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Residents press Martins Ferry officials for answers on Austin Master Services contamination
Summary
Two residents told the council the former Austin Master Services site near the city's water source still shows contamination and urged the city to obtain testing results and track the U.S. EPA investigation; city officials said ODNR and EPA actions are underway and the city adjusted its source-water protection zone.
Bev Reid, an Ohio Valley resident representing the Buckeye Environmental Network, asked Martins Ferry City Council on Jan. 29 to press state and federal agencies for documents and tests related to the former Austin Master Services (AMS) oil-and-gas waste processing facility located near the city's drinking-water source. "Early 2021 ... this is when we first learned about the concerning operations at Austin Master Services," Reid said, and she urged the city to request ODNR sampling reports and to share the city's groundwater-monitoring data with residents.
Reid told the council the state attorney general filed suit in March 2024 and that, she said, "On January 13, Austin Masters was ordered to pay $34,000,000 to the state of Ohio to cover the cleanup and regulatory fees." She asked whether the city is tracking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Region 5 investigation and whether the city's source-water protection and monitoring reports have been updated.
Rob Reed, a Bridgewater resident who said his group sent samples to Oak Ridge Laboratory, said those samples "came back hot, every one of them," and described radiological and waste-handling problems at the site that he said continue to leave contamination in soil around the building. Reed and Reid urged the council to consider independent sampling, additional site inspections and clearer communication with residents.
Mayor Davies responded that the city "did change our our source protection, and we pushed that" and that the city had revised the boundaries for Zone 1 in its ordinance and source-water-protection plan to limit uses in vulnerable areas. He added that, as currently discussed, portions of the building would likely be limited to non-hazardous uses such as warehousing.
The council did not take formal action on the requests during the meeting. Reid offered a packet of EPA and other documents to council members and requested follow-up by e-mail. The packet includes a preliminary site assessment, correspondence between EPA and the property owners, and photos of visible building damage.
What happens next: Reid asked the city to confirm whether it has requested ODNR sampling reports, to share the city's monitoring-well results and to say whether the city will perform independent testing. Council members acknowledged the documents and said they would review Reid's packet and follow up.
