Part of the Series
Gas Rush: Fracking in Depth
Ohio regulators confirmed late last week what many observers already suspected: a fracking wastewater disposal well caused 12 earthquakes near Youngstown last year as the state threw open its doors to the controversial oil- and gas-drilling technique.
All the earthquakes were clustered less than a mile from an especially deep well where fracking fluids are stored as wastewater underground after being used for drilling. Earthquakes are extremely rare in the area.
The largest earthquake, a 4.0-magnitude seismic event that was felt across the Youngstown area, occurred on December 31, just one day after regulators shut down the suspect disposal well. The next day, outspoken fracking proponent Gov. John Kasich put a moratorium on wastewater injection in the vicinity of the well, which will continue under new rules issued by regulators.
Anti-fracking activists and Ohio State Rep. Bob Hagan, a Democrat from the area, quickly lashed out last month at Kasich, who has enjoyed considerable campaign contributions from fracking companies and signed a bill last year allowing oil and gas firms to drill in state parks.
“Fracking” is short for hydraulic fracturing, an environmentally controversial oil- and gas-drilling technique that involves pumping millions of gallons of water and chemicals underground to break up rock and release fossil fuels. Some of the water returns as a wastewater brine contaminated with fracking chemicals and underground materials, so fracking companies often pump the brine into underground wells for permanent storage.
The discovery of massive natural gas reserves under Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, along with the development of enhanced horizontal fracking techniques, has prompted an oil and gas rush in the region. A lack of federal regulations has left states like Ohio scrambling to catch up.
Evidence gathered by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) suggests that fluid from the injection well intersected an unmapped fault and caused movement that created earthquakes. The ODNR also issued with their earthquake findings new rules for wastewater disposal that regulators claim will be some of the nation’s toughest.
The new rules prohibit new wastewater wells from being drilled into the deep Precambrian basement rock layers, and drillers will be required to install high-tech monitoring equipment.
Read More – Click here for Gas Rush: Fracking in Depth
The ODNR claims that earthquakes have been linked to only six of the nation’s 144,000 injection wells, which take in 2 billion gallons of wastewater each day. But the trembling ground in Ohio and other states, such as Arkansas, did not sit well with residents and environmentalists. The Ohio Environmental Council (OEC) applauded the new rules, but criticized regulators for allowing drillers to cause earthquakes in the first place.
“Although it is a very rare thing for an injection well to cause an earthquake, there have been other confirmed earthquakes caused by deep injection wells in other states over the past few years,” wrote OEC Law Fellow Grant Maki. “During that time, Ohio kept on drilling these wells at a faster and faster pace. If you continually play with fire, you will, eventually, get burnt. We commend ODNR for taking this necessary action. However, we should have done these studies before injecting millions of gallons of high-pressure fluid into the ‘basement rock.'”
Several states are debating what to do with the millions of gallons of sometimes-toxic wastewater left over from fracking. Last year, regulators in Pennsylvania had to demand that fracking companies stop sending wastewater to public treatment facilities.
The ODNR said it prefers underground wells to other disposal methods. Underground wells have not caused any subsurface groundwater contamination since the state began using them in 1983. Prior to that time, wastewater was stored in surface pits that damaged the environment.
This article is not covered by Creative Commons policy and may not be republished without permission.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
Last week, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy