Worries about the safety of an injection well site off of Route 422 in Southington continue.

In mid-April, people living in the area complained about a strange smell and now they say they have more issues. 

“There is a residual on top of the well water, it's like a layer of oil,” Annette McCoy, who lives near the injection well site & President of the Trumbull County NAACP said. 

Those issues are causing people living in the area to either stay in use or wear masks because they don’t feel safe. 

“This trumps everything,” Mauro Cantalamessa, a Trumbull County Commissioner said. “When you talk about people's health and safety and the potential risk that it presents to the people in and around there, it needs to be taken seriously.”

15 businesses and people living in the area are asking for their air and well water to be tested by the EPA. Currently, those homeowners are able to go to the local health department and request testing but they would have to pay out of pocket. McCoy is trying to find other options to get the testing done and the cost fully covered. 

“What are the long term effects of this?" McCoy asked. "If we don’t currently have a measurable level to begin with then we won’t know the outcomes. Right now within our area of course we have a higher rate of cancer, lupus, MS.”

The state of Ohio and the Ohio Division of Natural Resources oversees the site. Some residents tell 21 News that ODNR workers have already been out to test in the area since the bad smell started - but the results were never given to them.

“There has to be some sort of recourse or some sort of better oversight by the state and if they're not going to provide it, give us the resources to do it,” Commissioner Cantalamessa said. 

Cantalamessa said he's received several complaints from residents about the site. He intends to send a letter to the ODNR on behalf of residents requesting that the air, soil and water in the area be tested immediately and have the results released to the public. The letter also requests public records from the last 5 inspections at the site and the wells around the site to be tested for harmful PFAS.

Commissioner Denny Malloy said in a meeting on Tuesday that he would review the letter and consider adding his signature before it is sent. 

The injection well is where trucks dump used brine water. That water can contain toxic metals and radioactive substances and “damage the environment and public health if discharged to water or land” according to the EPA. Since the site in Southington opened back in 2017 many have been against it and all these years later they still want it shut down.

“I think our people are more important, our environment is more important than the proceeds or the profits,” McCoy said.

Commissioner Cantalamessa said he would be in favor of the site shutting down. However, Ohio law doesn't give the locals any say over oil and gas. Meaning - if the state issues the permit, the locals have to live with it.

21 News reached out to the ODNR for a comment and did not hear back.