Wells easily could supply enough water for Penn National Gaming's casino.
"The limestone aquifer that's below the site would be capable of getting 200,000 to 300,000 gallons per day," said Jim Raab, a hydrogeologist for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. He said the agency has records of 54 wells in Franklin Township capable of drawing the 183,000 gallons per day that casino developers
Penn National has applied to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to drill wells on the casino site near W. Broad Street and I-270 in Franklin Township.
The move could give the casino developers leverage as they negotiate an annexation deal with Columbus leaders. Penn National has listed more than $10 million in tax breaks and other help that it's seeking for the project. Columbus' key bargaining chip is its waterlines.
Sewers are not an issue because the city committed to serve that part of Franklin County in a 2003 agreement.
Mayor Michael B. Coleman's spokesman called the well application a "shakedown" on Monday. Yesterday, Bob Tenenbaum, a spokesman for Penn National, said the comment "took us a little aback." He pointed out that the city had wanted the casino moved to the Franklin Township site from the Arena District location originally approved by Ohio voters.
"Penn National was perfectly happy with the Arena District site," he said. "We're not going to be bullied."
Under the terms of the Ohio Constitution, Columbus would receive an estimated $24 million in taxes on casino revenue if the gambling hall is built in the city or $16 million if it's built outside the city. It's unclear whether the other $8 million, designated for the "host city" in the constitution, would go to Franklin Township if the site remains there.
Also at stake for Columbus is an undetermined amount of city income taxes that would be paid by the casino's employees. Columbus has agreed to share nearly a quarter of the income and property taxes from the casino with Franklin Township
Under the terms of the constitutional amendment that permitted casinos, no matter where the local casino ends up, no one is allowed to levy special "sin" taxes on it.
As a bargaining chip, the wells have little value unless the Ohio EPA signs off on them. EPA officials have balked at doing that, saying they need more-detailed information about contamination at the site, a former Delphi auto-parts plant, and about how the planned wells would affect the aquifer.
The decision about well permits rests entirely with the EPA. Natural Resources monitors wells and collects information about every well drilled in the state, but it does not regulate them, Raab said. The Franklin County Board of Health regulates only residential wells, said Mitzi Kline, spokeswoman for the board.
According to Penn National's filing with the EPA last week, wells dug about 10 to 30 feet deep on the site show high levels of contaminants such as arsenic, lead and vinyl chloride, a known carcinogen. In one monitoring-well test in March, Penn National reported finding 6.9 million parts per billion of the solvent methylene chloride. The regulatory limit is 5 parts per billion.
But the company told the EPA that a monitoring well reaching 118 feet deep to the limestone aquifer showed no such contamination and that it is protected from the surface contamination by a 40-foot layer of clay. That well is 2,200 feet from where Penn National wants to drill to service the casino.
Raab said it would make sense for the company to test how quickly water permeates that clay layer.
"The best scenario would be that they drill a well and drill shallower wells in the glacial material, and during the pumping test of the limestone well they can measure whether there's any reduction in the level in the glacial well," he said.
Even without industrial pollution, he said, the water from the limestone aquifer likely will contain high concentrations of dissolved minerals and could contain hydrogen sulfide, which gives water a rotten-egg smell. Both could be fixed with an on-site water-treatment facility, he said.
Penn National's application to the EPA references having a treatment facility on-site.
Dispatch reporter Elizabeth Gibson contributed to this story.
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