Ohio Chemical Reporting Laws Should Not Trump EPA Regulations

The U.S. EPA is investigating the cause of a January chemical emergency at an Auglaize County well facility and asking why an inventory of the facility's chemicals wasn't available to local safety authorities. A coalition of environmental and community groups filed a complaint this spring over the January 16th incident near St. Marys. The groups asked the EPA to review that case and alleged Clean Water Act violations in a Youngstown case, to see if the Ohio Department of Natural Resources' oil and gas regulatory program is functioning properly. The agency says Ohio chemical-reporting laws should not supersede federal requirements.