[EDITOR'S NOTE: This blog has been altered since its initial publication to correct the causes of the Ohio earthquakes. The injection of fracking wastewater deep underground, not the fracking process itself, is blamed for the Youngstown, Ohio earthquakes. The Ind regrets the error.]
First it was air pollution. Then it was groundwater contamination. Now, fracking — the controversial process used to extract natural gas from thousands of feet below the earth’s surface — has been linked to a series of rare earthquakes in Ohio and other states, the most recent of which occurred in Youngstown, Ohio Saturday and has halted drilling at certain Ohio fracking sites until further notice.
Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, taps into pockets of natural gas stored in shale formations deep underground (sometimes depths of more than 10,000 feet below the surface) by shooting chemicals and other liquid to fracture rock formations and subsequently release trapped natural gas.
The wastewater from fracking is then injected back into the earth, where in Ohio it apparently has migrated along fault lines and caused almost a dozen earthquakes in the Youngstown area.
“Fracking” in north Louisiana’s Haynesville Shale has carried natural gas production levels in Louisiana to their highest in more than 25 years, but several recent reports question whether oil and gas industry leaders are accurate in their assertions that the process is a safe one.
According to a New York Times report, Youngstown was hit with a 2.7-magnitude tremor on Christmas Eve, its 10th since March. The origin of the earthquake, the NYT reports, was 2,000 feet below an injection well used for fracking. The next day, an even stronger 4.0-magnitude quake struck the town again:
With the increased production of gas from shale in the United States, the process of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has come under fire for its potential to pollute the air and contaminate drinking water. But the events in Youngstown — and a string of mostly small tremors in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, British Columbia and other shale-gas-producing areas — suggest that the technique may lead, directly or indirectly, to a dangerous earthquake.
The state asked on Friday that injection at the well be halted after analysis of the 10th earthquake, a 2.7-magnitude temblor on Dec. 24, showed that it occurred less than 2,000 feet below the well. Because of a lack of data, depth estimates of earlier earthquakes had been far less precise.
The owner of the well, D&L Energy Group of Youngstown, stopped injection at 5 p.m. Friday.
When the stronger quake occurred less than 24 hours later, state officials decided to institute a moratorium on the injection of drilling waste within a five-mile radius of the well, “until we are able to take a closer look at the earthquake data that is available.”
The vice president of Ohio’s Oil and Gas Association, Thomas E. Stewart — or Don Brigg's doppelganger — rebuked any claims that tie the earthquakes to fracking, instead accusing oil and gas opponents of trying to “create hysteria.”
But a Dec. 14 article from Bloomberg points out that other states have stopped certain injection wells of this type due to the dramatic increase in earthquakes occurring near the sites:
The Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission did stop well disposal in August after a swarm of earthquakes. There were about 1,250 quakes recorded through July after two injection wells started operating last year, said Scott Ausbrooks, geohazards supervisor for the Arkansas Geological Survey in Little Rock.
Ausbrooks did a study with the University of Memphis and concluded there was “a plausible relationship between the injection wells and the earthquakes” after a previously unknown fault system was discovered, he said.
After the wells were shut down, there were only four earthquakes recorded in the area from July through October, down from an average of four a day, Ausbrooks said.
The Oklahoma Geological Survey concluded in an August report that it might have induced 43 temblors near Elmore City during 24 hours in January. Cuadrilla Resources Ltd., a U.K.-based explorer, also suspended fracking near Blackpool, England, in June based on a concern it may have triggered a quake.
Read more on the recent fracking developments here and here.
MAY 22 This post was written the day after the second line shooting in NOLA, by Brentin Mock. Mock is a friend of Deb "Big Red" Cotton, a blogger who was shot in the back and was seriously injured. It is a raw, emotional piece of writing, something the writer obviously felt he needed to get off his chest. But it raises questions that can't be easily dismissed, and might give some insight into where the source of these events truly is.
MAY 22 In this Baton Rouge Business Report post, Rolfe McCollister considers the privatization of bus service in Baton Rouge. After decades of under-funding, it is a mess, and although a tax (partially) passed last year, improvement hasn't happened yet. McCollister apparently feels it is time to let private business get in on the transit business.
MAY 22 This post on Bayou Buzz by Jeff Crouere urges the defeat of a bill that would grant modest pay increases over the next several years to the state's judges and clerks of court. The state is in no position to fund pay hikes, Crouere argues, with the pay increases costing a total of $9 million over several years. It sends the wrong message to the (proverbial) hard-working people of Louisiana, he says.
MAY 22 The Advocate reports here that State Treasurer John Kennedy is complaining about a meeting of the corporation that oversees the state's tobacco settlement. The Governor wanted it restructured, and he has some support, but not a lot. The corporation agreed with his plan, but Kennedy didn't, and it appears that the meeting was noticed in a manner completely different than that of all previous meetings. Kennedy's given to hyperbole, but in this case the fish don't smell too fresh.
MAY 22 In this Advocate story, Carencro Police Chief Carlos Stout says the recent federal indictment of a strip club owner is all wrong. The indictment alleges that drugs and prostitution went on with impunity because club staff made arrangements with "local" police. Stout says it never happened, and while his cops do work security in the parking lot, they're not allowed inside.
MAY 22 This amusing post in DIG Baton Rouge recounts an ad that ran on Craig's List recently; the advertiser was seeking tenants for a Beauregard Town house. He knew his market, and wrote an ad that the most ironical hipster couldn't resist. Apparently, he really did know his market, because the ad worked like a charm.
MAY 22 In this post in The Lens, Mark Moseley comments on the rhetoric Gov. Jindal employed in trying to save his tax "reform" package. One interesting point concerns Jindal's use of his brother, Nikesh, in a little story. Nikesh left Louisiana because of his inability to get a decent job, the story goes, but the story won't hold water: Nikesh lives in DC, which has an income tax level comparable to Louisiana, Moseley says. If income taxes caused the dismal situation, it should exist in DC too. Right?
MAY 22 This post by columnist John Maginnis traces the trajectory of the bill that would fund construction at community and technical colleges -- and bypass the Board of Regents and traditional higher ed funding mechanisms. Sure, it will bust the legislature's self-imposed debt limit, but some leges feel that there's more need (because there is more growth) in the community and technical college area than in the university area, he says.
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