Public voices concerns over Antero Resources' landfill project

Tuesday night, a public meeting was held to field concerns of a proposed landfill project that's taking place in nearby counties.

Antero Resources is proposing to construct a landfill along with its wastewater treatment facility.

The facility would span through Doddridge and Ritchie counties to treat and get rid of fracking wastewater.

But, why is this important?

"The landfill project is a bolt onto our water treatment plant which is going to take produced water that's currently being made by our wells and take this waste stream and turn it into clean water and salt," said Kevin Ellis, Vice President of Government Relations with Antero Resources.

And this project doesn't come without some concerns from the public as many spoke out during the meeting.

"I think there's going to be a lot of sick people, there's going to be a lot of sick children," said Lyndia Ervolina, of Doddridge County. "Our way of life is done. I live on (Route) 50, the truck traffic is unbelievable. That's just the beginning, that's just the beginning."

"My biggest concern I think is that the process of notification is completely inadequate," said Lissa Lucas, Ritchie County.

"Truck traffic is by far the number one issue that the people who live in our operating area call us about," said Ellis. "Just about since 2014, we've reduced and removed over a million truck trips by delivery of water through our fresh water distribution system. So it's taken a million trucks off the roads. The waste water treatment plant and recycling plant will be another phase of that operation to reduce those impacts by removing additional water related truck miles on the road, up to a million miles annual. And all of the greenhouse gas emissions go along with it."

"We're testing. We're doing the baseline water quality test with Downstream Strategies for our source water protection plan," said Jim Shreves the President of Friends of the Hughs, an organization that monitors streams and does community outreach. "We're working with Antero for them to do the same tests near their facility. We're trying to just get in every safeguard we can."

Overall Antero sees this as an economic driver and an environmental friendly project. But, it's also a major concern for others.

There's still steps that need to be taken before this is set in stone.