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Trumbull County commissioners weigh FirstEnergy easement as residents, trustees warn injection well risks
Summary
FirstEnergy said it will power a critical Marks radio communications tower next week, but its proposed utility easement to serve an injection well drew strong opposition from Brookfield Township officials and trustees who say allowing the easement would tacitly support the well and endanger local residents and a nearby school.
Trumbull County commissioners heard a presentation from FirstEnergy on a proposed utility easement that would let the company tap new power lines on McMullen Street to serve a nearby injection well and local communications towers.
The most immediate priority, FirstEnergy representative Bob Wilson told the board, is to restore power to a Marks radio communications tower used by local fire and police; the company scheduled installation to begin the coming Monday regardless of the easement outcome. Wilson described the easement as limited to utilities and not for access, and said it would bring three-phase power into the McMullen Street corridor. He estimated the county could recover some of its prior shares of line costs—“somewhere in the neighborhood of, like, $15,000,” he said—if the well tapped the same line.
The proposal drew strong objections from Brookfield Township officials and at least two commissioners. Trustee Dan Sullos said he had raised the issue previously and asked why the county would now allow an easement after declining a monetary offer from the injection-well operator. “That injection well... is endangering the residents of my township. There's a school within a thousand yards of that two campus,” Sullos said, adding concerns about drinking-water impacts and seismic events he attributed to injection activity in Trumbull County.
Commissioners expressed sympathy for the public-safety argument and repeatedly said they were not prepared to bless an action that would assist an injection well. “If we do permit that to go through... we’re condoning the placement of an injection well,” one commissioner said during discussion. Commissioners also noted they lacked authority to stop ODNR or state permitting but said the county should make its opposition known.
FirstEnergy emphasized it has a duty to serve customers within its service area and that, barring an easement, it would still run a longer loop of line—about a half-mile—to reach the well and the tower, a route that would increase capital costs and be less reliable from a maintenance standpoint.
No formal vote was recorded on the easement proposal during the meeting. Commissioners indicated they would not give a “blessing” to arrangements that clearly facilitate the injection well, while also noting the county’s immediate priority is restoring emergency communications power. FirstEnergy said field crews were scheduled to start installing the Marks Tower service the following Monday, weather permitting.
The board asked FirstEnergy to notify local fire departments of the schedule and left the easement matter open for future action and clarification of legal/contractual terms.
