Ohio

Ohio River Fuel Oil Spill Closes Waterway

August 20, 2014 Lisa Cornwell, www.AP.org Educate! Ohio, Oil, pollution, Water

A 15-mile stretch of the Ohio River closed after a fuel oil spill reopened to river traffic on Tuesday with some restrictions as containment and cleanup continued. River traffic in that area must get Coast Guard clearance and maintain a safe speed, agency spokeswoman Lt. Katherine Cameron said. The area was closed to all traffic, including barges carrying commercial goods, after the spill from a Duke Energy power plant in New Richmond. The spill at the W.C. Beckjord Station happened at about 11:15 p.m. Monday during a routine transfer of fuel oil from a larger tank to smaller ones and was stopped within about 15 minutes, Duke spokeswoman Sally Thelen said. The spill at the plant 20 miles southeast of Cincinnati was considered medium-sized, a designation that applies to inland leaks between 1,000 and 10,000 gallons of oil, Cameron said. Authorities earlier estimated about 5,000 to 8,000 gallons of oil spilled, but the Coast Guard and Duke Energy later Tuesday lowered those estimates to up to 5,000 gallons. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday that the federal agency had taken the lead as on-scene coordinator and was directing the cleanup efforts being carried out by Charlotte, North Carolina-based Duke Energy.

Hidden Camera Catches Coal Ash Dumping

June 2, 2014 Brandon Baker, www.ecowatch.com Educate! Coal, Ohio, pollution

Two months have passed since hidden-camera images exposed Louisville Gas & Electric (LG&E) for dumping toxic coal ash into the Ohio River—a practice the company has engaged in for two decades. The utility has done nothing in response, so two environmental groups figure it’s time to pay up. The Sierra Club and Earthjustice filed a lawsuit asking a federal judge to order LG&E to stop the illegal dumping. The company could face up to $68 million in penalties to account for the last five years of its illegal dumping, plus $37,500 for each day moving forward, until the violations are eliminated. The groups notified the company that they intended to sue in March, but that seemed to have no impact on LG&E. Sierra Club and Earthjustice are armed with a year’s worth of footage from a camera that was strapped to a tree. They also have proof from Google Earth satellite images that date back to 1993.

Fracking Halted In Ohio Due To Earthquakes

April 13, 2014 Staff, www.AP.org/a> Resist! Energy, Environment, Fracking, Ohio

State geologists in Ohio have for the first time linked earthquakes in a geologic formation deep under the Appalachians to gas drilling, leading the state to issue new permit conditions in certain areas that are among the nation's strictest. A state investigation of five small tremors in the Youngstown area, in the Appalachian foothills, last month has found the high-pressure injection of sand and water that accompanies hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in the Utica Shale may have increased pressure on a small, unknown fault, said State Oil & Gas Chief Rick Simmers. He called the link "probable." While earlier studies had linked earthquakes in the same region to deep-injection wells used for disposal of fracking wastewater, this marks the first time tremors have been tied directly to fracking, Simmers said. Five seismic events in March were all part of what was considered a single event and couldn't be easily felt by people.

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