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Fracking triggered more than 100 earthquakes in Ohio

by agerere567 Posted on September 5, 2013

Fracking triggered more than 100 earthquakes in Ohio

By

Tom Wang

A single fracking wastewater well triggered 167 earthquakes in and around Youngstown, Ohio, during a single year of operation.

That’s according to a study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research by Won-Young Kim, a researcher at Columbia University. Earthquakes had never been recorded at Youngstown before 2010. Then, at the end of that year, frackers started pumping their waste from Marcellus Shale drilling projects into the 9,200-foot deep Northstar 1 injection well. Within two weeks, the area had experienced its first quake.

From January 2011 to February 2012, the area was jangled by an average of nearly 12 earthquakes every month. Many of them were imperceptible to residents, but they grew in intensity over time and ranged up to a home-rattling magnitude-3.9 temblor on the final day of 2011. That was one day after the injection well was last used for dumping waste; the Ohio Department of Natural Resources had ordered it shut down because of the escalating flurry of earthquakes. By that time, 495,622 barrels of wastewater had been crammed into it.

After the injection well fell into disuse, the string of earthquakes quickly tapered away.

Kim found that the frequency and intensity of earthquakes in the area was closely linked to the daily pressure levels in the well. He also compared the seismic profile of the region with the epicenters of each of the earthquakes and concluded they occurred either at the well or along a fault line to which it was connected.

“We conclude that the recent earthquakes in Youngstown, Ohio were induced by the fluid injection at a deep injection well due to increased pore pressure along the preexisting subsurface faults located close to the wellbore,” Kim wrote in the paper.

The discovery builds on a growing body of scientific evidence linking the use of fracking wastewater injection wells to earthquakes. That includes a string of quakes in central Oklahoma in late 2011, including the most powerful ever recorded in the state, a frightening magnitude 5.7.

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.Find this article interesting? Donate now to support our work.Read more: Business & Technology

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Fracking triggered more than 100 earthquakes in Ohio

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World Briefing | Europe: Russia: Earthquake Hits Eastern Coast

by Myrna Posted on May 24, 2013

An 8.3-magnitude earthquake struck Russia’s Far East on Friday, sending tremors that prompted evacuations as far away as Moscow, more than 4,000 miles to the west of the epicenter. Visit site –  World Briefing | Europe: Russia: Earthquake Hits Eastern Coast ; ;Related ArticlesWorld Briefing | Asia: India: Power Failures Set Off ProtestsRacing the Clock and a Storm: A Way of Life in Tornado AlleyJet Stream Causing Tornado Outbreak ;

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World Briefing | Europe: Russia: Earthquake Hits Eastern Coast

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Scientists Map Swirling Ocean Eddies for Clues to Climate Change

by Myrna Posted on April 16, 2013

Can we read the future in the ocean’s movements? Guille Avalos/Flickr In January 2010, a crew of scientists voyaged by ship from the southern tip of Chile into the frigid Antarctic to search for clues to one of the great unknowns of climate change. They planned to crisscross a remote patch of sea near the spot where, a year earlier, another crew had injected a tankful of an inert chemical one mile below the surface. The new crew had seven weeks of funding and good weather to sample the seawater throughout the region and discover where the chemical went. By mapping its spread over the course of the year, the scientists hoped to disentangle the forces that drive the circulation of the Southern Ocean — one of the most important, but least understood, regulators of Earth’s climate. But four days from port, the ship’s captain died in the night. “There was a lot of confusion,” said Angel Ruiz-Angulo, a scientist on board. “Eventually, they said he died of heart failure.” Out of helicopter range, the crew had no choice but to put the captain’s body in a refrigerator designed for seawater samples and set course through gale-force winds for Punta Arenas, Chile, with the first mate at the helm. On shore, a short service was held, and the ship was examined. Then the scientists quickly returned to sea. To keep reading, click here. Link:  Scientists Map Swirling Ocean Eddies for Clues to Climate Change Related ArticlesAustralia Urged to Formally Recognise Climate Change Refugee StatusCHARTS: ‘Messy’ US Climate Policy is Kinda WorkingCHART: How Climate Change and Your Wine Habit Threaten Endangered Pandas

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Scientists Map Swirling Ocean Eddies for Clues to Climate Change

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Ohio revokes drilling license of company caught dumping fracking fluid in the sewer

by greenenergy4 Posted on February 8, 2013

Ohio revokes drilling license of company caught dumping fracking fluid in the sewer

By Philip Bump

The semi-vacant Rust Belt city of Youngstown, Ohio, thought that fracking might be the solution to its epidemic of empty buildings. The revenue from drillers could allow the city to continue its policy of razing abandoned buildings, constricting the city and allowing it to better serve residents. But the explosion of fracking in the Utica shale formation on which the city sits may yield another revenue stream: fines for pollution.

chrismurf

Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company.

On Jan. 31, Ohio Department of Natural Resources inspectors caught employees of a fracking company in the act of dumping oil and brine into a city sewer. From the Tribune-Chronicle:

“On Jan. 31, 2013, division inspectors, acting on one of the anonymous tips, visited 2761 Salt Springs Road and observed two individuals disposing of substances from a hose connected to a frac tank into a storm sewer,” Ohio Department of Natural Resources officials spelled out in an order that they delivered Wednesday to D&L Energy. …

The men observed by ODNR inspectors discharging the brine [Ed. – fracking fluid waste] drove away from the site in a truck labeled “Mohawk” before inspectors began taking samples of the liquids they had dumped, reports say.

That sewer flows into the nearby Mahoning River. You can read the official incident report here.

Yesterday, the state revoked the permits of the companies involved in the dumping — even as they sought additional injection well permits. From the Akron Beacon-Journal:

Under the ODNR’s orders, D&L Energy must cease all injection well operations in the state of Ohio.

Permits for its six injection wells have been revoked by the state of Ohio. That includes operating injection wells in Trumbull and Ashtabula counties and three under construction: two in Mahoning County and one in Trumbull County. The sixth well in Youngstown exists only on paper.

The state’s order does not affect the 9,200-foot-deep Youngstown injection well that is widely blamed for the earthquakes. That well may be switched to a new corporate owner, officials said.

Oh, right. The earthquakes. D&L was also blamed for a series of 2011 earthquakes after it drilled into “basement rock,” bedrock under the city of Youngstown. Quality operation.

Perhaps the greatest irony is that even if D&L had properly disposed of its waste fluid in its injection wells, the odds that it would eventually seep out are high. A report from ProPublica last year suggested that such wells are often filled at pressures in excess of what’s intended. By dumping waste fluid directly into the sewer, D&L may have just been skipping a few steps.

There’s a lot of money in fracking. And where there’s a lot of money, there are a lot of people trying to cash in. Youngstown figured it might as well try and do so, but also learned a lesson about what kind of company you keep when you go after dollar signs.

Philip Bump writes about the news for Gristmill. He also uses Twitter a whole lot.

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Ohio revokes drilling license of company caught dumping fracking fluid in the sewer

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