Drillers Nominate 2 More OH Wildlife Areas to Frack Under, Not On
Two more tracts of Ohio public lands designated as “wildlife areas” have been nominated by shale companies to be drilled and fracked under (not on), which has the anti-fossil fuel group Save Ohio Parks up in arms. The tagline for Save Ohio Parks is “No fracking on public lands.” The thing is, there isn’t any fracking on public lands in Ohio. It’s UNDER, not ON. Well pads and equipment would be erected on PRIVATE land adjacent to the public land. There is no disturbance of any kind on top of Ohio’s public lands. The new parcels nominated include 84 acres in the Keen Wildlife Area in Washington Township (Harrison County). A second parcel of 30 acres has also been nominated for the Egypt Valley Wildlife Area in Flushing Township (Belmont County).
Read More “Drillers Nominate 2 More OH Wildlife Areas to Frack Under, Not On”
Last Thursday, MDN brought you the news that Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost asked a Belmont County judge to find Austin Master Services (AMS) and Brad D. Domitrovitsch, who is in control of the company (both CEO and CFO), in contempt for “failing to meet the court’s deadline to clean up the illegal levels of fracking waste stored at its recycling facility in Martins Ferry” (see 
One month ago, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost took legal action seeking to force Austin Master Services (AMS), a radiological waste management solutions company operating in Belmont County, OH, to correct “egregious violations of Ohio law” regarding the storage of oil and gas waste that he says threatens the Ohio River and Martins Ferry’s drinking water supply (see 
Martins Ferry (OH) Mayor John Davies continues to make noise about the currently shuttered Austin Master Services (AMS) frack waste processing facility in his city. Two weeks ago, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost took legal action seeking to force AMS to correct “egregious violations of Ohio law” regarding the storage of oil and gas waste that he says threatens the Ohio River and Martins Ferry’s drinking water supply (see 
A royalty case that took nearly four years and hundreds of filings by both sides was finally decided by an Ohio jury in March (see 
Yesterday, MDN reported that Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost took legal action on Monday, seeking to force Austin Master Services (AMS) in Martins Ferry (Belmont County), OH, to correct “egregious violations of Ohio law” regarding the storage of oil and gas waste that he says threatens the Ohio River and Martins Ferry’s drinking water supply (see 
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost took legal action Monday, seeking to force Austin Master Services in Martins Ferry (Belmont County), OH, to correct “egregious violations of Ohio law” regarding storage of oil and gas waste that he says threatens the Ohio River (500 feet away) and Martins Ferry’s drinking water supply (1,000 feet away). Austin Master Services serves the Marcellus/Utica industry (and other industries) with radiological waste management solutions, including remediation, decontamination & decommissioning (D&D), and transportation. The company was bought by and is now a subsidiary of PA-based American Environmental Partners, Inc. (see 
There were 19 new permits issued to drill in the Marcellus/Utica during the week of Mar. 4 – 10, up 2 from 17 permits issued the prior week. Pennsylvania issued 11 new permits. Ohio issued 5 new permits. And West Virginia issued 3 new permits. Range Resources and Ascent Resources tied for most new permits with 5 each. Range received 5 permits to drill in two PA counties: Lycoming and Washington. Ascent received 5 permits to drill in Belmont County, OH. Chesapeake Energy got 3 permits to drill in Bradford County, PA, and Seneca Resource also received 3 permits for Tioga County, PA. Southwestern Energy scored 2 permits for Ohio County, WV, and CNX Resources received a single permit for Marshall County, WV.
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 
Last November, Northern Oil and Gas, Inc. (NOG), a company that invests in non-operated oil and gas assets (they let others do the drilling), announced a deal to enter the Utica Shale (see