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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”

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Martins Ferry Sees No Evidence of Cleanup at Austin Master Serv.

We have been tracking and reporting on the drama surrounding Austin Master Services (AMS), a radiological waste management solutions company in Martins Ferry (Belmont County), Ohio, located close to the Ohio River, since the Ohio Attorney General lodged charges against the company back in March (see our AMS stories here). AMS has stored at least 10,000 tons of fracking waste (drill cuttings with low radioactivity) at the facility. The facility is rated and permitted to hold 600 tons. In March, Ohio AG Dave Yost asked the Belmont County Common Pleas Court to block AMS from receiving more waste and order it to clean up and comply with its rating. According to Martins Ferry Mayor John Davies, who addressed the city council last Wednesday, nothing has been done so far.
Read More “Martins Ferry Sees No Evidence of Cleanup at Austin Master Serv.”

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AEP Announces Finding a Buyer for Austin Master Services

We have been tracking and reporting on the drama surrounding Austin Master Services (AMS), a radiological waste management solutions company in Martins Ferry (Belmont County), Ohio, located close to the Ohio River, since the Ohio Attorney General lodged charges against the company back in March (see our AMS stories here). AMS has stored at least 10,000 tons of fracking waste (drill cuttings with low radioactivity) at the facility. The facility is rated and permitted to hold 600 tons. In March, Ohio AG Dave Yost asked the Belmont County Common Pleas Court to block AMS from receiving more waste and order it to clean up and comply with its rating. That process has been playing out. Meanwhile, the company that owns AMS, American Environmental Partners (AEP), announced yesterday it has found a buyer for AMS.
Read More “AEP Announces Finding a Buyer for Austin Master Services”

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Martins Ferry Council Pressures ODNR to Clean Up AMS Facility…NOW

We have been tracking and reporting on the drama surrounding Austin Master Services (AMS), a radiological waste management solutions company in Martins Ferry (Belmont County), Ohio, located close to the Ohio River (see our AMS stories here). Two weeks ago, a Belmont County Common Pleas Court judge ordered AMS to be fined $200 per day for failing to meet its permitted requirements for the amount of frack drill cuttings and other frack waste products housed at the Martins Ferry site. However, paperwork filed with the court by AMS claims the company is out of money, deep in debt, and is “effectively a dead company” that will not be able to meet the court’s order … unless it gets sold (quickly) to someone else who can do the cleanup work (see Austin Master Services Claims It is “Effectively a Dead Company”). The problem is that nothing is getting done to clean up the mess left by AMS, and the city of Martins Ferry is not happy with the stalemate.
Read More “Martins Ferry Council Pressures ODNR to Clean Up AMS Facility…NOW”

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Austin Master Services Claims It is “Effectively a Dead Company”

We have been tracking and reporting on the drama surrounding Austin Master Services (AMS), a radiological waste management solutions company in Martins Ferry ( Belmont County), Ohio, located close to the Ohio River (see our AMS stories here). Last week, a Belmont County Common Pleas Court judge ordered AMS to be fined $200 per day for failing to meet its permitted requirements for the amount of frack drill cuttings and other frack waste products housed at the Martins Ferry site. If the company fails to meet the order by July 22, AMS’ (and parent company American Environmental Partners’) CEO Brad Domitrovitsch will be required to serve a 30-day sentence in the Belmont County jail. Paperwork filed with the court by AMS claims the company is out of money, deep in debt, and is “effectively a dead company” that will not be able to meet the court’s order … unless it gets sold (quickly) to someone else who can do the cleanup work.
Read More “Austin Master Services Claims It is “Effectively a Dead Company””

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OH Supreme Court Reverses “Drilled Too Deep” Decision TERA v Rice

Back in the summer of 2020, MDN told you about a lawsuit brought by an Ohio rights owner called TERA, an organization that owns the royalty rights for a number of leases with wells in Belmont County, OH, drilled by different producers, suing the producers for drilling into the Point Pleasant shale layer when the lease only mentions the Utica layer (see OH Landowners Sue Rice, Ascent, XTO, Gulfport for Drilling Too Deep). We have an important update on that lawsuit which potentially affects all Ohio landowners and drillers. Yesterday, the Ohio Supreme Court issued a ruling that overturns a Seventh District Court of Appeals decision upholding a lower court’s ruling in favor of the rights owner. The Ohio Supremes reversed the judgment of the Seventh District and remanded the case back to the trial court for further proceedings.
Read More “OH Supreme Court Reverses “Drilled Too Deep” Decision TERA v Rice”

