-
Login
-
Digital Edition
-
Print Edition
- Most Commented
- Most Commented
- Most Emailed
- Most Emailed
- Popular
- Popular
« News Home
Mayor seeks injection-wells moratorium
TweetState Sen. Joe Schiavoni calls for public hearing in ValleyYOUNGSTOWN
Mayor Charles Sammarone will ask city-council members today to support a moratorium on injection wells in Youngstown after the 11th earthquake in the past 10 months shook the city.
Saturday’s earthquake, like the 10 others since March 17, 2011, was centered close to a D&L Energy Inc. brine-injection well. The quake came one day after the state told D&L to cease operations at the well on Ohio Works Drive that state officials and others say likely caused all 11 incidents, with magnitudes of 2.1 to 2.8.
It’s up to the state to impose moratoriums, but Sammarone said he wants city officials to officially voice their concerns.
After Saturday’s quake, the largest of the 11 with a 4.0 magnitude, the state also ordered D&L to keep four inactive wells, within a five-mile radius of the Ohio Works well, closed.
The moratorium won’t be lifted “until we can do a deeper, thorough analysis,” said Rob Nichols, spokesman for Gov. John Kasich. “There is no time frame. They will not go back on line until we can rule out” the connection between the well and the earthquakes.
The well injects brine, a byproduct of fracking, about 9,300 feet into the ground. D&L isn’t fracking at the location.
Fracking is a process in which water, chemicals and sand are blasted into rocks thousands of feet underground to extract natural gas and oil. Injection wells are the opposite — it uses the fluid left over from fracking and injects it deep into the ground.
Sammarone invited state Rep. Robert F. Hagan, who’s called for a moratorium on the wells for several months, to discuss the issue Tuesday.
“There’s too many questions that are unanswered,” Sammarone said of the wells. “This particular well is creating problems. People feel unsafe. My whole neighborhood felt [Saturday’s earthquake]. I thought my house was going down. Stuff fell off the shelves, and the whole house shook. I’m going to take out earthquake insurance.”
“The state took over drilling, and we’re not kept informed,” he said. “I’ve gotten more information in the past two days from The Vindicator on this than I have from anyone else.”
Sammarone, a Democrat, wants council to support a moratorium of about 30 days on injection wells in the city so the state and experts can investigate this issue and determine if the well is causing the earthquakes.
Sammarone wants officials with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to meet with city council’s public utilities committee next week to discuss the issue.
Councilman Michael Ray, D-4th, chairman of council’s public utilities committee, said he supports a moratorium.
“We need a study to see if this well is the cause of 11 earthquakes,” he said. “It would be good for ODNR to give us a better understanding of this.”
Kasich, a Republican, says 177 deep-injection wells have operated in the state for decades without any problems.
Terry Fleming, executive director of the Ohio Petroleum Council, a trade association, said “a situation like the one in question [in] Youngstown is very rare.”
Fleming praised ODNR for acting “with appropriate due caution when ordering a suspension” of the well activity in light of the earthquakes. He also pointed out that there aren’t problems with other injection wells in Ohio.
Fleming also said there’s a major difference between injection wells and fracking, and that there is no evidence connecting the latter to earthquakes.
For its part, Warren-based Patriot Water Treatment LLC issued a statement Tuesday night claiming it had “documented the earthquakes and potential causes in a meeting on Oct. 6 and identified methods that would reduce the possibility of earthquakes,” adding, “numerous industry leaders, elected officials and USEPA attended the meeting.”
Patriot treats low-salinity, high total-dissolved-solids water from fracking, but its brine-water permit is set to expire next month, and OEPA has said it will not renew it on the basis that “brine,” in its broad definition, cannot be disposed of through waste-water treatment plants.
Noting it had “operated without incident for over a year” Patriot reiterated it “only accepts only low-salinity water from oil and natural gas drilling sites” and contrasted its process with injection wells.
“Patriot’s innovative process cleans, filters, and treats the water, making it safe for re-introduction into Ohio’s surface water system,” according to the statement. “In contrast, injection wells [between 4,000 to 10,000 feet deep] are anchored in porous stone where untreated water can be permanently disposed.”
Hagan, of Youngstown, D-60th, said he wants the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and independent geologists and seismologists to investigate injection wells and fracking to see if they’re safe.
