Fayette commissioners take step to prevent injection wells
The Fayette County commissioners took action Thursday to prevent injection wells from coming to the area in the future.
The commissioners voted unanimously to have the county department of planning, zoning and community development, and the Fayette County Planning Commission develop an ordinance to limit the sites.
This move comes after G2 STEM LLC withdrew an application for an injection well in Nicholson Township earlier this month. The proposal was met with stiff public opposition, including from the county commissioners.
G2 STEM had applied for a permit to dispose of fluids associated with oil and gas production into the Balltown Sandstone Formation about 3,400 feet underground. Opponents raised concerns that the waste can contain heavy metals, man-made chemicals and radioactive materials.
Commissioner Scott Dunn said the ordinance will amend the township’s zoning code, and that the county will work with Fayette’s municipalities that manage their own zoning to achieve similar results.
“We’re going to move forward with making sure that these sites don’t happen in Fayette County,” Dunn said.
Dunn, along with Commissioners Vince Vicites and Dave Lohr, passed a resolution in July opposing the Nicholson Township project.
After the application was withdrawn, Dunn expressed that the injection well would have been a risk to agriculture and the water supply.
At Thursday’s meeting, Vicites reaffirmed the commissioners’ opposition to injection wells in Fayette County.
“We’ve all been working diligently as a board of commissioners to prevent this from happening. We’re against this,” Vicites said. “It goes against long-term growth and development … We’re embarking on a putting a chapter in our zoning ordinance to make sure we are on offense when it comes to this.”