Ohio’s Secret Fracking Chemicals

Records Show Widespread Use of Secret Fracking Chemicals Poses Risks to Water Supplies, Health in the Buckeye State

Photo from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency showing a fire on June 28-29, 2014 at the Eisenbarth Well operated by Statoil in Monroe County, Ohio. The photographer is not listed.[i]

Ohio’s Secret Fracking Chemicals:

Records Show Widespread Use of Secret Fracking Chemicals Poses Risks to Water Supplies, Health in the Buckeye State

A Research Report by Dusty Horwitt, J.D.
Partnership for Policy Integrity
September 16, 2019

This report, by Partnership for Policy Integrity, with mapping and data analysis by FracTracker Alliance, shows that Ohioans may be unknowingly exposed to toxic secret drilling and fracking chemicals through multiple pathways including leaks, spills, air emissions and underground migration at oil and gas production wells.

Evidence compiled by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) including data released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request indicate that these chemicals could have serious health effects including blood toxicity, developmental toxicity, liver toxicity and neurotoxicity.

On this page, you can read the report and use the interactive map to locate oil and gas wells fracked with secret chemicals.

Access the Report

Photograph of the Eisenbarth well site is from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The photographer is not listed.[ii]

1400

Number of Ohio oil and gas wells that have been injected with secret chemicals (2013 – 2018)

11000

Number of times secret fracking chemicals have been injected into Ohio wells (2013 – 2018)

View map fullscreen | How FracTracker maps work

13000000

average number of gallons used to frack a single well (2018)

70000

fish died after tens of thousands of gallons of chemicals spilled into a tributary from a natural gas well in Monroe County (2014)

Take Action

If you are concerned about the findings presented in the Ohio’s Secret Fracking Chemicals report, please consider taking action today. Multiple first responders, and grassroots organizations working on environmental and public health issues in Ohio ask that you complete the form below to send a letter to first responders in your county. If you do not live in Ohio, your letter will be sent to first responders Franklin County, Ohio.

Halt the Harm Network and FracTracker Alliance will send a paper copy of your letter to the appropriate first responder location(s). See below for a map of these locations by Ohio county.

EXAMPLE LETTER

You may compose your own letter or use the example letter below as a guide.

Take Action

If you are concerned about the findings presented in the Ohio’s Secret Fracking Chemicals report, please consider taking action today. Multiple first responders, and grassroots organizations working on environmental and public health issues in Ohio ask that you complete the form below to send a letter to first responders in your county. If you do not live in Ohio, your letter will be sent to first responders in Franklin County, Ohio.

Halt the Harm Network and FracTracker Alliance will send a paper copy of your letter to the appropriate first responder location(s). See below for a map of these locations by Ohio county.

EXAMPLE LETTER

You may compose your own letter or use the example letter below as a guide.

Dear Chief,

Thanks to you and all first responders for your selfless acts of service. I am reaching out because I am concerned that there are dangerous chemicals being used at fracking sites in our county and across the county. Because the identity of many of these chemicals are kept secret, any spills or accidents present a significant risk to you as a first responder as well as to the public.

The report “Ohio’s Secret Fracking Chemicals” provides research about secret fracking chemicals and maps of oil and gas wells where secret fracking chemicals were used. The report’s author also interviewed Silverio Caggiano, Battalion Chief with the Youngstown Fire Department and an original member of the Ohio Hazardous Materials and Weapons of Mass Destruction Technical Advisory Committee. The Chief, the data, and the stories paint a clear picture of Ohio’s exposure to a mix of dangerous chemicals, lack of equipment, lack of training, and inadequate information. This failure by the State and other authorities creates risks for your first responders and all of us in the community.