“I’m not against drilling, but we’re moving too fast,” Hagan said.
Also, state Sen. Joe Schiavoni, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Energy and Public Utility Committee, called Tuesday for the Ohio Senate to hold a public hearing in the Mahoning Valley with ODNR and Ohio EPA officials on injection wells and the potential connection to the earthquakes.
“I spoke with many residents over the holiday weekend who are very concerned for the safety of their family, homes, and property,” said Schiavoni, of Canfield, D-33rd. “These are legitimate concerns that must be addressed in a timely manner.”
David Betras, an attorney and Mahoning County Democratic Party chairman, said the earthquakes and the likelihood that the injection well caused them could result in a class-action lawsuit.
None of the earthquakes caused significant damage, but D&L officials knew the potential connection and didn’t stop injecting at the well even after several quakes occurred, he said.
YOUNGSTOWN
Mayor Charles Sammarone will ask city-council members today to support a moratorium on injection wells in Youngstown after the 11th earthquake in the past 10 months shook the city.
Saturday’s earthquake, like the 10 others since March 17, 2011, was centered close to a D&L Energy Inc. brine-injection well. The quake came one day after the state told D&L to cease operations at the well on Ohio Works Drive that state officials and others say likely caused all 11 incidents, with magnitudes of 2.1 to 2.8.
It’s up to the state to impose moratoriums, but Sammarone said he wants city officials to officially voice their concerns.
After Saturday’s quake, the largest of the 11 with a 4.0 magnitude, the state also ordered D&L to keep four inactive wells, within a five-mile radius of the Ohio Works well, closed.
The moratorium won’t be lifted “until we can do a deeper, thorough analysis,” said Rob Nichols, spokesman for Gov. John Kasich. “There is no time frame. They will not go back on line until we can rule out” the connection between the well and the earthquakes.
The well injects brine, a byproduct of fracking, about 9,300 feet into the ground. D&L isn’t fracking at the location.
Fracking is a process in which water, chemicals and sand are blasted into rocks thousands of feet underground to extract natural gas and oil. Injection wells are the opposite — it uses the fluid left over from fracking and injects it deep into the ground.
Sammarone invited state Rep. Robert F. Hagan, who’s called for a moratorium on the wells for several months, to discuss the issue Tuesday.
“There’s too many questions that are unanswered,” Sammarone said of the wells. “This particular well is creating problems. People feel unsafe. My whole neighborhood felt [Saturday’s earthquake]. I thought my house was going down. Stuff fell off the shelves, and the whole house shook. I’m going to take out earthquake insurance.”
“The state took over drilling, and we’re not kept informed,” he said. “I’ve gotten more information in the past two days from The Vindicator on this than I have from anyone else.”
Sammarone, a Democrat, wants council to support a moratorium of about 30 days on injection wells in the city so the state and experts can investigate this issue and determine if the well is causing the earthquakes.
Sammarone wants officials with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to meet with city council’s public utilities committee next week to discuss the issue.
Councilman Michael Ray, D-4th, chairman of council’s public utilities committee, said he supports a moratorium.
“We need a study to see if this well is the cause of 11 earthquakes,” he said. “It would be good for ODNR to give us a better understanding of this.”
Kasich, a Republican, says 177 deep-injection wells have operated in the state for decades without any problems.
Terry Fleming, executive director of the Ohio Petroleum Council, a trade association, said “a situation like the one in question [in] Youngstown is very rare.”
Fleming praised ODNR for acting “with appropriate due caution when ordering a suspension” of the well activity in light of the earthquakes. He also pointed out that there aren’t problems with other injection wells in Ohio.
Fleming also said there’s a major difference between injection wells and fracking, and that there is no evidence connecting the latter to earthquakes.
For its part, Warren-based Patriot Water Treatment LLC issued a statement Tuesday night claiming it had “documented the earthquakes and potential causes in a meeting on Oct. 6 and identified methods that would reduce the possibility of earthquakes,” adding, “numerous industry leaders, elected officials and USEPA attended the meeting.”
Patriot treats low-salinity, high total-dissolved-solids water from fracking, but its brine-water permit is set to expire next month, and OEPA has said it will not renew it on the basis that “brine,” in its broad definition, cannot be disposed of through waste-water treatment plants.
