More info - Google search - https://www.google.com/search?ix=hcb&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=fracking+chemicals+water+quality
In a Dec. 5 editorial, "Ohio must be wary of battle over gas drilling," The Times stated that "reasonable concerns, such a how large amounts of fluids used in 'fracking' must be disposed of have been raised. So have ridiculous ones, such as a claim that 'fracking' causes earthquakes." Oh really?
While there is no evidence that hydraulic fracturing by itself "causes" earthquakes, Columbia University seismologists have determined that 11 recent earth tremors near Youngstown, Ohio (including one 4.5 in magnitude) were "most likely" caused by the nearby injection of 'fracking' wastewater into wells in the region. Such fluids are trucked into Ohio from hydraulic fracturing operations in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Exactly why southeastern Ohio has been chosen as a dumping site for toxic waste from other states has not been adequately explained.
In past letters I've written on the topic of "fracking." I've purposely refrained from mentioning earthquakes, but the evidence for the possibility is readily available to anyone who cares to look. One article I read (about similar earth tremors in Arkansas) describes the effect of fluids upon rocks two to three miles below the surface as "like an air-hockey table." Similar concerns have been expressed by a letter writer of Columbus in his Dec. 28 letter to The Times.
The point here is that no one - neither environmental activists nor gas company "experts" - seems to know exactly where earthquake fault lines exist beneath Ohio, or what the ultimate effects of gas company policies upon the land and surrounding environment. Until more accurate information is obtained, it might be a good thing for the over-eager industry and its politically-motivated enablers in the Ohio General Assembly to abide by the recent ODNR decision to put these "injection" operations on hold until all the information is in.
This might be a bitter pill for those who anticipate big profits from drilling into the Marcellus and Utica shale beds in Ohio, but incidents in Arkansas - as well as the BP oil spill in the Gulf and the recent Exxon-Mobil spill in the Yellowstone Valley - suggest that oversight over these risky operations is long overdue.
As the controversy over "fracking" and related industry actions like the "injection" process continues into the New Year, it also might be helpful if Times editorialists (or the industry public relations folks who may have "inspired" the Dec. 5 Times column, as well as its word-for-word "twin" printed earlier in The Columbus Dispatch) would refrain from using words like "ridiculous" or "extreme" to depict Ohio citizens with serious concerns about the effects of these possibly risky procedures on the environment. If the media wishes to be thought of as "neutral" in this matter, they might at least do a bit more homework before merely printing Ohio Oil and Gas Association hype as "fact."
As the 18th century English poet, Alexander Pope, said, "A little learning is a dangerous thing; drink deep or taste not the Pierian Spring."
http://www.mariettatimes.com/page/content.detail/id/541206/Concern-about-fracking-s-link-to-earthquakes-isn-t-ridiculous.html?nav=5007
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