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AMS Court Hearing Day Two: Comply by July 22 or Jail Time for CEO

Yesterday was the second and final day of a hearing begun on Monday in Belmont County, OH, Common Pleas Court to determine whether or not Austin Master Services (AMS) and its parent company American Environmental Partners (AEP), along with the owner of both companies, Brad Domitrovitsch, has failed to comply with an order from the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) to clean up and clear out a facility in Martins Ferry that currently holds too much frack waste. The hearing concluded with the judge’s finding that AMS, AEP, and Domitrovitsch are in “contempt” of a previous court directive to get the facility cleaned by April 17. Beginning yesterday, AMS will be fined $200 per day. If the facility is not cleaned up and in compliance by July 22, the judge has ordered Domitrovitsch (who does not live in Ohio) to report to Belmont County jail to serve a 30-day sentence.
Read More “AMS Court Hearing Day Two: Comply by July 22 or Jail Time for CEO”

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Ohio Landowners Seek Class Action Against Rice/EQT re Royalties

A group of landowners in Belmont County, OH, filed a lawsuit against Rice Drilling (now EQT Corporation) in July 2021, alleging the company had shorted them on royalty payments by (a) selling the gas extracted to an affiliated (instead of unaffiliated) third party, and (b) deducting post-production costs specifically disallowed under the signed contract. Several landowners who are part of what was originally known as the Smith-Goshen Landowners Group have requested a federal court in Ohio to elevate the lawsuit to class-action status.
Read More “Ohio Landowners Seek Class Action Against Rice/EQT re Royalties”

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Austin Master Services Court Hearing Day One: Single Witness

American Environmental Partners (AEP) and its owner, Brad Domitrovitsch, had their first day in court yesterday in Belmont County, OH, to address a motion by Ohio’s Attorney General, David Yost, to hold the company and Domitrovitsch in contempt for not complying with an order to clean up the Austin Master Services (AMS) facility owned by AEP. Although the hearing was scheduled to begin at 10 am, it didn’t actually start until 11:10 am. The judge gave the attorneys for the parties involved time to talk in an effort to arrive at a resolution. Which obviously didn’t happen as the hearing went forward. There was just one witness for the day yesterday.
Read More “Austin Master Services Court Hearing Day One: Single Witness”

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Austin Master Services Responds to AG Lawsuit; Court Hearing Today

American Environmental Partners (AEP) and its owner, Brad Domitrovitsch, are due in court today in Belmont County, OH, to address a motion by Ohio’s Attorney General, David Yost, to hold the company and Domitrovitsch in contempt for not complying with an order to clean up the Austin Master Services (AMS) facility owned by AEP. AMS is a radiological waste management solutions company in Martins Ferry ( in Belmont County) close to the Ohio River. Media accounts report that AMS has stored at least 10,000 tons of fracking waste (drill cuttings with low radioactivity) at the facility. The facility is rated and permitted to hold 600 tons. In March, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost asked the Belmont County Common Pleas Court to block AMS from receiving more waste and order it to clean up and comply with its rating. The court granted both requests with a deadline of April 17 to comply. The deadline came and went without compliance.
Read More “Austin Master Services Responds to AG Lawsuit; Court Hearing Today”

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Martins Ferry Not Getting Answers on Frack Waste Facility Cleanup

Austin Master Services (AMS) is a radiological waste management solutions company operating in Martins Ferry (Belmont County), OH, close to the Ohio River. Media accounts report that AMS has stored at least 10,000 tons of fracking waste (drill cuttings with low radioactivity) at the facility. The facility is rated and permitted to hold 600 tons. In March, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost asked the Belmont County Common Pleas Court to block AMS from receiving more waste and order it to clean up and comply with its rating. The court granted both requests with a deadline of April 17 to comply (see Court Orders Austin Master to Clean Up Martins Ferry Frack Waste). The deadline came and went without compliance. Martins Ferry officials want answers from the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR), which permitted and is supposed to oversee the facility, about when it will be cleaned up.
Read More “Martins Ferry Not Getting Answers on Frack Waste Facility Cleanup”