Ohio official admits possible link between fracking and earthquakes; bans disposal injection

[garybeck]

Official: 4 Ohio fluid-injection wells cannot open in wake of quake
http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/01/us/ohio-earthquake/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

(CNN) -- State leaders have ordered that four fluid-injection wells in eastern Ohio will be "indefinitely" prohibited from opening in the aftermath of heightened seismic activity in the area, an official said.

Ohio Department of Natural Resources Director James Zehringer had announced on Friday that one such well -- which injects "fluid deep underground into porous rock formations, such as sandstone or limestone, or into or below the shallow soil layer," the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency explains -- was closed after a series of small earthquakes in and around Youngstown.

Then on Saturday, a magnitude 4.0 earthquake struck that released at least 40 times more energy than any of the previous 10 or more tremors that had rattled the region in 2011.

[FarPoint]

1. Really!

Thats amazing. Finally some logic in Ohio.

[liberal N proud]

9. It will have little efect on Kasich and his oil cronies plans to'drill in stste parks

[FarPoint]

17. Kasich and Walker.....

They are the twin governors. They practice hatchet government style ....nothing is for the people that they govern.

[DURHAM D]

2. So they are closing the disposal wells but

what about stopping the fracking?

JFTR - closing the injection wells just means they will call in the truckers and they will just end up illegally dumping in the creeks and rivers. Maybe Ohio should buy a couple drones to keep track of the sludge haulers.

[limpyhobbler]

6. I think they still have another 177 injection wells open for business.

So they'll probably just haul it to another county.

here's a map, copy and paste to see, can't get image to show because link has funny characters...

www.ohio.com/polopoly_fs/1.238345.1317660906!/menu/standard/file/1inject02%28web%29.jpg

source:
http://www.ohio.com/news/local/millions-of-barrels-of-drilling-wastes-injected-below-akron-canton-area-1.238216

[DURHAM D]

13. Wow - what an interesting article.

Half of the injected materials is being brought into Ohio from Pennsylvania because they don't have a way to dispose of it there. I question the comment that Ohio can't ban this practice because it would be unconstitutional. I thought every state had its own rules about oil/gas drilling, production, disposal, etc.

177 disposal wells is not very many for the whole state given the amount of drilling going on there. I also see that the waste is being dumped under pressure. That is also interesting.

What a nightmare.

[limpyhobbler]

15. I'm guessing there are going to be alot more wells opening up.

As fracking increases in the region, I guess they'll need a place to dump the waste.

"Ohio cannot ban such shipments from other states because they are protected under the U.S. Constitution."

I dunno that might be true, Interstate Commerce Clause maybe?
Still sounds like an excuse, Ohio should be able to ban it for public health reasons. If states can ban bottle rocket fireworks on the 4th of July, I'm pretty sure they can ban this toxic crap. I believe WV and NY are also accepting PA's wastewater for injection.

[garybeck]

7. can you explain the difference?

the article says the process injects "fluid deep underground into porous rock formations, such as sandstone or limestone, or into or below the shallow soil layer,"

isn't that fracking?

[DURHAM D]

10. Someone else could probably do it better.

My knowledge is about 40 years old. I grew up in an oil/gas producing area. All of the injection (disposal) wells were either originally wells that were dry holes or they tapped out after years of production. In the production of oil there is always waste that needs to be disposed of some how. So, they put the trash back down in the ground in these old wells. It is not under pressure but god only knows where it might end up. The other alternative is to pay to have it hauled off by truck. Well actually they used to create slush ponds over several acres to hold it but that was really stupid and they stopped it decades ago.

I recently reviewed a lease that my grandfather signed back in the 50s to allow a couple of producers to use a dry hole on one of his 80s for disposal. Its in the middle of a wheat field. Today eight wells are still piping there waste into that old dry hole. They pay us a monthly fee for the privilege. To my knowledge we have never had any sort of environmental accident.

