Geologists can be trusted to provide a professional analysis

Geologists can be trusted to provide a professional analysis

Noted in the discussion on the D&L injection well problems in last Thursday’s edition was state Rep. Bob Hagan’s skepticism that a D&L-funded study would be objective.

As a hydrogeologist, it has been pretty amazing to see “drilling” and “well” in a newspaper on a daily basis, but despite great local efforts, most people do not know much about geologists as professionals. Unlike Pennsylvania, we do not have a geologist licensing system in Ohio (long, sordid story why not), so how do you evaluate a geologist?

Fortunately there are other ways. One is that many geologists hold a professional certification. There are several paths to certification. Perhaps most important, all have a code of ethics attached. Geologists, unlike attorneys, are not bound ethically to be advocates. They are ethically obligated to perform their analyses professionally and objectively (as in “not slanting for the client”).

D&L should pay for this study, since their assets have possibly been involved in these liabilities. If they retain a geologist or geological engineer, the leader of the team should hold a certification and thus be bound to a code of ethics. I know, this is idealistic. So we apply “trust but verify.” The “verify” part is for the state (to accept the results) to require all data and information collected to be included in any reporting, so that any qualified third party can verify or criticize the analysis. This process is routine.

Finally, as U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan has advocated, it is past time for the U.S. Geological Survey to be involved to work alongside ODNR (who have been professional and honest referees throughout this process) to provide an objective professional analysis of regional geologic structure and tectonics. The more we know, the more we can prevent a recurrence of these earthquakes. Better yet, methods exist to treat and reuse a high percentage of drilling, flowback and produced water, so injection can be minimized.

Stuart Smith, Poland