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Activists Raise Concerns about Handling of Radioactive Waste
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Residents here have lodged an appeal with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, asking that the agency revoke a permit they say would allow a local operation to process radioactive waste.
"We need to have local control over what goes on in our communities and neighborhoods," said Susie Beiersdorfer, a member of Frack Free Mahoning. "We cannot let the Ohio Department of Natural Resources bureaucrats in Columbus make public health and safety decisions for our local community."
The group wants the oil and gas commission to vacate a decision by ODNR oil and gas division chief Richard Simmers that approved a permit for Industrial Waste Control Inc., 240 Sinter Court. According to the permit, the company would use a third party to handle and test waste generated from drilling operations to determine whether the material is radioactive.
On Monday, The Business Journal reported that Industrial Waste had obtained the permit and would use Pennsylvania-based Austin Master Services LLC to conduct tests on incoming waste to determine the levels, if any, of radioactivity.
Pat Horkman, principal and Ohio field manager of Austin Masters, told The Business Journal that the operation would use new technology to test waste moving through the area on trucks without the material ever being exposed.
"We have the ability to test the entire contents of a container without it ever coming out of the box," he said. "We're policing the industry."
Beiersdorfer contends that ODNR placed the permit on the fast track and didn't adequately inform the community about the prospect of an operation that could handle radioactive waste in the heart of the city. The group learned of the permit through a public records request that another organization filed in Columbus.
"Now, Youngstown is faced with having a radioactive treatment and storage facility placed right in the heart of the community, near homes, hospitals, schools," Beiersdorfer declared during a press event outside City Hall Wednesday. "What can the Youngstown community do to protect its families, water, air, land and future generations?"
The proposed waste treatment site is less than a mile from the Rescue Mission, the Youngstown Board of Education bus garage, and St. Elizabeth Hospital, Beiersdorfer notes.
"The state bureaucrats, and the local officials are not looking out for Youngstown's best interests," she said.
She took exception to Mayor John McNally's assertion that the city should not act as an enforcement arm of the ODNR, which under state law is the sole agency that regulates oil and gas development across the state.
Frack Free Mahoning is supporting a Community Bill of Rights measure on the ballot May 6 that would prohibit hydraulic fracturing as well as the transportation and storage of drilling waste within the city.
McNally is urging voters to defeat the measure Primary Election Day and has called it a "job killer" for the city and a law that local authorities couldn't enforce even if they wanted to.
"The Community Bill of Rights, when passed, is enforceable," Beiersdorfer argues, because it deals with citizens’ rights. "Our law upholds inherent rights and that cannot be overcome by bad state law," she asserts.
The measure has twice been defeated, once in the May 2013 primary and in last November’s general election.
Members of the group also updated the press on their reaction to the earthquakes in Poland Township that ODNR said were caused by hydraulic fracturing at a well site owned by Hilcorp Energy Co.
Ray Beiersdorfer, a geology professor at Youngstown State University and husband of Susie Beiersdorfer, said that he's not satisfied with the press statement ODNR issued two weeks ago that stated the earthquakes were triggered by fracking.
"To my disappointment, that is all they're going to release," he told reporters.
Beiersdorfer said that he would prefer to see all the data available so he could determine where other faults might lie. He has filed a public records request.
Another public records request was filed by state Rep. Bob Hagan, D-Youngstown.
"Fracking-related earthquakes are not as common as injection-related earthquakes," Beiersdorfer said, noting that it's important that these data be made available to the public. "It's irresponsible to not be more forthcoming with the actual data,” the geology professor stated. “Hopefully, these public records request will get the data."
Mike Chadsey, spokesman for the Ohio Oil and Gas Association, says he appreciates the concerns of the public, but ODNR has taken appropriate measures to address these issues, such as shutting down drilling operations at the Hilcorp Poland well pad.
"It's not overreacting," he says. "It's taking care of a situation that we're facing today, learning from it and moving forward."
He also stated that companies such as Industrial Waste Control and Austin Master Services have moved through a permitting process that involved ODNR and the Department of Health.
"I think the companies are doing everything they can to safeguard the public," he says. "They're really not handling any of the waste coming in from those trucks. They're inspecting it and using some new technology to make sure that there are no issues so it can be property disposed of."
Copyright 2014 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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