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Buckeye Brine Seeks Permit for 4th Injection Well in Coshocton, OH

Buckeye Brine – Coshocton (click for larger version)

MDN has covered news about wastewater injection well company Buckeye Brine for more than a decade (see our Buckeye Brine stories here). Over the years, the company has drilled and safely operated three injection wells at the same location in Coshocton County, OH. Buckeye recently filed an application with the Ohio EPA to drill and operate a fourth wastewater injection well at the Coshocton location. The OEPA recently held a hearing, and as before, a group of activists and local residents turned up to oppose the plan.
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Ohio Welding Co. Expands Thx to Marcellus/Utica Work

We love a good supply chain story. Crozier Welding, founded in 1980, started by servicing coal mining operations. Eventually, the company, located in Coshocton County, transitioned from coal to welding pipelines for the oil and gas industry. Today the focus of the company is on welding pressure vessels (holding tanks) for the shale industry. The company is moving and expanding, thanks to an abundance of work coming from the M-U.
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Ohio Hearing re Making Coshocton Class II Injection Wells Class I

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) will hold a public hearing on April 15 to consider draft permits the agency has floated to allow two frack wastewater injection wells (Class II) in Coshocton County to be reclassified as Class I wells, allowing them to accept waste other than frack waste.
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Ohio EPA Considers Converting Class II Injection Wells to Class I

Buckeye Brine, a relatively young Ohio-based company, owns and operates three shale wastewater injection wells in Coshocton County. Buckeye has operated their three Class II (as they are known) injection wells “flawlessly” for the past five years. No earthquakes. No spills. No leaks back to the surface. Nothing. Buckeye now wants to re-designate two of the three wells as Class I wells, which would allow them to accept non-shale wastewater–from industrial equipment operators, soap manufacturers, food processors, power plants, and municipal wastewater treatment plants. But antis are kicking up a fuss, claiming the change will pollute everything and everyone from here to Timbuktu. Fortunately state regulators are not swayed by such histrionics. The Ohio EPA is accepting public comments on the conversion until Nov. 26. There’s still time to write in and support the project!
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Antis Fight Plan to Convert 2 Class II Injection Wells in OH to Class I

In 2013, Buckeye Brine, a relatively young Ohio-based company, added a second shale wastewater injection well in Coshocton County (see Buckeye Brine Adds Second Injection Well, Business Expands Rapidly). Buckeye later added a third injection well. After an oil or gas well is drilled and fracked, wastewater from fracking flows back out for a week or two. After that, over time (years in most cases) naturally occurring water from deep underground continues to flow. That naturally occurring water contains a lot of dissolved minerals in it, making it much “saltier” than even ocean water–hence the term brine. Buckeye Brine has operated their three Class II (as they are known) injection wells “flawlessly” for the past five years. No earthquakes. No spills. No leaks back to the surface. Nothing. Buckeye now wants to re-designate two of the three wells as Class I wells, which would allow them to accept non-shale wastewater–from industrial equipment operators, soap manufacturers, food processors, power plants, and municipal wastewater treatment plants. The new wastewater sources for a Class I well are considered “nonhazardous.” However, so-called environmental groups are opposing the change from Class II to Class I…
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Coshocton County, OH #1 in Frack Wastewater Injection Volume

The amount of wastewater, both flowback and brine going down Ohio’s injection wells increased by a full third (35% actually) in 2014, according to research by Bob Downing at the Akron Beacon Journal. Wastewater in-state (produced in Ohio) jumped 32% while wastewater from out of state (Pennsylvania and West Virginia) jumped 37% in 2014. Here’s some statistics…
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Buckeye Brine Adds Second Injection Well, Business Expands Rapidly

Buckeye Brine is a relatively new Ohio company that has so far built one brine injection well in Coshocton County, OH and is drilling a second injection now and considering adding a frack wastewater recycling facility. Quick tutorial: After an oil or gas well is drilled and fracked, wastewater from fracking flows back out for a week or two. After that, over time (years in some cases) naturally occurring water from deep underground–not fresh water from near the surface, but water from thousands of feet down–continues to flow from some wells. That naturally occurring water contains a lot of dissolved minerals in it, making it much “saltier” than even ocean water–hence the term brine.

