Texas-based company's plans to move drilling wastewater by barge on Ohio River is put on hold

1/14/2013

COLUMBUS — A Texas-based company wants to use river barges to move its potentially toxic wastewater in Ohio, but federal officials must first decide whether it's safe.

The Columbus Dispatch reports that Grapevine, Texas-based GreenHunter Water has its plan on hold as authorities investigate environmental questions regarding the wastewater from the gas drilling industry.

The industry uses water and chemicals to stimulate production of natural gas locked in shale. Some of that water comes back to the surface. It gets recycled or is taken by truck to industrial treatment plants or deep injection wells for treatment or disposal.

The newspaper reports that GreenHunter Water has bought liquid-storage tanks at an Ohio River terminal in New Matamoras in southeastern Ohio. The terminal could serve as a transfer point to truck the waste.