FAYETTEVILLE, W.Va. — The Fayette County Commission’s chambers shook with cheers and applause Tuesday as commissioners unanimously passed an ordinance to ban the storage, disposal or use of oil and natural gas waste countywide.
The ordinance interprets state code as allowing county commissions to pass ordinances to protect public health and safety and eliminate public nuisances.
Under the ordinance, no permit, order or charter issued by a state agency will be deemed valid in Fayette County, including permits issued by the Department of Environmental Protection.
Citizens began urging the commission to pass a county ordinance due to controversy over an injection well site in Lochgelly operated by Danny Webb Construction, positioned just upstream from a drinking water intake on New River. As previously reported by The Register-Herald, water testing conducted by Duke University showed frack waste had infiltrated Wolf Creek, a tributary to the New River…