The East Ohio Gas Company natural gas facility located at 825 Hunter Ave. in Marietta has a pipeline that local property owner Ken Stahler says is causing a landslip on his neighboring property at 850 Hunter Ave. The East Ohio Gas Company is owned by Dominion Energy. (Photo by Michelle Dillon)

MARIETTA — Washington County Commissioners discussed a landslip in Marietta they are concerned about during the commission meeting Thursday.

Commissioners discussed a letter written by County Engineer Roger Wright about a landslip occurring off Hunter Avenue in Marietta out of concerns for safety.

The letter said there is a natural gas pipeline that crosses under Duck Creek, then crosses a parcel of land owned by Duck Creek Farm Ltd. located at 850 Hunter Ave., then turns and crosses under Hunter Avenue to an East Ohio Gas Company facility located at 825 Hunter Ave.

The letter said the Duck Creek Farm property the pipeline crosses is “exhibiting signs of landslip activity and has exhibited signs of landslip activity for many years.”

According to their website, East Ohio Gas Company is owned by Dominion Energy. Dominion sold East Ohio Gas to Enbridge in September 2023. The sale is expected to close in 2024, according to Enbridge’s website.

According to the letter, a report on the landslip issue was prepared Sep. 21, 2017, by civil, soils and materials engineer Rajinder Goyle from Goyle Engineering Inc. for the owner of Duck Creek Farms, Ken Strahler. The letter said the report stated that the gas pipeline was laid along Duck Creek at (Duck Creek Farms) in 1980 and that the first signs of the landslip were observed “…4.5 years ago and the site conditions were brought to the attention of the energy company authorities and they requested a quote for rip rap on the initial slip.”

According to the letter, signs of landslip activity including tension cracks, settling of the ground surface and trees leaning away from Duck Creek which indicates rotational movement of the ground have been seen at the site.

“The tension cracks at the site can carry large volumes of surface water into the failure zones resulting in further serious slippage,” Goyle said in his report, according to the letter.

Strahler has voiced his concern about public safety in relation to the landslip to local and state elected officials, Public Utility Commission of Ohio (PUCO) officials and East Ohio Gas Company representatives, the letter said.

Commissioners said in the letter that their “concerns are that this area has exhibited signs of landslip activity since 2013 or so, and to date, no remediation efforts have taken place … At this time our understanding is that remediation efforts will not be forthcoming.”

Strahler spoke at the commission meeting and said he notified Dominion about the issue almost 11 years ago and that he told state representatives and congressmen and they think everything is okay, but there is an 8-inch pipeline that can carry up to 125 psi in the landslip and the landslip has gone from 30 feet 11 years ago to almost 500 feet now and is still moving.

“Slips do not fix themselves … it needs stabilized,” Strahler said.

Commissioner Jame Booth said that the landslip could lead to a huge explosion.

“This would be a catastrophe,” Booth said.

Strahler pointed out Promanco is located even closer to the pipeline that he is.

Commissioner Charlie Schilling called the landslip and pipeline a real safety issue and Commissioner Kevin Ritter said he was aghast that it had not been fixed when he saw it three years ago.

Schilling also mentioned that he doesn’t want to see what happened in Noble County a few years ago happen in Washington County. An Enbridge pipeline exploded near Summerfield in Noble County in February 2017 causing fires at three residences and injuring two people.

The commissioners went into executive session at 9:30 a.m. to discuss real estate. They came out of session at 10 a.m. and took no action.

Other items addressed at the commission meeting include:

* Approved three additional appropriations: $700,000 for the county general fund for capital projects, $7000,00 to the county general funds for expenses, $13,000 for road equipment and $93.166.66 for a state mandated increase in the amount the Washington County Department of Jobs and Family Services.

* Approved six Then and Now items, which are purchase orders over $100.

* Approved the subgrant award agreement for extra data storage for police body worn cameras in the amount of $11,000.

* Wright gave an update on the Devola Sewer project stating that in mid-April his team will start yard rehabilitation work

* Approved a change order for the elevator repair project for the Washington County JFS.

* Agreed to continue to table the a contract service agreement for a Bureau of Justice Assistance Grant between Washington County Commissioners and Orianna House, who provides services for the county’s Compass Drug Court, due to needing modifications made to the contract.

* Wright provided an update on Hills Covered Bridge. He said he talked to Chief Deputy Mark Warden about ideas for security for the bridge. Wright said he thinks that they will be able to get more active cameras and more robust security at the bridge.

Requests for comment from Dominion Energy were not returned by press time.

Michelle Dillon can be reached at mdillon@newsandsentinel.com