State says local oil/gas well operator spilling oil, brine

LOGAN — The Ohio Attorney General has filed a legal action against a Logan man who owns a number of oil and gas wells in Hocking County, alleging that he has allowed one of them to pollute the land around it with oil and brine; has failed to report how much his wells are producing; has not maintained liability insurance for them; and has "ignored repeated demands" to comply with state law.

In the complaint, filed Dec. 14 in Hocking County Common Pleas Court, the AG's office asks that Albert Poling of Lake Logan Road be ordered to pay civil penalties of up to $10,000 per day, per offense, on multiple alleged offenses. Based on the complaint, it would appear that some of the alleged violations were brought to Poling's attention as long ago as December 2017.

The complaint identifies five wells it says Poling owns in Washington Township. In December 2017, it says, an inspector from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources' Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management inspected one of the wells, and found a five feet by five feet area of oil on the ground underneath it, indicating the well was leaking. The inspector informed Poling of the problem, and issued a compliance notice ordering him to fix it and clean up the oil spill.

However, the complaint alleges, follow-up inspections in May, August and September of 2018 found the problem had not been remedied. In each case the inspector again allegedly saw oil on the ground, and in a visit on Aug. 22 also saw brine on the ground beneath a storage tank, and found high chloride levels in the soil where the brine was observed.

At another inspection about a week later, the complaint says, the inspector saw dying vegetation and oil-soaked soil beneath an unloading tank, and in a ditch along Goat Run Honey Fork Road, and also found a bucket placed under a pumping valve to catch leaking oil.

At yet another inspection, on Sept. 27, 2018, a Division inspector met with Poling at the well site, and advised him that the contamination needed to be remediated, and trash and debris around the well removed, by Oct. 5. At an inspection Oct. 4, however, the complaint alleges, the inspector found oil still collecting on the ground, and the well still pumping. "The inspector concluded (Poling) did not make any attempt to bring the well into compliance" in accordance with the notice he had been issued in December 2017, the complaint says.

The complaint goes on to list nine more inspection dates from October 2018 through June 2020, on each of which the inspector allegedly observed "contamination and pollution surrounding the tank and wellhead, leaking valves, and oil-stained soil," from which it was concluded that Poling had not attempted to stop or clean up the pollution at the well.

The Division then issued a chief's order mandating that the well be brought into compliance, which Poling received by certified mail on July 23, 2020. Subsequent inspections in September 2020, December 2020 and March 2021, however, found the problem still unaddressed.

In addition to the contamination, the AG is alleging that Poling did not file production reports for 2018 and 2019 for the five wells identified in the complaint, and has not complied with a chief's order to do so. He has likewise allegedly ignored an order to provide proof of liability insurance for his wells, after his previous proof of insurance lapsed in September 2021.

Because Poling is a sole proprietor of the wells, the complaint says, he is personally liable for the alleged violations. Though Poling could have appealed the chief's orders issued by the Division, it notes, he did not do so within the time window allowed him.

The AG is asking the court to permanently enjoin Poling to comply with the applicable state law, submit 2018 and 2019 production reports for his wells, and either obtain liability insurance or transfer his wells to someone who has it. The complaint also asks that Poling be ordered to pay the aforementioned civil penalties of up to $10,000 per offense, per day.

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