Belmont County

Austin Master Services CEO Pays $25,000 Bond to Stay Out of Jail

Last week, MDN exclusively brought you the news that the CEO of American Environmental Services, which owns Austin Master Services (AMS), had filed a brief with Belmont County Court to either forgive or reduce a $1.2 million bond needed to keep the CEO, Brad Domitrovitsch, out of jail (see Austin Master Serv. CEO Asks Court…

Read More...

Martins Ferry, OH Mayor Wants AMS Site Shut Down Permanently

According to Public News Service (PNS), a Big Green propaganda outfit funded (in part) by the Fresh Water Accountability Project, the CEO of Austin Master Services (AMS), a frack waste storage facility in Martin’s Ferry, Ohio, was supposed to attend a Belmont County court hearing by phone. He faces contempt-of-court charges for failing to clean…

Read More...

Martins Ferry Sees No Evidence of Cleanup at Austin Master Serv.

We have been tracking and reporting on the drama surrounding Austin Master Services (AMS), a radiological waste management solutions company in Martins Ferry (Belmont County), Ohio, located close to the Ohio River, since the Ohio Attorney General lodged charges against the company back in March (see our AMS stories here). AMS has stored at least…

Read More...

Martins Ferry Council Pressures ODNR to Clean Up AMS Facility…NOW

We have been tracking and reporting on the drama surrounding Austin Master Services (AMS), a radiological waste management solutions company in Martins Ferry (Belmont County), Ohio, located close to the Ohio River (see our AMS stories here). Two weeks ago, a Belmont County Common Pleas Court judge ordered AMS to be fined $200 per day…

Read More...

Austin Master Services Claims It is “Effectively a Dead Company”

We have been tracking and reporting on the drama surrounding Austin Master Services (AMS), a radiological waste management solutions company in Martins Ferry ( Belmont County), Ohio, located close to the Ohio River (see our AMS stories here). Last week, a Belmont County Common Pleas Court judge ordered AMS to be fined $200 per day…

Read More...

OH Supreme Court Reverses “Drilled Too Deep” Decision TERA v Rice

Back in the summer of 2020, MDN told you about a lawsuit brought by an Ohio rights owner called TERA, an organization that owns the royalty rights for a number of leases with wells in Belmont County, OH, drilled by different producers, suing the producers for drilling into the Point Pleasant shale layer when the…

Read More...

Ohio AG Asks Court to Jail AMS CEO Overnights Until Mess Cleaned

Last Thursday, MDN brought you the news that Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost asked a Belmont County judge to find Austin Master Services (AMS) and Brad D. Domitrovitsch, who is in control of the company (both CEO and CFO), in contempt for “failing to meet the court’s deadline to clean up the illegal levels of…

Read More...

Martins Ferry Asks ODNR to Begin Cleanup of Austin Master Services

Yesterday we told you that Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost is asking a Belmont County judge to find Austin Master Services (AMS) and Brad D. Domitrovitsch, who is in control of the company, in contempt for “failing to meet the court’s deadline to clean up the illegal levels of fracking waste stored at its recycling…

Read More...

Martins Ferry Mayor Gives Update on Closed Frack Wastewater Facility

Yesterday, MDN reported that Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost took legal action on Monday, seeking to force Austin Master Services (AMS) in Martins Ferry (Belmont County), OH, to correct “egregious violations of Ohio law” regarding the storage of oil and gas waste that he says threatens the Ohio River and Martins Ferry’s drinking water supply…

Read More...

Ohio AG Sues Austin Master Services for Unsafe Storage of Wastewater

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost took legal action Monday, seeking to force Austin Master Services in Martins Ferry (Belmont County), OH, to correct “egregious violations of Ohio law” regarding storage of oil and gas waste that he says threatens the Ohio River (500 feet away) and Martins Ferry’s drinking water supply (1,000 feet away). Austin…

Read More...

Driller Nominates Wildlife Area in Belmont County, OH for Fracking

In January 2023, Ohio House Bill (HB) 507 became law with the signature of Gov. Mike DeWine (see OH Gov. Signs Bill Expanding Drilling in State Parks, NatGas “Green”). The new law allows shale drilling under (but not on top of) Ohio state-owned land, including state parks. HB 507 encourages (pushes for) more drilling under…

Read More...

20 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jan 29 – Feb 4

There were 20 new permits issued to drill in the Marcellus/Utica during the week of Jan. 29 – Feb. 4, versus 27 permits issued during the prior week. Pennsylvania issued 12 new permits last week. Ohio issued 6 new permits. West Virginia issued 2 new permits last week. We had a tie for the company…

Read More...

35 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Dec 11-17

New shale permits issued for Dec 11 – 17 in the Marcellus/Utica continued the trend up over the previous week. There were 35 new permits issued last week versus 27 issued two weeks ago. Last week’s permit tally included 17 new permits in Pennsylvania, 13 new permits in Ohio, and 5 new permits in West…

Read More...

Court Orders Ohio Drillers to Produce Documents in Royalty Dispute

Back in the summer of 2020, MDN told you about a lawsuit brought by an Ohio rights owner called TERA, an organization that appears to own the royalty rights for a number of leases with wells in Belmont County, OH, drilled by different producers, suing the producers for drilling into the Point Pleasant shale layer…

Read More...

PTT Working on Plan to Build Petchem Plant…in Thailand, Not Ohio

This is your friendly (somewhat snarky) semi-annual reminder from MDN that the PTT ethane cracker project in Ohio is dead (see Facing Reality – PTT Ohio Cracker Plant Project is Dead). We periodically look for signs of life in the project, and it has been a flat line for YEARS. Nothing. Local and state leaders…

Read More...