Noting it had “operated without incident for over a year” Patriot reiterated it “only accepts only low-salinity water from oil and natural gas drilling sites” and contrasted its process with injection wells.
“Patriot’s innovative process cleans, filters, and treats the water, making it safe for re-introduction into Ohio’s surface water system,” according to the statement. “In contrast, injection wells [between 4,000 to 10,000 feet deep] are anchored in porous stone where untreated water can be permanently disposed.”
Hagan, of Youngstown, D-60th, said he wants the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and independent geologists and seismologists to investigate injection wells and fracking to see if they’re safe.
“I’m not against drilling, but we’re moving too fast,” Hagan said.
Also, state Sen. Joe Schiavoni, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Energy and Public Utility Committee, called Tuesday for the Ohio Senate to hold a public hearing in the Mahoning Valley with ODNR and Ohio EPA officials on injection wells and the potential connection to the earthquakes.
“I spoke with many residents over the holiday weekend who are very concerned for the safety of their family, homes, and property,” said Schiavoni, of Canfield, D-33rd. “These are legitimate concerns that must be addressed in a timely manner.”
David Betras, an attorney and Mahoning County Democratic Party chairman, said the earthquakes and the likelihood that the injection well caused them could result in a class-action lawsuit.
None of the earthquakes caused significant damage, but D&L officials knew the potential connection and didn’t stop injecting at the well even after several quakes occurred, he said.
Comments
ODNR is the the pockets of the Big Oil & Gas Companies. This is the same ODNR that said after 10 quakes, it's not the injection wells. We need an independent study to determine the cause of these earthquakes by non-industry experts and educators.
To a lawyer, every problem just looks like another lawsuit. Hasn't Betras caused enough damage to this valley already?
This is a perfect example of the overall lack of due diligence exercised by the former mayor Jay Williams administration. Although the Vindicator keeps referencing D&L energy, North Star disposal is its spin-off company that was given economic development incentives and tax abatements to locate this ill placed disposal facility within the city's Ohio Works industrial park. This is just an awful location for such a facility for any number of reasons other than the potential for seismic disturbances. Its proximity to the Mahoning River introduces the potential for leaching and accidental spills into the river. While Youngstown Officials may not care about water quality, the Mahoning River is a source of drinking water for downstream Ohio and PA communities.
Again, the Vindicator staff needs to look a little bit past the tips of their noses and inform the public about just how this facility was encouraged by the Y-town economic development idiots to locate in this area. I wonder if they've even met their job creation requirements that were a condition of their economic development agreement?
How Fracking Caused an Ohio Earthquake
http://readersupportednews.org/news-s...
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania got it right when they evicted the fracking fluids out of their state. Unfortunately, they sent it all to Ohio.
Good posts folks. I like the comment on tax abatement - what a slap in the face to our community. We aren't good enough for your corporation to pay taxes and you get to ship in poison water that doesn't even have to list the chemicals involved.
Think of all the fresh water they are taking out of circulation. Desalinization isn't cheap enough for the corporations to implement now into the fracking process here what makes us think it would be if we needed drinking water.We are less than animals to them it is obvious.
Food for thought , perhaps the gas will be going to China as the peasant farmers are being relocated into cities they need the gas.This has nothing to do with Independence from other nations as we don't use natural gas to drive our cars.
If they and the politicians were so concerned about independence then why do we have all these horrible trade agreements that have made us dependent on China and other countries? I smell rats.
THE BIG QUESTION IS, were there any violations at this injection site?
@Jessiedavid - - -I mentioned in a past post that these folks have deep pockets and I think we can agree that the former and present administrations were friendly towards drilling.Good work on finding out when the injecting began.
@WHATSSHAKIN - - -We may never know that answer definitively if you know what I mean.At this point I think the state is saying no evidence of that yet.
We do know that the state expert(s) is saying that it is likely with the circumstantial evidence at this point that the injection site may have caused the quakes.That came out recently on Yahoo.
Agreed.
Past growing pains are not the issue here. Everything in this world evolves on trial and error. With this injection well they have spent their money and tried as mandated by the state. Now what standards have been compromised at this injection site?
