Ohio environmental regulators say they are fining an international oil and gas company more than $200,000 for a blowout and fire last summer at a natural gas fracking well in eastern Ohio that killed thousands of fish and forced temporary evacuations of some area residents.
State officials announced the fines against Statoil on Tuesday. They say the company operated the well in Monroe County and can resume fracking there after it pays the fines.
A message left Wednesday at the company's North America office in Houston wasn't immediately returned.
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources say the fines are being assessed for the loss of aquatic species, spill cleanup and water quality violations from the well pad fire in June 2014.
