Environmental advocates call for ODNR public hearing
By Alexis Goldsmith and Ben Hunkler | 3/6/21 | The Times Leader
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources must provide a public hearing on Powhatan Salt Company LLC’s permit applications to carve solution mining wells from the Salina salt formation along the Ohio River in Monroe County, Ohio.
These wells will allow Powhatan’s sister company, Mountaineer NGL Storage LLC, to store millions of gallons of natural gas liquids (NGLs).
The permit applications do not fully document how construction of this NGL storage facility threatens local groundwater supplies. The wells would be drilled close to the Ohio River and just one mile from Clarington, Ohio’s drinking water wells. The applications provide no comprehensive plan to prevent leaks, well failures, drilling-related emergencies, or detailed discussion of local geology and hydrology. The project reviewed only a quarter-mile radius around each of the three proposed injection wells, ignoring nearby fracking operations and private wells.
Collectively, these application deficiencies demonstrate that Powhatan’s permits do not fully consider the risks to residents’ safety and underground water supplies.
Mountaineer NGL Storage LLC’s recently announced plans to store “carbon-free” hydrogen are misleading. Although hydrogen combustion does not produce carbon dioxide, the hydrogen would be manufactured from fossil fuels, thus contributing to our ever-worsening climate crisis.