Youngstown earthquake rumbles spread to Columbus

COLUMBUS, Ohio (CGE) - The physical shake from the 4.0 earthquake Youngstown, Ohio experienced on Saturday was felt 60 miles to the east in Pittsburgh, PA. The political shock waves have now reached the epicenter of state politics, the statehouse in Columbus, 174 miles to the southwest.

 

In the wake of the quake, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources suspended operations at five deep well sites in the Youngstown-Boardman area, where injection of water in the process related to fracking was taking place, to evaluate seismological data from the rare quake. 

 

A big fan of fracturing or fracking is Ohio Republican Gov. John Kasich. A spokesman for Kasich, who was vacationing in Florida with his family when the rumble happened, said Ohio may announce a preliminary decision whether to continue the suspension of the wells as early as Wednesday. Reports noted that the state was already looking into the cause of earlier seismic activity from 10 previous earthquakes, beginning in March, 2011.

 

Following the earthquake, Rep. Bob Hagan, a Youngstown Democrat, called for a statewide moratorium on injection wells used in fracking, the controversial injection of chemical-laced water and sand into rock to release oil and gas that burst onto the energy scene in Ohio last year.

 

One Ohio Senator, Joe Schiavoni (D-Canfield), called Tuesday for the Ohio Senate to hold a public hearing in the Mahoning Valley regarding recent earthquakes that may have been caused by a wastewater injection well.

 

"Because of the recent earthquakes the Mahoning Valley has experienced, I believe it would be very beneficial for the residents in my district to be provided with an explanation of hydraulic fracking/deep well injection," Schiavoni said in a statement.  The ranking member of the Senate Energy and Public Utility Committee, Schiavoni said he's requesting a special committee hearing be held in the Mahoning Valley as soon as possible so Senators can gather more information.

 

He wants ODNR and the Ohio EPA to address the recent earthquakes, the future activity of injection wells located in the Mahoning Valley, and any other concerns members of the public have regarding oil and gas exploration. "I spoke with many residents over the holiday weekend who are very concerned for the safety of their family, homes, and property," he said, noting these are legitimate concerns that must be addressed in a timely manner." 

 

A member of the Minority in the Senate, Schiavoni said he'll contact Senate President Tom Niehaus and Senator David Daniels, the Chairman of the Senate Energy and Public Utilities Committee, "to urge them to schedule this meeting." 

 

But Jim Zehringer, ODNR director, said the earthquakes were likely related to the injection of brine wastewater into the ground near a previously unknown fault line. "The seismic events are not a direct result of fracking," he said, according to WJW TV 8. "Rather, we believe the events ... stem from brine being injected into a previously unknown fault line by a well that's only been operational for a year." 

 

Meanwhile, a seismology adviser working for Ohio, Won-Young Kim, a research professor of Seismology Geology and Tectonophysics at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University, said that circumstantial evidence suggests a link between the earthquake and the high-pressure well activity.

 

"We know the depth (of the quake on Saturday) is two miles and that is different from a natural earthquake," Kim told Reuters. Kim said there is circumstantial evidence to connect the two, explaining, "In the past we didn't have earthquakes in the area and the proximity in the time and space of the earthquakes matches operations at the well."

 

An industry voice all of Ohio's 177 so-called "class two" deep wells operate under federal guidelines spelled out by the Clean Water Act. Tom Stewart, executive vice president of Ohio Oil and Gas Association said there is no evidence that the wells in Youngstown were operating at higher pressures than allowed. "We haven't seen anything from anyone at (the state agency) that would lead us to believe that the well was not operating properly."

 

Ohio Democratic Senator, Sherrod Brown, running for a second term this year, said more needs to be learned about drilling and earthquakes. The former Congressman and Ohio Secretary of State said he supports new energy exploration that brings jobs to the state, but also has questions about how companies will handle fracking and wastewater disposal. "They have got to answer the question of what they are going to do with the waste just like nuclear power," he said.