T-L Photo/ ROBERT A. DEFRANK An injection well may be coming to U.S. 40 near the Union Local School District campus. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources approved a request from Empire OH SWD to place a saltwater well at its TROO Clean Environmental location.

MORRISTOWN — An injection well near the Union Local School District campus is closer to becoming a reality after the Ohio Department of Natural Resources approved a permit request.

ODNR confirmed it approved the application from Empire OH SWD to place a saltwater well at its TROO Clean Environmental location, situated off U.S. 40 just east of Ohio 149 in Union Township, Belmont County. According to the permit, the site was inspected Jan. 13. The proposed total well depth is 7,350 feet, with ground level elevation of 1,195 feet.

Stephanie O’Grady, spokeswoman for ODNR, said the agency received feedback from the public, including concerns about the proximity to nearby homes, the Union Local campus and a nearby stream.

In a statement, O’Grady indicated the application “was found to meet or exceed all setback requirements.”

According to ODNR information, Empire OH would submit proposed procedures for a step-rate injection test prior to requesting authorization to inject. The proposal would include pumping equipment, pressure equipment, method of ensuring constant injection rate and specific gravity of injectate.

The company will also install noise and fugitive light barriers during drilling operations and dispose of all waste resulting from the operations.

The water injection well will immediately suspend operations if it is determined the well may be related to seismic activity or poses a risk of creating or increasing seismic activity, according to the permit.

Some of the public’s feedback was traffic related — an area where ODNR had no regulatory authority. Ohio Department of Transportation officials were not available for comment Friday.

O’Grady added that this was one of two well permit applications ODNR received for the Troo Clean location, situated just north of Union Local’s bus garage facilities. The second application is still under review.

The issue was raised in August by the Union Local Board of Education. Members expressed worry about the proximity of the district campus, which borders the proposed site.

“We are monitoring that situation and will be in discussion with our legal counsel in analyzing it and looking at how that may affect the school district,” Union Local Superintendent Ben Porter said.

Belmont County Commissioner J.P. Dutton said the public and township trustees have reached out to the commissioners with their concerns.

“I’ve spoken to a lot of different entities about this issue in general, going back about 18 months,” he said. “I just continue to be very disappointed in state law, that there is not more of a radius around these types of facilities. We support oil and gas development in Belmont County, but I do think that when it comes to these types of facilities there needs to be a larger radius. … There’s other types of properties in southeastern Ohio to locate these types of projects. … We have other facilities located in more remote parts of Belmont County, and that seems much more appropriate.”

Union Township trustees could not be reached for comment Friday.

Empire OH SWD was contacted, but the company declined to comment.

A similar debate has gone on in Richland Township, with residents, businesses and municipal governments voicing opposition to another company’s attempts to secure an injection well permit through ODNR to install wells at the intersection of U.S. 40 and Ohio 331.