We can do better

March 21, 2026
Letters to the Editor

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QUESTION: Who is Matt Dole?
Does he live in Washington County? Does he drink the local water? Does he drive by all the brine disposal wells? Does he attempt to drive a wedge between local people? Does he make money trying to convince you that he knows what is best?

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In response to Matt Dole’s opinion piece dated March 10:

First, it is the sworn duty of Marietta City Council President Susan Vessels to watch out for the well-being of the citizens of Marietta, a duty she takes very seriously. You should not belittle or minimize her concerns.

I agree with you on the need for injection/disposal wells for the operation of the oil and gas industry. Yes, injection wells have a long history and a very good track record of safety over the years. Hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas extraction is a very old technology, dating back to the 1940s

However, with the advent of the shale revolution, and horizontal drilling 15 years ago, it has been a game changer. It has brought with it massive amounts of flow back from fracking, and production brine never before seen. Prior to that, with conventional vertical wells, the flow back from fracking and production brine was a tiny fraction of what it is today. We are now in uncharted territory.

No one in their right mind would ever dispute our need for oil, gas, and coal. It is needed for absolutely everything that touches our lives. Without it, life itself would not be possible, and people would die by the millions due to mass starvation, disease, and exposure to the elements. At this point in time, with our current technology, there is nothing that can even come close to replacing it. Even “green energy” requires fossil fuels to make it possible. We will be dependent on fossil fuels probably for the lifetime of anyone who is alive today. Those who think otherwise are living in a make-believe fantasy world.

This dispute is about the massive amounts of out-of-state water coming into Washington County, and not about the existence of injection wells. I agree with you, that the transportation of brine is very expensive, and can discourage investment in oil and gas. With that being the case, why is it being trucked in here from West Virginia and Pennsylvania at great cost? You say that we are returning the brine back to where it came from, but that is not true. It is being injected into the Clinton / Medina sandstone, far from where it was extracted. In many parts of Ohio the Clinton sandstone is a viable oil and gas formation that many conventional wells are producing from. (I have 2 wells producing from the Clinton, just to the north of Marietta). In my opinion, if they are going to continue to drill horizontal wells, the brine needs to be injected back into the Utica and Marcellus shale formations, close to its point of origin.

This dispute is also about additional injection wells being drilled in close proximity to the existing wells, and the fact that the new wells are being grandfathered in under the old ODNR rules, rather than the new regulations passed by the Ohio legislature in 2022. In my opinion, this issue gained attention and traction largely due to the lack of satisfactory answers and actions from the industry and ODNR to our local leaders, and the fact that some of their questions and concerns have been ignored.

I agree with you that injection wells are very well built, and the well bores are as secure as a fortress, with multiple layers of steel pipe and cement. I don’t know of anyone questioning the integrity of the well bores. The concern is ALL about what could possibly happen a mile or two away from the well site.

Fifteen years ago when the shale revolution started, ODNR approved the injection of brine into the Ohio Shale, a much shallower formation, and also a production zone for conventional wells. It turns out the injected brine migrated to producing conventional wells, and ruined them. For the longest time, the industry and ODNR lived in total denial of this reality, until the evidence became so overwhelming that it could no longer be denied. They have since stopped this practice, and have sealed off the Ohio Shale in the injection wells. Even though, at the time we were assured by them that it would not, and was not migrating. To this day, no one has compensated the conventional operators for their losses, or held the offending parties accountable for their activities.

You tell us to “trust the science” that the Clinton / Medina formations will be able to absorb all of the incoming brine, and that the brine will not migrate. For you to say “trust the science” is no different than what the radical left tells us to do on many issues. Science always needs to be questioned, because it can be biased and easily twisted to fit any narrative or political agenda of whoever is paying for the desired outcome.

There is no way the “experts” can say the massive volumes of brine being shipped in here will stay contained within the 40 acre drill site assigned to each injection well. It will in fact migrate under other properties, thereby creating a trespass, and ruining the viability for oil and gas exploration in the Clinton / Medina formation on other properties, and possibly ruining existing conventional wells.

I am the owner and operator of 180 conventional oil and gas wells over four counties in southeast Ohio. I have worked in the industry for 46 years, and I even operated an injection / disposal well in Meigs County for 20 years. I do have more than just a little knowledge of the industry. Most of my wells are south of Marietta, so I travel up and down SR 7 every day as I commute. I pass by the Deep Rock Facility, the Arrowhead Facility, and the south end of SR 339, which leads out to the Red Bird facility. Twice a day as I pass by, there is rarely a time when brine trucks are not coming from, going to, or unloading at those places. It is a steady flow of brine trucks everyday.

Lastly, I am fully aware of the fact that there are some in the environmental movement who are far left radicals, and would love nothing more than to destroy the oil and gas industry. However for you to consider anyone who has questions or concerns over the injection well issue as being a left wing radical too, is out of line, and uncalled for. Most of them are ordinary local residents, who have brains of their own to think with, and are not being unduly influenced by outsiders. They simply happen to have legitimate concerns for the place we call home. To simply dismiss them, and act like there is nothing to be concerned about, or there is nothing to see here, is a foolish position to take. In the Permian Basin in west Texas they are dealing with major problems surrounding this issue.

As an industry, we can do better.

Jack Chamberlain / Old South Oil, LLC., Marietta