Fracking waste water tested

An Athens County activist who was arrested last week after she blocked the entrance to a fracking waste water disposal well traveled to Columbus today to discuss the hazardous compounds she claims the well injects underground.

Madeline ffitch, 31, said a laboratory test of fracking wastes that an anonymous source took from the Ginsburg disposal well off Ladd Ridge Road in Athens County revealed high levels of arsenic, barium, toluene and radioactivity. She wouldn't discuss how the waste water was obtained.

The test, she said, underscores the need for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to do its own testing of the waste water, which also is called brine. Athens County Sheriff deputies arrested ffitch on Thursday, after she chained herself to two concrete-filled barrels and blocked the entrance to the Ginsburg well.

In an emailed statement, Ohio Department of Natural Resources officials responded that federal regulations require that oil and gas field wastes go to the Ginsburg well and 175 similar "class two" injection wells in Ohio, and that the wells are built to safely dispose of those wastes.

http://www.dispatch.com/content/blogs/science-environment/2012/07/brine-test.html