Ohio has more than tripled its number of inspectors of oil and gas wells in the past five years. But even with the extra eyes, wells cited for violating state law often stay active for years without fixing problems that could be harmful to the environment.

Ohio has more than tripled its number of inspectors of oil and gas wells in the past five years. But even with the extra eyes, wells cited for violating state law often stay active for years without fixing problems that could be harmful to the environment.

A Dispatch analysis of more than four years of inspection and violation data kept by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources shows that the vast majority of Ohio's 64,000 oil and gas wells operate without issue.

From 2010 to early May, inspectors cited nearly 3,800 wells - 6 percent of the total in Ohio - for violating state law.

But many of the wells where inspectors found issues are allowed to remain active without ever showing that their violations were resolved. The department does not have the authority to issue fines or penalties; it must refer the worst offenders to county or state prosecutors.

The department acknowledges that many wells have been in violation for years, but it considers some of them a low priority; they are idle wells that need to be permanently closed but probably pose no imminent environmental threat. In other cases, the wells have been fixed, but busy inspectors haven't noted that in the state's data that track citations.

Many of the issues for which Ohio's wells are cited are simple: a missing sign that identifies the well, or grass that is too tall. But sometimes, wells malfunction and leak oil or other drilling fluids. Last year, the department issued dozens of citations to well operators for polluting or contaminating the land.

And as the number of wells in Ohio grows, so does the number of inspections. That means the state must prioritize which violators to address first, said Mark Bruce, a spokesman for the department's oil and gas division. Wells that no longer produce but haven't been plugged to prevent oil or gas from leaking out are a lower priority than producing wells.

"Yes, it's idle; it is not in compliance because it is not producing gas and hasn't been capped. But it's not endangering anything. It's not discharging, it's not leaking, it's not endangering the environment or any person," Bruce said. "So it's not a high priority to get that well back into compliance."

Representatives of the oil and gas industry say that Ohio's wells are thoroughly inspected and vigilantly monitored.

"What I hear from members is there have been increased inspections, and they are kind of grinding their teeth about the minutiae," said Tom Stewart, vice president of the Ohio Oil and Gas Association, referring to compliance notices that operators receive about things such as sun-faded well signs.

But "we tell them to be in compliance with the law, and if they're out of compliance, to fix it and fix it now," he added.

Faulty wells that pose a threat to the environment take top billing, according to the state. Bruce said that Natural Resources works closely with operators of those wells to fix problems, clean up drilling-related fluids that escape and prevent problems.

Occasionally, Bruce said, well operators fail to act quickly enough or adequately. If they continue to flout the law and endanger Ohio's land or water, the department's recourse is a legal one. It can appeal to county prosecutors or to the state attorney general to take operators who show "deliberate negligence" to court.

"We can't just issue penalties," Bruce said.

If a well's continued operation would endanger public health or safety, the department can issue an emergency order for the well to be shut down. But more often than not, the department tries to work with the operator and write agreements that spell out what must be done to get the well back in compliance and stay that way.

Brian Kunkemoeller, a conservation project manager with the Sierra Club's Ohio chapter, called the department's inability to issue fines a problem because it leaves the agency with smaller teeth to enforce important laws and regulations.

"There is a really big roadblock here in that the ODNR is not capable of directly fining these companies," Kunkemoeller said.

Industry representatives say the department has plenty of authority to take on producers that are consistently out of compliance - and it should. "The big hammer is they can force you out of business" by using an emergency shutdown order, Stewart said.

"There are some people out there that have been problems, and we were happy to see (ODNR) get the authority to go get them out," Stewart said. "I think they have the tools. Whether they have the will, I'm not sure."

The state's violations data show that more than two-thirds of the wells cited since 2010 still are out of line with state law.

The true percentage of wells that violate state law but remain active isn't that high, Bruce said: Inspectors don't always note in the violation data that a well has been fixed, so the state data sometimes reflect a problem where one no longer exists.

A separate set of inspection-tracking data notes meticulously each time an inspector visits a well. In that data, some of the wells that appear in the violations data to be out of compliance actually have passed inspection.

For example, an inspector visiting a Monroe County well in 2011 wrote: "There was an oil tank burping into the creek." Each time the well pumped, it discharged "brine and oil burps."

The system the state uses to track violations shows that the operator still has not fixed that well. But the inspections-tracking data indicates that inspectors checked it as recently as January and found no environmental issues.

The Dispatch received the violations data and the inspections data through a public-records request.

Inspectors cited traditional, vertical oil and gas wells far more often than horizontal ones: Of the wells cited in the Natural Resources data, just 18 were horizontal wells.

Horizontal drilling, commonly referred to as fracking, involves pumping millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals underground to shatter shale and free trapped oil and gas. Fracking has been contentious across Ohio and the country.

The oversight process is prescribed by law; state inspectors must witness certain steps in the construction and drilling of each horizontal well. That means that inspectors are on-site more often and can correct issues on the spot, which Bruce said is one reason that horizontal wells are cited less frequently for violations.

The state continues to push for more monitoring of such wells. A horizontal well in Mahoning County caused a series of earthquakes this year, prompting the department to ask the company that runs that well to suspend operations.

It was one of the first times a well had been linked to earthquakes in the United States. New wells in that area now must be fitted with seismic monitors.

More monitoring requires more inspectors. In 2010, the state had 20 inspectors who monitored issues at wells connected with the oil and gas industry. They checked in on sites where companies drill for oil and gas, and other well types, including those in which companies inject fracking wastewater deep underground.

Today, the state has funding for 65 inspectors. Fifty of those positions are filled. And other oil and gas workers have been added to help regulate and oversee wells, bringing the total to 112, including the inspectors.

Bruce said the existence of regulations specific to horizontal wells might explain why they aren't cited with the same frequency as other, older wells across Ohio.

"By being there when it's built, you can see it," Bruce said. "You can correct (a mistake) before it becomes a problem."

larenschield@dispatch.com

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jsmithrichards@dispatch.com

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