Liberty Company to Open Oilfield Recycling Center
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- A company based in Liberty Township is slated to open its first oilfield wastewater recycling center in Carroll County, an executive reports.
"We're planning on having it operational by the first of the year," says Mike McKenzie, director of operations for Iron Eagle Enterprises LLC. "But, at this point, I'm not at liberty to share a whole lot more."
Iron Eagle, 4991 Belmont Ave., provides construction and planning services for the oil and gas industry. The company is also an equipment supplier. Its majority owner and president is Susan Faith, formerly the president of D&L Energy. Faith is also the president of Gasearch LLC, a company also affiliated with Ben Lupo.
Faith filed a lawsuit last February against Lupo, the operator of D&L Energy and Hardrock Excavating LLC., the companies involved in the dumping of brine and oilfield waste into a storm drain at its headquarters, 2761 Salt Springs Road. The lawsuit sought to oust Lupo as manager of Gasearch, also operated from the Salt Springs Road address.
Pleadings stipulated that Faith, who at the time owned 49% of Gasearch and 51% of Hardrock, had no involvement in the illegal waste dumping. According to the lawsuit, Lupo terminated Faith as D&L president in October 2011. The case has been stayed until further court order because of D&L's bankruptcy filing in April 2013.
The illegal dumping took place in January of this year.
Iron Eagle Enterprises was formed three years ago as energy companies accelerated oil and gas exploration in the Utica shale, said its director of operations.
"Recycling water is important to our customers," McKenzie said in a statement. "Our process is environmentally responsible because it conserves water, our most valuable resource."
The Iron Eagle project is the first third-party water-treatment plant issued a permit by Ohio, reports Holly White, spokeswoman for Rettew, an engineering and design firm based in Lancaster, Pa.
Rettew subsidiary Rettew Flowback Inc., based in North Canton, designed the new plant for Iron Eagle. Rettew Flowback will also manage its treatment operations.
"It will have the capacity to treat 14,000 barrels of water per day," or 588,000 gallons, she said. "Trucks will haul in dirty water and haul out clean water in 24 hours." Iron Eagle will also wash trucks onsite with specialized equipment to prevent cross-contamination.
The plant will process different types of water generated from oil and gas exploration, such as flowback from drilling and hydraulic fracturing, brine collected from producing wells, and rainwater or melted snow that collects on drilling pads, White said.
The new plant could employ as many as 50 when operating a full capacity. "There will probably be less than that at first, but more will be added as capacity increases," she noted.
Iron Eagle Enterprises is certified by the Women's Business Enterprise National Council, according to the company's website. Equipment rentals and services include storage tanks, dewatering, sealed top and sludge boxes, non-hazardous tanker service and vacuum truck cleaning and water blasting.
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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