Drilling Down
Activists Blast Water Sale at Commissioners Hearing
Friday, February 15, 2013YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Mahoning County commissioners got an earful Thursday from two environmental activists, one of whom criticized both local officials and residents of “willful ignorance.”
The comments by Youngstown residents Lynn Anderson and Susie Beiersdorfer were prompted by commissioners’ decision last week to sell up to 500,000 gallons of water per day to CNX Gas Group LLC to frack a well it has drilled on Blott Road in Jackson Township.
Updated: D&L Energy's Lupo Arraigned in District Court
Thursday, February 14, 2013YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Ben Lupo, owner of D&L Energy Group and Hardrock Excavating Co., appeared this morning at an arraignment on a charge of illegally dumping wastewater into a tributary of the Mahoning River.
New Drilling Permit Issued for Columbiana County
Wednesday, February 13, 2013YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The Ohio Department of Natural Resources has issued a new permit for a horizontal well in Columbiana County.
A permit was awarded Feb. 6 to Chesapeake Exploration LLC to drill a well in Center Township on the Dye property, ODNR records show.
ODNR also issued four other permits to Chesapeake for wells in Carroll County, the most active county for oil and gas exploration in eastern Ohio's Utica shale.
Three of these permits are for new wells on the Anderson farm in Loudon Township and another is slated for the Mills property in East Township.
Lupo Told EPA Nighttime Dumping 'the Right Thing'
Tuesday, February 12, 2013YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Ben Lupo, owner of D&L Energy and the man responsible for dumping what is likely more than 200,000 gallons of drilling wastewater and oil into a Mahoning River tributary, told the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency that he "was doing the right thing," a state EPA official said Monday.
Breaking: EPA Says Lupo Dumped at Least 6 Times
Monday, February 11, 2013YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – D&L Energy owner and president Ben Lupo admitted to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency that he directed his employees to illegally discharge drilling wastewater on at least six different occasions since September, an OEPA official said Monday.
It means that potentially hundreds of thousands of gallons of contaminated waste could have been dumped into a storm drain and carried into the Mahoning River, Kurt Kollar, on scene coordinator for the OEPA, told reporters during a news conference in Mayor Chuck Sammarone's office.