Recently (March 10th), the Times printed a Viewpoint titled, “What does Marietta look like without injection wells?” I’d like to respond to Mr Dole of the Accountability Project.

For starters, it would look like a town with less heavy traffic. Many brine trucks pass my house daily on their way to having their radioactive contents injected underground at high pressures less than two miles from my house and two miles from the water wells that provide our Marietta water. Those of us who have done the research know that contrary to the oil industry’s lies (which they repeat ad nauseum), brine regularly migrates far from the original site of injection. There have already been cases of injection wells in our area shut down for brine migration, though it has taken the EPA years to do so in some cases.

Marietta would also have a lot less residents who are very worried about our water supply being poisoned with the many chemicals used in fracking, but particularly with the radioactivity that exists in pockets underground and comes to the surface via the fracking fluids. The residents of this county have already had our share of pollutants to deal with from the heavy industry that we have in this area. We are not against industry, but we are very much against industry dumping their waste into the public commons — our soil, our air and our water.

Residents should understand that while conventional well drilling produces toxic tailings, these drilling remains have never been injected underground at high pressures. Giant fracking wells use vast quantities of fresh water mixed with chemicals. When this brine returns to the surface, the industry has never had a plan to deal with the toxic drilling fluids other than dumping it onto the public via injection wells.

Our Republican Ohio legislature and Governor have given the green light to the oil & gas industry for many years. DeWine appointed John Logue to head the Ohio EPA last April, despite having no environmental policy background. His background is in corporate insurance. Republican Senator Chavez, owner of the company that has brought this nightmare to our doorstep, DeepRock Disposal, was given the “Patriot Award” by the Ohio Oil & Gas Association, in a posh ceremony at the Hyatt Hotel in Easton last week. DeepRock Disposal imports 50% of their toxic brine from out of state to poison our ground.

If you desire more education than I can provide here, I recommend two deeply researched articles available on rolling stone.com. One mentions Washington County specifically and is titled ‘THE OIL INDUSTRY’S LATEST DISASTER:

TRILLIONS OF GALLONS OF BURIED TOXIC WASTEWATER’. The second article is about the truck drivers that drive the toxic brine from fracking wells to the injection wells, titled ‘AMERICA’S RADIOACTIVE SECRET’.

There’s a saying that Politics is Power. I encourage citizens to wake up and educate themselves. Use your one precious vote wisely. Avoid the culture wars. Ask yourself how the coming generations will cope without clean water, air and soil.