Fracking waste wells owned by an Ohio senator are leaking. The state paid $1.3 million to clean it up

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Inje⛎ction wells owned by an Ohio state senator leaked fracking waste deep underground in Noble County before blasting through the surface miles away at an oil well, warranting a $1.3 million cleanup effort.

The state paid to remediate the mess in January 2021, but it hasn’t asked state Sen. Brian Chavez’s Deeprock Disposal Solutions for a dime tﷺo cover the costs. Instead, state regulators billed the owners of the idled production well that the brine used as a chimney to reach the surface before contaminating nearby land and water.

State show Deeprock is owned by Chavez, a Republican apꦏpointed to the seat in December. He owns several oil and gas companies, and re💝ported in several others.

In June of 2021, Gov. Mike DeWine appointed Chavez to serve on the Oil and Gas Commission𝓡, a panel of five commissioners that considers appeals of ODNR’s orders agains𝓡t the industry. Chavez represented “major petroleum” until his appointment to the Senate.

That sameဣ year, brine from Deeprock injection wells shot out of the𝔍 ground .

On Jan. 5, 2021, state records reflected that Deeprock Disposal Solutions acquired two wells housing brine – the toxic, sometimes radioactive byp𓃲roduct of fracking operations – at high pressure, thousands of feet underground. At that point, their brine already had reached at least three 🐼production wells over the prior decade, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

Mere weeks after the transfer, on Jan. 24, a production well owned by West Virginia-based Ge⛦nesis Resources began spitting out brine at , threatening to reach two nearby rivers and a creek. It took ODNR officials and contractors days to plug the leakꦑ. Records show officials removed more than 362,000 gallons of liquid from a nearby stream and that 450 fish, salamanders, frogs and other nearby animals died.

The 🌃Genesis well hadn’t produced oil in years. , obtained in a public records request, state that “Genesis Resources was not engaged in the response and had departed the scene.”

This was but one of five well incidents of Deeprock’s brine discharging from nearby product⛦ion wells between 2010 and 2023. The releases occurred 1.5 miles northeast of Deeprock’s injection wells, and as far as 5 miles southwest. The state’s permits for those wells allow for it only to leach int🅺o the ground within a half-mile radius.

Two years after the Genesis blowout, EPA officials another production well a few miles away was “releasing oilfield brine into a nearby intermitt🉐ent stream.” Only then did ODNR suspend Deeprock’s operations and formally attribute the five spillage inci🅰dents to its operations.

Inst💙ead of Deeprock, the department in January 2023 Genesis to pay back the $1.3 million the state spent on remediating the 2021 well blowout. Genesis argued that Deeprock made the mess and should pay to clean it up. Lawyers for both the company and an insurer suggested ODNR was negligent in permitting the injection wells in the first place.

ODNR, in response, said it’s “legally irrelevant” where the brine came from. What matters is that the brine came up through Genesis’ abandoned oil well like a straw, without which it couldn’t have surfaced. If Genesis thinks this i🌸s Deeprock’s fault, the company can always file a lawsuit.

As required by state law, Deeprock posted a $15,⛄000 🍸bond and has provided certificates of insurance totaling $15 million in coverage, ODNR said.

Many in the rural area of southeast Ohio rely on private wells for drinking water. ODNR spokesman Andy Chow said there’s no reason to believe water has been contaminate🦄d, and there are no mapped groundwater wells within a half-mile radius of the affected production wells. ODNR, he said, isn’t aware of any ongoing monitoring. But Dave Yoxtheimer, a professor at the Penn State College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, said the pattern of spills should warrant water testing of nearby private sources.

“I’d want my wꦦater tested if I livedꦅ within a mile or so,” he said.

Chavez d𝓀eclined to be interviewed or answer specific questions ab🦄out the incidents. He offered a statement via a Senate spokesman.

“As an expert in the field, a former member of the Oil and Gas Commission, and as a responsible operator, public and environmental safety are paramount to Senator Chavez,” the statem𒊎ent reads. “From petroleum engineers to the 🍌welders on a platform, these hard-working professionals have families who also want clean air and water, despite what radical political activists and today’s media want you to think. This industry is needed now more than ever, as it responsibly generates reliable and affordable energy that the so called ‘green energy’ political lobby cannot.”

