Judge orders Ohio to let company reopen brine injection well

CLEVELAND (AP) - An Ohio judge has ruled that the state's oil-and-gas regulator must allow a company to resume pumping brine from fracking operations into an injection well ordered closed in 2014 after small earthquakes were recorded nearby.

Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Kimberly Cocroft ruled last month the Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management should have considered American Water Management Services' plan to reduce volumes and pressures at the Trumbull County injection well ordered closed after two small earthquakes were detected below ground.

State officials argued in court they've been waiting for new policies based on national guidelines to be written before deciding whether the company can resume injecting brine.

A spokesman for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources said attorneys are reviewing Cocroft's order to reopen the well.