WARREN TOWNSHIP — Christine Cummins said there are days a foul, fuel-like odor in her Warren Township neighborhood is unbearable and she and other residents want something done to get rid of it.

In the past few weeks, residents in Warren Township, Braceville and Southington have complained to their township officials and the county health department about the smell.

In Braceville and Southington, trustees have discussed the odor and heard from residents.

Southington Trustee Cindy Speaker said she has contacted the Trumbull County Emergency Management Agency about residents’ concerns.

Cummins said she lives less than 500 yards from the property where an injection well sits.

“I smell the odor,” Cummins said. “The more and more people I have spoken to, they tell me they have also smelled it.”

She said she first noticed the odor in late March.

“When I first noticed it, I couldn’t figure out what it was. “It really stinks outside, What is going on?'” Cummins said, adding she notices the odor more in the evening so she keeps her doors and windows closed.

She said one neighbor told her she has to sleep in the basement because the odor is so bad some nights. Others, according to Cummins, can’t sit on their porches behind their homes because of the odor.

“When the wind blows, like it has some days, is when you really smell it,” she said.

Cummins said she has been in contact with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and she said she saw an emergency response team at the site last week and Monday.

Andy Chow, chief of communications at the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, said there were inspectors at the location Monday who said they could not detect the odor.

“The odor that people are reporting in the area is due to a company in Warren performing a routine offloading of fluid at an injection well,” Chow stated. “The fluid brought to the injection well that was offloaded was from a recent plugging of a well and sometimes these fluids emit a strong odor.”

He added there is no leak occurring at the injection well and the odor should “subside as the water is transferred to enclosed tanks.”

Residents off Templeton Road and other nearby streets said it is “hit and miss.” Some days the odor is horrible and other days it’s not as noticeable.

John Hickey, director of the Trumbull County Emergency Management Agency, said Monday he received calls from the local township trustees and immediately contacted both the ODNR and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency about their concerns since it is an air quality issue.

“Three weeks ago, I began receiving calls from residents and officials concerned about what was happening at the intersection (Templeton and U.S. Route 422),” he said.

According to Chow, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management will continue to monitor the situation.

Hickey said he was informed that there is nothing hazardous there and the company has done nothing illegal and is following the law.

The company at the site is listed as a PAC injection facility.

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