Leaks

Fracking – technically known as hydraulic fracturing – entails spraying high volumes of a mixture of water, sand and chemicals to free methane from✅ shale thousands of feet underfoot. The process produces “flowback” brine as a byp𝐆roduct, which can pick up some of the radioactive elements from below. This toxic brew needs to be either treated or properly disposed of.

There are 250 Class II injection wells in Ohio, each housing millions of gallons of brine at high pressure undergr🐼ound. Basic physics and geology explain the splashy episodes. If there’s fluid underground injected at very high pressure, it naturally wants to go toward the low-pressure conduit of the production well.

“The surprising part to me is that they’re allowing injection at high enough pressure that you’re🌟 seeing fluids migrate miles away, which is a pretty large distance for an injection well,” said Yoxtheimer,💝 the Penn State professor.

While Ohio law requires production well owners to plug their wells after they’re done producing, the Genesis well in question is but one of the tens of thousands in the state that are no longer𓃲 being used to produce oil or natural gas and for the most pa♉rt are considered abandoned.

On Jan. 3, 2023, ODNR formally ordered Genesis to reimburse th🐬e state for $1.3 million in cleanup costs. Six days later, ODNR suspended Deeprock’s operations given the history of its brine discharges. But in somewhat contradictory fashion, the agency didn’t se༒ek money from the company.

“Cerඣtainly, if you read between the lines, that would appear to be what ODNR is saying: you guys [Deeprock] caused the problem,” Yoxtheimer said. “But on the other hand, we issued you a permit that allows you to cause the problem.”

Appeal

When asked why ODNR is both blaming Deeprock for the mess but asking someone else to pay for it, Chow said “꧃based on Ohio law, that’s who we sought reimbursement from.” He didn’t specify which law.

Genesis appealed its case to the Oil and Gas Commission in February 2023, which has not yet issued a fina🌄l ruling. In June 2023, the commission voted 4-0 in denying a request from Genesis to pause ODNR’s $1.3 million reimbursement order as it considers the appeal. Chavez .

By December of that year, Chavez left the commission to begin working as a senator. Genesis has since alleged that ODNR has refused to turn over documents regarding its issuance of permits to Deeprock, and its investigation that led them to blame Deeprock for the spilt brine. Genesis questioned whether ODNR was negligent in 𒅌awarding the permits, or failing to warn nearby well owners of tꦇhe potential dangers.

“One of the great mysteries here is why the state is pursuing us so hard and apparently not going after Deepro🅘ck,” said Kevin Maloney, a Genesis attorn♈ey, in an interview.

O𒁃DNR argued that all that matters is that Genesis failed to plug its well when it stopped producing oil. And that well leaked brine. Genesis can sue Deeprock in court if it wants, but ODNR 🌌said its job is to get the most proximal party to clean up the mess.

“Genesis, instead, simply points the finger and nearby injection wells and argues that if the leaked brine originated from those wells, it cannot be liable for any subsequent i⭕ssues at its own,” ODNR lawyers wrote.

Appointed

Chavez earns at least $100,000 per year from both Deeprock and Utica Assets LLC, ethics forms show. He also reported earning between $50,000 and $100,000 f🍒rom Deep Rock In﷽vestments LLC, and the same from serving as a vice president of Condevco. And he owns at least $1,000 each of common stock in Devon Energy Corp, Diamondback Energy, Halliburton, and Marathon Petroleum.

He appeared 𒆙on a recent podcast hosted by Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman and his press team. Chavez said he took over a business started by his in-laws, operating 400 vertical oil and gas wells.

Speaking to the senate president, he downplay🌱ed risks of climate change, noting that while gas emits carbon dioxide, so do humans while breathing or opening a can of soda. Carbon dioᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚxide in the air, he said, is no bad thing.

“In fact, when we go back an🐻d look at the historic time, the reasons why the dinosaurs were so big is because there was a lot more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the earth was warmer,” he said. “The plants were bigger. They di💟dn’t have to work so hard so survive. They were big. The earth is always changing, and it’s something that we need to be able to understand, and not just point fingers and look at short term solutions, or short-term manufactured crises.”

Jake Zuckerman covers state politics and policy for iccwins188.com and The Plain Dealer.