Fracking Blamed For Ohio Earthquakes

A process known as hydraulic fracturing in the town of Youngstown, Ohio may be the reason the city and much of the surrounding area have been experiencing increased earthquake activity since Spring 2011.

According to reports the area has fallen victim to 11 earthquakes including a 4.0 magnitude quake that hit the town on New Year’s Eve.

A seismologist says the epicenters were clustered around an injection well which lay near a fault line. That well has since been closed and Ohio lawmakers have banned drilling within a five-mile radius.

While one well has closed the proliferation of such wells has continued to run unabated in the area as drilling companies attempt to dispose of wastewater that is created from their fracturing processes.

The process of fracturing involves blasting water and chemicals into rock in order to free trapped oil and gas.

According to the Wall Street Journal water from hundreds of different fracking operations was disposed of during the wells operation.

Even though the well is now closed the seismologist noted:

“The earthquakes will trickle on as a kind of a cascading process once you’ve caused them to occur,” while they added that the last year of pumping there “is a pulse that has been pushed into the ground, and it’s going to be spreading out for at least a year.”

Do you believe that further studies should be conducted before the practice of fracking should be allowed to continue not only in Ohio but in locations all over the United States where illness and other issues have been discovered since the practice began and fracking chemicals have been found in drinking water?