Please join us in the fight against secret chemicals in our community by calling for the following measures to be put in place:

Require full public disclosure of drilling and fracking chemicals in one location where information can be easily searched and sorted (e.g. citizens can locate each well in which toxic chemicals were used).
Require disclosure before drilling and fracking occurs.
Require that no Class II wells for underground fracking wastewater disposal be permitted in Ohio unless disposal companies report all of the following in their permit requests: A) Average and Maximum Volumes, B) Average and Maximum wellhead pressures, C) Groundwater/water source and rate of withdrawal, D) Egress
Require testing of groundwater and well water for a representative number of homes within 2 miles of oil and gas wells and underground injection wells by impartial third parties to guard against migration of toxic chemicals. Data should be collected monthly.
Grant communities the power to determine where, and under what conditions, drilling and fracking occur.
Demand companies that operate underground fracking wastewater injection wells pay for independent third parties to conduct groundwater monitoring and data collection about health impacts.
Require that all haulers transporting fracking wastewater, also known as brine, permitted to operate in Ohio maintain complete manifests for every truck and maintain GPS tracking for all routes into and out of the state as well as across state lines.
Require all brine haulers report the number of trucks in operation and how they go about cleaning each truck on a quarterly basis.
Require that all brine haulers list where they maintain truck yards in addition to where they are domiciled.
Require that all waste landfills in Ohio collect detailed manifest on tonnage of drill cuttings coming into their facilities, source by company and well API, and that all waste be tested for radioactivity level that the level shall not exceed 1-2 picocuries per gram.

You have my full support in requests for this information. It is important to all of us. Please let me know if you have seen the report, reviewed the chemicals, and have appropriate response, training, and equipment in place.

Sincerely,

Letter to Ohio first Responders Re: Secret Fracking Chemicals

First Name *

Last Name *

Email *

Phone (optional)

Zip Code *

County *

Message to Ohio First Responders in Your County

Dear Chief,

Please join us in the fight against secret chemicals in our community by calling for the following measures to be put in place: 
• Require full public disclosure of drilling and fracking chemicals in one location where information can be easily searched and sorted (e.g. citizens can locate each well in which toxic chemicals were used).
• Require disclosure before drilling and fracking occurs.
• Require that no Class II wells for underground fracking wastewater disposal be permitted in Ohio unless disposal companies report all of the following in their permit requests: A) Average and Maximum Volumes, B) Average and Maximum wellhead pressures, C) Groundwater/water source and rate of withdrawal, D) Egress 
• Require testing of groundwater and well water for a representative number of homes within 2 miles of oil and gas wells and underground injection wells by impartial third parties to guard against migration of toxic chemicals. Data should be collected monthly.
• Grant communities the power to determine where, and under what conditions, drilling and fracking occur.
• Demand companies that operate underground fracking wastewater injection wells pay for independent third parties to conduct groundwater monitoring and data collection about health impacts.
• Require that all haulers transporting fracking wastewater, also known as brine, permitted to operate in Ohio maintain complete manifests for every truck and maintain GPS tracking for all routes into and out of the state as well as across state lines.
• Require all brine haulers report the number of trucks in operation and how they go about cleaning each truck on a quarterly basis.
• Require that all brine haulers list where they maintain truck yards in addition to where they are domiciled.
• Require that all waste landfills in Ohio collect detailed manifest on tonnage of drill cuttings coming into their facilities, source by company and well API, and that all waste be tested for radioactivity level that the level shall not exceed 1-2 picocuries per gram.

Sincerely,

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Ohio First Responders by County

Click on your county to learn more

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[i] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. On Scene Coordinator. Eisenbarth Well Response. Fire Damage on Eisenbarth Well Pad (June 29, 2014). Accessed September 2, 2019 at https://response.epa.gov/site/image_zoom.aspx?site_id=9350&counter=221854&category=.

[ii] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. On Scene Coordinator. Eisenbarth Well Response. View of Damaged Equipment on Well Pad (June 29, 2014). Accessed September 2, 2019 at https://response.epa.gov/site/image_zoom.aspx?site_id=9350&counter=221847&category=.