Fracking requires a tremendous amount of water (and chemicals) used during the drilling/fracking process. This toxic mix is then brought back up out of the ground and must be disposed of. Given that these are new fields it is possible they don't have enough dry holes so they are drilling new holes just for the purpose of disposing of the waste. I don't really know.

Think of the injection well as a giant waste container under ground. I am truly more afraid of the fracking under pressure than the waste wells when it comes to earthquakes.

My fear is that this decision is an effort to say "look over here - not over there".

[garybeck]

12. Logically speaking, the fracking would cause earthquakes, not unpressurized waste material

I can't think of any reason that unpressurized waste could cause earthquakes.

But pressurized fracking? It makes all the sense in the world.

I think you're probably right, if they're trying to blame the earthquakes on the disposal wells, it's probably a diversion tactic... but I don't think it would work in the long run. If they ban the disposal wells and the earthquakes keep happening near fracking sites.... it doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure it out.

thanks for the explanation. I actually did understand that, but I think what threw me off is that it's just illogical to think the disposal wells would cause the earthquakes so I assumed they were talking about the fracking itself. There I go again, being logical. Gotta slap myself sometimes.

[DURHAM D]

14. I just read the article posted above.

It does say the disposal wells are under pressure. I guess that is because of the depth. Maybe the dry holes or tapped out wells they are using in Ohio are very deep.

[Major Nikon]

18. Fracking involves hydraulic pressure to break up shale formations and release trapped resources

Simply pumping fluids underground isn't the same thing

[limpyhobbler]

3. thx 4 the link. Looks like they did not ban fracking, just disposal injection, and only at 4 sites.

[garybeck]

5. you're right....

trying to change the OP title now...

[icymist]

4. Here is an article from the Youngstown, Ohio newspaper:

Ohio bans injection wells near D&L site in Youngstown

The Mahoning Valley ended 2011 with a deafening bang.

The new year promises to be more quiet.

After a 4.0 magnitude earthquake struck shortly after 3 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, Ohio banned injection wells within five miles of a Youngstown brine-injection well suspected of causing 11 earthquakes this year.
http://www.vindy.com/news/2012/jan/01/ohio-bans-injection-wells-near-dl-site-youngstown/

<snip>
Ray Beiersdorfer, a geology professor at Youngstown State University, said that brine water injected deep into the ground can act as a lubricant between underground formations. Under normal circumstances, the formations are held together by the weight of the formations above and by the force of gravity. But add the brine as a lubricant, and those formations — in this instance the Mt. Simon and Precambrian — can then shift on top of each other, causing an earthquake.

It is not known if the D&L well caused any of the earthquakes, but the state on Friday told D&L to cease operations to run radioactive tests and plug the bottom 250 feet of the well.

~~~~
Radioactive tests? What are they doing that's radioactive?

[Shankapotomus]

19. I forgot where I saw this but

but it has been suggested that fracking could or has already caused the release of underground radioactive elements into ground water. I guess that's what the tests were for.

[icymist]

8. Also found this article out of Columbus/ they found a new fault line?

State links northeast Ohio quakes to injection wells

The Kasich administration has put a temporary stop to the disposal of waste from oil and natural-gas drilling in wells within a 5-mile radius of a particular Youngstown well — a well believed to be the cause of 11 earthquakes since March, including a 4.0 quake that struck around 3 p.m. yesterday.

Officials from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources think that waste pumped into the Youngstown-area well, referred to as Northstar No. 1, has been seeping into a previously unknown fault line in eastern Ohio, causing the seismic activity. The moratorium, issued yesterday by Jim Zehringer, the Natural Resources Department’s director, affects four other injection wells.
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2011/12/31/new-quakes.html

[DirkGently]

11. And it's actually even called "fracking." We're living in a satirical cartoon.

[Doremus]

16. The f'ing repukes in this state won't be happy

until they've bled it dry and left it a putrid, rotting corpse.

They've nearly succeeded.

[greiner3]

20. "Ohio Department of Natural Resources Director James Zehringer"

Will be resigning for 'personal,' or 'health related' or any number of reasons; SOON.

RIP James!