Photo by Emma Delk Martins Ferry Mayor John Davies said he and Martins Ferry Service Director Andy Sutak would talk with Ohio Department of Natural Resources legal representatives Thursday afternoon.

MARTINS FERRY – City officials aim to prevent future situations similar to Austin Master Services’ hazardous waste accumulation through an ordinance amending the city’s Source Water Protection Area.

A special Martins Ferry City Council meeting will be held at 10 a.m. today to allow council members to vote on the amended ordinance.

The amended ordinance could not be voted on during Wednesday night’s regular council meeting because council members James Agnew and James Schramm were absent, meaning not enough council members were present to vote on the amendment.

In the amended ordinance, “prohibited uses” of land within “Zone 1,” which is defined as an area within “about 1,000 feet of a public water supply well,” now include chemical processing and storage facilities.

“All other facilities involving the collection, handling, manufacture, use, storage, transfer, process of disposal of any solid or liquid material, waste, or radioactive materials having potentially harmful impact on groundwater quality (fall under prohibited uses),” the amended ordinance states.

“This (the amended ordinance) is as many new things as we could come up with to put more restrictions and tighten the plan for our water protection area,” council President Kristine Davis said during Wednesday’s council meeting. “This is in direct response to the Austin Masters issue.”

Martins Ferry Mayor John Davies also outlined the steps during Wednesday’s meeting that he and Martins Ferry Service Director Andy Sutak were taking to resolve Austin Masters situation.

After noting that the Ohio Department of Natural Resources officials had failed to return his calls multiple times, Davies said he and Sutak were able to contact ODNR officials to schedule a phone call with one of the ODNR’s legal representatives for Thursday afternoon.

“We want to call them out and have some pretty brutal questions to ask them,” Davies said Wednesday. “Our main concern right now is getting an answer about who will clean up the facility.”

Davies explained that in past conversations with the ODNR, he has not received an answer for who will clean up the facility due to the situation being “tied up in litigation.”

Austin Master Services CEO Brad J. Domitrovitsch faces a daily $200 fine and 30 days in jail unless the oil and gas waste at the Martins Ferry facility is reduced by permitted levels by July 22.

This deadline originates from a May 21 ruling by Belmont County Common Pleas Judge John Vavre, who found the company and Domitrovich to be in contempt of court for failing to meet a court-ordered April 17 deadline to clean up the facility.

The initial April 17 deadline determined by Vavre stems from a temporary restraining order filed by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost on March 25. In the order, Yost described the facility as committing “egregious violations of Ohio law” due to the facility exceeding the 600-ton waste limit by collecting more than 10,000 tons.

Davies expressed further frustration that the ODNR had not created a “contingency plan” for if the facility flooded, which would lead to the contamination of water sources.

“Their (ODNR) contingency plan is nothing, so people need to realize that when Martins Ferry water is contaminated, it puts not only the 6,000 people living here at risk but everyone in the Ohio Valley and beyond,” Davies said. “These ODNR people are more concerned with, “Oh, well we’ll get this guy to clean it up.’ We don’t care who cleans it, we want it cleaned up.”

Davies estimated that cleanup would “probably cost $1-2 million,” which he added is money Martins Ferry does not have available.

“That cleanup cost is a big number to the city of Martins Ferry but not a very big number to the state,” Davies noted. “I don’t see any future progress until somebody takes responsibility and cleans it up.”

During the council meeting’s open public forum, Bridgeport resident Frank Papini questioned whether council members had received any information on whether companies that had offered to buy Austin Master Services had been declined by the ODNR. Davies and Sutak responded that they had received no word regarding potential buyers for the facility.

“I don’t know what the situation is, but by July 22, something has to be done in the litigation,” Sutak responded. “My thought is that when there is flooding in places due to heavy rain and floodwaters go to 44 feet, and the ODNR doesn’t have a contingency plan ready, there won’t be enough cars to fill with the bags of waste.”

Martins Ferry resident William Hans also expressed frustration with the Austin Master situation. He explained that as someone who lives “less than 800 feet” from the facility, he worries for the children in the area who could be harmed by the radiation.

“My grandson in second grade received a booklet that had each student write their dreams about what they want to be in it,” Hans said. “Why are we having them do that while we are doing nothing here to protect them? The city has the authority to stop these companies when they violate the city’s Water Source Protection Area.”

Sutak responded to Hans’s comment that he has informed ODNR officials that city officials “do not care what happens to the company (Austin Master)” and simply want the facility cleaned up.

“We just want the ODNR to do what the people ask them to do – clean it up and don’t let anyone else in there that will be that type of material,” Sutak said. “Once that happens, there won’t be another problem or situation like this.”