"If we can get the politicians to STOP being self serving by taking pay offs, and do what they are elected to do, the serious problems exisiting with extracting the oil WILL BE solved.
If politicians would stop taking pay offs, big business would also begin doing the morally right things, because then they would be forced to."- - -I'm not hopeful on the politicians holding the big boys' feet to the fire.I have studied too much history.Most of the reading I have done on what is being extracted is gas not so much oil by comparison in the valley to date.
I never heard of these problems growing up with earth quakes and poisoned water ect I think old methods or better methods are in order as well.It may cost more.As it stands right now the process of extracting gas and injecting the waste water is very problematic.If a safe method isn't doable for shale than alternate energy sources need to be developed or sought out. I mean we put a man on the moon in 69.
I'll tell you guys what is additionally disgusting is when corporations get slapped on the hand to make it look good and simply change their name and go right along with business as usual.So many loopholes.
You vote out one set of crooks and in comes the next.Money has been buying both parties for years.Sad but true.there are usually a few good folks in there along with the prostitutes.
Apologies for some of my grammatical errors today.
Now what standards have been compromised at this injection site?
How many wells were permitted under Kasich? You may not like Hagan for his union views some may like him for those reasons. However, to lay the blame on the earth quakes isn't right.He has been pretty vocal in opposition to the drilling as have I and many others here.
I agree with you about the wells being outlawed .
The injection well in question on Ohio Works Drive was permitted under the Strickland Administration
Jessiedavid ,
Well then, since we had many quakes let's stop all drilling and run VM Star out of town since we will have no need for them. I'm sure that we'll have Bob Hagan's support.
The money is too great to simply cease operations...D&L will seek to re-open the wells as soon as possible....profits before people
Ohio Earthquake Likely Caused by Fracking Wastewater
Injecting wastewater deep underground is the prime suspect, potentially widening earthquake worries linked to hydraulic fracturing
By Mark Fischetti | January 4, 2012
*
seismograph blue Image:
Residents of Youngstown, Ohio, received an extra surprise on Christmas Eve and again on New Year's Eve—earthquakes, measuring 2.7 and 4.0 on the Richter scale, respectively. No one was injured and only a few cases of minor damage were reported after the Dec. 31 event.
Scientists have quickly determined that the likely cause was fracking—although not from drilling into deep shale or cracking it with pressured water and chemicals to retrieve natural gas. Rather, they suspect the disposal of wastewater from those operations, done by pumping it back down into equally deep sandstone.
Fracking is part of a nationwide boom in the production of natural gas, which is a ready replacement for home heating oil and could lessen dependence on foreign fossil fuels if vast underground shales could be hydraulically fractured. Opposition to fracking has arisen mostly out of fear that the technique could potentially contaminate drinking water supplies.
Nine small earthquakes had already occurred between March and November 2011 within an eight-kilometer radius of a wastewater injection well run by Northstar Disposal Services. Because quakes are otherwise rare in the Youngstown area, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources in November asked Columbia University's Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) to place mobile seismographs in the vicinity to better determine what was going on. John Armbruster from LDEO installed four seismographs on November 30.
By triangulating the arrival time of shock waves at the four stations, Armbruster and his colleagues needed only a day or two to determine with 95 percent certainty that the epicenters of the two holiday quakes were within 100 meters of each other, and within 0.8 kilometer of the injection well. The team also determined that the quakes were caused by slippage along a fault at about the same depth as the injection site, almost three kilometers down.
Although LDEO scientists are not saying that the pumping caused the quakes, injection fluids have been implicated in other strike-slip earthquakes close to deep-injection wells. In essence, the fluids can act as lubricants between two abutting rock faces, helping them to suddenly slip along the boundary. The scientists did say that subsequent quakes from the Youngstown injections, which had been underway for a year, could continue to occur for up to another year, even if no more fluids are added. Ohio lawmakers have asked Northstar to stop operations until a full investigation is complete; the company has agreed but is not talking publicly about the events.
I don't think any underground injections should be going on.This last earthquake sent waves all the way to Toronto Canada and at least as far south as West Virginia.
The valley is not the only place where the injections have caused earth quakes either this has since become common knowledge.It is simply too dangerous all the way around.