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Take driller out of control, trustees say
(by Joan Demirjian - November 05, 2008)
Take driller out of control, trustees say
By JOAN DEMIRJIAN
After almost a year, the situation involving methane gas in the aquifer and in water wells on English Drive and surrounding areas in Bainbridge is yet to be resolved.
Bainbridge Trustee Jeffrey Markley said he believes control over the resolving the matter should be taken out of Ohio Valley Energy's hands.
Methane gas from a gas and oil well drilled by Ohio Valley Energy, of Austintown, leaked into the water aquifer, according to findings by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Gas seeped into water wells in the area and caused a house to explode.
"We're putting OVE in the driver's seat," Mr. Markley said, questioning why Ohio Valley Energy is still in charge.
"The county and the township should be driving it. It's a township issue. It should not be Ohio Valley Energy and Ohio Department of Natural Resources," he said. "Either the wells are going to be good or not."
Mr. Markley said Ohio Valley Energy also is in control of the installation of a Geauga County waterline on Bainbridge Road to serve the houses affected by the gas leak. "But the township should be doing the planning for the waterline, not OVE," hey said. "We should be driving the solution."
Mr. Markley also questioned the status of the gas well off English Drive. "They should shut it down and be out of there," he said. "This has been going on for a year. And the township has carried the costs of the police department well."
The police station on Bainbridge Road also has been using water brought in by containers, and township officials said they believe the well there was affected by the gas leak.
"The township has asked Ohio Valley Energy to take action on the police well," Mr. Markley said. The township should file legal action or get the drilling company to the table to fix it, he said.
The county waterline is a public utility, and township officials should be discussing it with the Geauga County Department of Water Resources, he said. "Let's provide the fix now and get it moving quickly."
Bainbridge Zoning Inspector Michael Joyce said, "It bothers me that ODNR is collecting data but not doing anything. I see no apparent action to alleviate the problem."
Nineteen houses were evacuated after Thelma and Richard Payne's house exploded on Dec. 15, 2007, on English Drive. Families have since returned to the neighborhood, but many are using water brought in to fill tanks.
Mr. Joyce has a thick binder with the data on the gas-well situation since last year. Since last December, positive readings of methane gas at one house on English Drive have been in the explosive levels, including nine times in one month, he said. "This scares me."
ODNR has determined that there is still a "bubble" of gas in the aquifer.
The agency needs to be pumping the aquifer of the methane gas in a wider area, Mr. Joyce said. If the aquifer is pumped and the methane gas readings go away, they should stay away, he said. But if there is still a fissure in Ohio Valley Energy's gas and oil well, then the readings will go back up, as they have, he said.
"ODNR has to do something. I don't see ODNR doing anything but collecting data. The bubble of gas needs to be eliminated," Mr. Joyce said.
"People have been living with this problem, and they have had to put up with a huge inconvenience for 11 months. Testing is good, but action is better. Someone should start a pumping program to get out the bubble," Mr. Joyce said.
The frustration for the zoning department is that the township has no control over gas- and oil-well drilling and regulations. The state gave it to ODNR, Division of Mineral Resources Management, he said. "I have argued since 2004 for local control."
Mr. Joyce also strongly recommended a training program on the drilling process for local zoning inspectors. In a breakthrough last week, he discussed the issue with the Ohio Association of Oil and Gas Well Drillers, and an association official has agreed to sponsor training, he said.
He has a meeting scheduled with an industry representative Nov. 16 to talk of the proposed training program. "I'm thrilled we are getting training, finally," Mr. Joyce said. "The industry is going to step up to the plate."
Procedures at the Ohio Valley Energy well on English Drive caused gas to travel up through the outside of the casing into the aquifer, according to ODNR. It had to be cemented to stop the gas leak.
"Had we been there every day, perhaps this situation could have been avoided," Mr. Joyce said.
"ODNR's summary on the English Drive well clearly states the errors, and they might not have happened with inspections every day." While ODNR cannot have an inspector there every day, the township could, he said.
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