG Resources to drill under 85 acres in Keen Wildlife Area in Washington Township, Harrison County, for $211,650 ($2,500/acre). Also of interest at yesterday’s meeting was that 40 parcels of land in Salt Fork State Park and Salt Fork Wildlife Area were removed from the committee’s agenda. Apparently, the nominating company withdrew its application for those tracts.
Read More “EOG Wins Contract to Frack Under OH’s Keen Wildlife Area for $212K”

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Austin Master Services CEO Pays $25,000 Bond to Stay Out of Jail

Last week, MDN exclusively brought you the news that the CEO of American Environmental Services, which owns Austin Master Services (AMS), had filed a brief with Belmont County Court to either forgive or reduce a $1.2 million bond needed to keep the CEO, Brad Domitrovitsch, out of jail (see Austin Master Serv. CEO Asks Court to Block Jail Time, $1.2M Bond). The judge in the case reconsidered and reduced the bond from $1.2 million down to $25,000. Quite the reduction in Domitrovitsch’s “stay out of jail” card.
Read More “Austin Master Services CEO Pays $25,000 Bond to Stay Out of Jail”

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Flurry of Activity at Austin Master Services Site in Martins Ferry

Yesterday, the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) opened up the shuttered Austin Master Services (AMS) radiological waste management solutions company in Martins Ferry (Belmont County), Ohio, to begin cleanup work at the facility. One contractor began working at the site, while a bunch of others did a “pre-bid walkthrough” to look at what is there to make bids for cleaning it. AMS is permitted by the ODNR to temporarily store up to 600 tons of fracking waste, like drill cuttings and wastewater. ODNR estimates there are some 10,000 tons of fracking waste at the site. AMS ran out of money, and vendors quit accepting the waste. After failing to meet a court-ordered July 22 deadline, ODNR stepped in to handle the cleanup.
Read More “Flurry of Activity at Austin Master Services Site in Martins Ferry”

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Austin Master Serv. CEO Asks Court to Block Jail Time, $1.2M Bond

As we have been reporting, Austin Master Services, a radiological waste management solutions company in Martins Ferry (Belmont County), Ohio, that handles fracking waste (trucks it for disposal), ran into trouble when it ran out of money. The facility where waste is temporarily stored went from a permitted maximum of 600 tons of stored waste to over 10,000 tons, in violation of its permit. The Ohio Attorney General’s office filed a lawsuit against the company to force compliance. As is always the case, there are two sides to every story. The side of AMS and its owner, Brad Domitrovitsch, is not getting much media coverage. We have an update on Brad’s side of the story…
Read More “Austin Master Serv. CEO Asks Court to Block Jail Time, $1.2M Bond”

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Austin Master Services Misses Deadline, ODNR Steps in To Clean Site

Austin Master Services (AMS) is a radiological waste management solutions company in Martins Ferry (Belmont County), Ohio. The Ohio Attorney General lodged charges against AMS in March, accusing the company of storing 16+ times more drill cuttings at the facility than it’s rated for (see Ohio AG Sues Austin Master Services for Unsafe Storage of Wastewater). A county judge ordered AMS to clean out the site and bring it back into compliance by July 22, or else AMS would be fined $200 per day, and the owner and CEO, Brad Domitrovitsch, would need to report to jail for a 30-day stint. Yesterday’s deadline came and went without compliance, so the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) is stepping in to do the cleanup work.
Read More “Austin Master Services Misses Deadline, ODNR Steps in To Clean Site”

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Deal to Take Over Austin Master Services Appears to Have Failed

In early June, the owner of Austin Master Services (AMS), American Environmental Partners (AEP), sent a press announcement to MDN to announce he had found a buyer for AMS (see AEP Announces Finding a Buyer for Austin Master Services). AMS is a radiological waste management solutions company in Martins Ferry (Belmont County), Ohio. The Ohio Attorney General lodged charges against AMS in March, accusing the company of storing 16+ times more drill cuttings at the facility than it’s rated for. According to an article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the deal to take over AMS and clean it up has fallen through.
Read More “Deal to Take Over Austin Master Services Appears to Have Failed”

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Martins Ferry, OH Mayor Wants AMS Site Shut Down Permanently

According to Public News Service (PNS), a Big Green propaganda outfit funded (in part) by the Fresh Water Accountability Project, the CEO of Austin Master Services (AMS), a frack waste storage facility in Martin’s Ferry, Ohio, was supposed to attend a Belmont County court hearing by phone. He faces contempt-of-court charges for failing to clean up 10,000 tons of waste. However, it wasn’t the hearing that caught our attention; it was a comment made by the Mayor of Martins Ferry.
Read More “Martins Ferry, OH Mayor Wants AMS Site Shut Down Permanently”

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ODNR Pledges to Begin Cleanup of Austin Master Services July 22

Three weeks ago, the owner of Austin Master Services (AMS), American Environmental Partners (AEP), sent a press announcement to MDN to announce he has found a buyer for AMS (see AEP Announces Finding a Buyer for Austin Master Services). AMS is a radiological waste management solutions company in Martins Ferry (Belmont County), Ohio. The Ohio Attorney General lodged charges against AMS in March, accusing the company of storing 16+ times more drill cuttings at the facility than it’s rated for. A county judge ordered AMS to clean out the site and bring it back into compliance by July 22, or else AEP owner and CEO Brad Domitrovitsch is ordered to report to jail for a 30-day stint.
Read More “ODNR Pledges to Begin Cleanup of Austin Master Services July 22”

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OH Injection Well Owner Wins Case Against ODNR, Potential Restart

We’re picking up the thread of a story we last reported on in 2021. In July 2019, MDN told you about New Jersey-based Omni Energy Group and their application to build two new injection wells near St. Clairsville (see Belmont County Injection Well Plan Stirs Opposition from Coal Co.). Omni eventually built the wells, and at least one went into service. However, the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) lowered the injection pressure allowed at the well AFTER approving a higher pressure, effectively shutting it down. Two days ago Omni won an important court victory in this long-running saga.
Read More “OH Injection Well Owner Wins Case Against ODNR, Potential Restart”