Washington County well owners say fracking wastewater contamination is getting worse

WTAP
Chase Campbell
July 8 2026

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WASHINGTON COUNTY, Ohio (WTAP) – A new Buckeye Environmental Network report and a news conference this week in Washington County are raising fresh alarm about brine waste migrating from the Redbird #4 injection well — six years after the state first identified the problem.

The Redbird #4 well started injecting fracking wastewater since 2018. About a year later, owners of nearby conventional wells said their wells suddenly flooded with fluid, and dozens stopped producing. A 2020 state investigation confirmed that wastewater from Redbird #4 had moved into the Berea formation, contaminating wells more than five miles away.

Well owners say the problems have persisted and are getting worse. Pressure readings in three nearby production wells have climbed sharply since 2023 — in one case by more than 1,800% — a sign the report says points to brine waste migrating underground.

Bob Wilson, who owns Wilson Energy, said the damage to his wells and his business is irreversible.

“My wells can’t be repaired. The damage they’ve done to Washington County can’t be repaired. And I told the inspector the other day, I said, you know, you could shut every injection well in Washington County down today. My business is still ruined,” Wilson said.

Marietta College geologist David Jeffery has studied the area’s rock formations for more than two decades. He said the deep layers where the waste is injected have little space to hold it.

“They just think that they can inject an infinite amount of fluids. Where does it end? And it’s clearly not working,” Jeffery said.

Jeffery said the region’s geology has been fractured repeatedly by mountain-building events going back hundreds of millions of years, including the one that formed the Appalachians. Those fractures, he said, give the injected waste a path upward. Because underground fluids move from high pressure to low pressure, and because decades of oil and gas production have already lowered pressure in the shallower Berea formation, Jeffery said the waste is pulled upward into wells still producing oil and gas today.

According to Buckeye Environmental Network, eight of the 17 injection wells in Washington County have had serious problems, including well blowouts and confirmed migration. The group said state inspection records for the impacted wells are inconsistent — one set of wells went uninspected for two full years, with only a single check-in in 2023 and none in 2024.

Organizer Bev Reed said the state needs to investigate how far the contamination has spread.

“They really need to do that massive investigation to see how far is the migration traveling to. They have the resources to do this, and they’re just not doing it,” Reed said.

Buckeye Environmental Network is calling on the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to suspend injection operations near Redbird #4, launch a long-term investigation across southeast Ohio, and test private drinking water wells within five miles of injection wells with a history of migration.

Numerous municipalities and water utilities in the area called for an investigation and a moratorium on injection wells last year. Marietta Mayor Josh Schlicher and City Council President Susan Vessels hand delivered their resolution calling for a moratorium to the statehouse and the governor’s office. Vessels, who attended the news conference Tuesday, said there has since been “radio silence from Columbus.”

ODNR had not responded to a request for comment as of the time of this report.