The latest addition to a growing body of evidence indicating a link between hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and earthquakes comes from northeastern Ohio where, on Saturday, a 4.0 magnitude became the 11th tremblor since March to strike a region otherwise not known for seismic activity.
Saturday’s quake was the strongest to date, and although no damage or injuries were reported, it was felt as far away as Buffalo, NY and Toronto, Canada.
All of the tremors have occurred near Youngstown, Ohio, clustered around a waste injection well owned by D & L Energy known as Northstar No.1, where used hydraulic fracturing fluids were pumped under pressure into rock formations 9.000 feet below the surface.
Saturday’s epicenter was located within 2,000 feet of the point where the fluids are injected for disposal.
The latest disturbance occurred one day after the Ohio Department of Natural Resources closed operations at the well in order to investigate any causal relationship following a 2.7 magnitude quake that shook the region a week earlier. Seismologists monitoring the situation have suggested that the pressurized fluids may be following and expanding existing underground faults that are already under stress.
Unfortunately, suspending operations — or even closing the wells permanently — is no guarantee that fluids already disposed of will not trigger future disturbances. Sixty miles to the north, a 4.5 magnitude earthquake occurred in 2001, three years after a similar series of tremors forced the closing of a deep injection well near Lake Erie.
Industry supporters are quick to point out that no association has yet been proven, and that seismic activity related to injection wells is extremely rare. Indeed, the method has been employed for decades, mostly without incident, and there are hundreds of such wells located in Ohio alone.
Neverthless, the recent rapid and widespread proliferation of fracking as a means of extracting natural gas has brought the issue into the public sphere, where the tradeoff between inexpensive energy and potential earthquakes is a subject worthy of debate.
