Matamoras, OH, 10:00 am. Some folks have stopped truck traffic at the Greenhunter fracking waste facility in Matamoros, Washington County, along the Ohio River.

Nate Ebert, a 33-year-old Athens County resident and member of Appalachia Resist!, ascended a 30 foot pole anchored to a brine truck in the process of unloading frack waste, preventing all trucks carrying frack waste from entering the site.

Over one hundred supporters gathered at the facility, protesting Greenhunter’s plans to increase capacity for toxic frack waste dumping in Ohio. Greenhunter is seeking approval from the Coast Guard to ship frack waste across the Ohio River via barge at a rate of up to half a million gallons per load. The Ohio River is a drinking source for more than 5 million people, including residents of Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. Test results from multiple frack waste samples reveal high levels of benzene, toluene, arsenic, barium, and radium, among other carcinogenic and radioactive chemicals.

“Our governor, legislature, and regulatory agencies have all failed in their obligation to protect Ohioans from the predatory gas industry,” said Ebert. “Greenhunter wants to use our water sources as dumping grounds for their toxic, radioactive waste. We are here to send a message that the people of Ohio and Appalachia will not sit idly by and watch our homes be turned into a sacrifice zone!”
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Update 12:15 p.m.: Police attempting to keep media away from protesters and have threatened to tow activists’ vehicles from public parking lot half a mile away from the frack waste storage facility. Police warning activists that two trucks will arrive in 45 minutes.

Update 11:55 a.m.: Monopod is going strong, frack trucks remain unable to enter the site! Three activists still being detained inside the facility. Thirteen cop cars now on the scene.

Update 11:50 a.m.: One protester has spoken with a neighbor who is angry about all the toxic chemicals on her street and very happy that protesters are on the site. She has invited protesters into her yard.

Update 11:47 a.m.: About six activists sitting outside gate on property refusing to move.

Update 11:45 a.m.: Police liaison ordered across street under threat of arrest.

Update 11:40 a.m: Three anti-frack activists in handcuffs onsite.

UPDATE: 11:38 a.m.:

UPDATE: 11:35 a.m.: The front gate has been opened. Cops are chasing activists from the site.

UPDATE: 11:33 a.m.: Six police vehicles on scene. Workers have removed banners and police are ordering protesters to leave the property. Two of the activists remaining inside the facility have been detained by police. Others are standing in front of the main gate which has been locked by activists. One fire truck is now on the scene surveying the monopod. The vice president of Greenhunter is onsite meeting with the sheriffs and the police.

UPDATE: 11:20 a.m.: Activists unfurled a banner on one of the frack waste trucks reading: “No Frack Waste By Truck, No Frack Waste By Boat, No Greenhunter Waste Down Ohio’s Throat.” #DrSeuss

UPDATE: 11:10 a.m.: Workers have come out of their trucks. The monopod is occupied with direct support at the bottom. Two police cars are on the scene.