In an apparent bow to local opposition, a Texas company has withdrawn its proposal to build two injection wells for wastewater from oil and natural gas drilling in Mansfield, OH.

Meanwhile, State Rep. Robert Hagan (D-Youngstown) urged Gov. John Kasich and Jim Zehringer, director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), to consider classifying drilling wastewater as hazardous waste.

In a joint statement, Mansfield Mayor Timothy Theaker and Law Director John Spon said Austin, TX-based Preferred Fluids Management LLC (PFM) formally requested that its site and storm water management plans for the wells be withdrawn from consideration by the city’s planning commission on Monday. The commission honored the request.

“It would now appear…that [PFM is] no longer proceeding with their project,” the city officials said. “Withdrawal is consistent with the city’s opposition to and goals of preventing injection wells in the city limits.”

PFM had proposed drilling two wastewater wells — Knight No. 1 and Knight No. 2 — on a five-acre parcel in Mansfield’s industrial park. The wells would have targeted the Kerbel-Mount Simon Formation at depths between 4,580 and 5,085 feet, with an average injection rate of 1,000 barrels per day and a maximum injection pressure of 1,255 psi.

According to the ODNR, PFM applied for permits for the two wells on Oct. 12, 2010 and received them on April 19, 2011. The permits also listed a maximum drill depth of 5,150 feet.

PFM President Steve Mobley could not be reached for comment on Thursday, and it wasn’t clear what the company would do with the property in the future. Theaker and Spon touched on that issue, cautioning city residents “that while this withdrawal appears to be a city victory over a company that sought to inject toxic poison into our soil, the city must remain vigilant against other companies.”

On Wednesday Hagan told Kasich and Zehringer that he was concerned that injection wells posed a public health hazard. He cited an independent investigation by Benjamin Stout, biology professor at Wheeling Jesuit University, who tested brine wastewater from the Hazel Ginsburg well in Athens County.

“Given the proliferation of Class II injection wells in Ohio, it is imperative that we have timely and accurate research at our disposal in order to best protect our families, communities and environment,” Hagan said in a letter Wednesday. “When was the last time ODNR tested the makeup of brine and other fracking waste? The last injection well inspection?…Why are the concerns of Ohioans being ignored by their own government?”

In January Hagan successfully lobbied the Youngstown City Council to pass a resolution calling for an immediate, temporary moratorium on brine injection operations within that city’s limits (see Shale Daily, Jan. 11).

Ohio regulators believe a dozen small earthquakes in northeastern Ohio over the last year may have been triggered by a wastewater disposal well in Youngstown (see Shale Daily, March 12). In 2011 Arkansas established a moratorium on wastewater disposal wells in an area of the Fayetteville Shale after similar quake activity was reported there (see Shale Daily, July 29, 2011; March 4, 2011).