Buckeye injects brine back into the ground. A bit more about Buckeye’s operation to date, and what they have planned…
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Landowners: Make Lease Payments You Receive Tax-Free

MDN ran across a story in the local Zanesville, Ohio newspaper that makes an interesting boast. A group of three financial advice firms have joined forces to offer workshops for landowners in the Coshocton, OH area that supposedly instructs landowners on how to save “virtually every tax dollar” on lease bonus payments. The technique, which involves setting up some sort of special legal structure, will also “save taxes” on royalty payments. We are 100% in favor of landowners keeping their money!

But, is it too good to be true? We don’t know. However, it does sound interesting, and if you live somewhere in the Coshocton vicinity, we’d encourage you to check it out. Let us know if you do…

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The Prospects for Utica Drilling in Coshocton & Muskingum, OH

Drilling in Ohio’s Utica Shale took off like a rocket in 2012. It seemed a week did not go by without new permits to drill being issued in counties like Carroll, Guernsey, Belmont, Harrison and Noble. But two counties in eastern Ohio have not been caught up in the drilling frenzy, at least so far: Coshocton and Muskingum. Has drilling passed by them? Not according to officials in both counties.

The head of the Coshocton Port Authority says it’s early innings yet:

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ATEX Express Ethane Pipeline Begins Construction in Ohio

Earlier this year, Enterprise Products Partners announced a 1,230 mile ethane pipeline called the ATEX Express (Appalachia to Texas) that will run from Pennsylvania to the Gulf Coast (see this MDN story). Part of the pipeline repurposes an existing pipeline from Cape Girardeau, Missouri south to Texas. But part of the line is new construction through Ohio.

Not long after the new pipeline was announced, there was a dispute over whether or not Enterprise would need permission from the Ohio Power Siting Board to build new line through the state (see this MDN story). Apparently the issue is now resolved because construction in Ohio is beginning in Coshocton County:

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Ultrasonic Trucks Map Underground in Coshocton County, OH

Drilling companies like to know, as much as possible, where they stand the best chance of drilling. Horizontal hydraulic fracturing means every hole drilled is much more likely to produce gas (and oil) than a conventional vertical hole, but it’s still no guarantee. Not every hole produces. So to help eliminate as much guesswork as possible, drillers often purchase seismic test data.

Big trucks roll along roadways with large vibrators that emit ultrasonic waves into the ground (or in some cases “thump” the ground) and then record the echoes to draw a picture of the underground rock structure. Ever wonder what it looks like? Just watch the video below of ultrasonic trucks doing their work in Coshocton County, Ohio.

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Utica Shale Drilling Causes Unemployment Drop in Eastern OH

The Coshocton County, Ohio unemployment rate has been stubbornly high, but now it’s starting to move lower. In May of this year the unemployment rate for Coshocton stood at 9.3 percent. It was 10.2 percent in April, one month earlier. And if you go back a year to May 2011, it was 11.3 percent. In fact, the current 9.3 percent rate is the lowest rate seen in Coshocton County since 2008.

What’s caused the Coshocton unemployment rate to go 2 percent lower in just one year? Yep, much of it can be credited to Utica Shale drilling.

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Anadarko Offers $3K/Acre + 17.5% Royalties for Utica Lease

Coshocton County in eastern Ohio requested Utica Shale lease offers for 436 acres of county-owned land no longer being used for any other purpose. There was only one offer put on the table, by Anadarko. Under the five-year lease offer, the county would receive a $1.3 million signing bonus ($3,000 per acre) and 17.5 percent in royalties.

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