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Amy Sancetta / AP
With the skyline of Youngstown, Ohio in the distance, a brine injection well owned by Northstar Disposal Services LLC is seen. The company halted operations at the well, which disposes of brine used in gas and oil drilling, after a series of small earthquakes hit the Youngstown area.
A dozen earthquakes that struck Ohio in 2011 appear to have been induced by the workings of a wastewater well, the state Department of Natural Resources said Friday, as it announced new rules for the disposal of a fracking byproduct because of its apparent link to the tremors.
The Youngstown, Ohio, area experienced the quakes – ranging from 2.1 to 4.0 magnitude – starting in March 2011. A 4.0 quake on Dec. 31 prompted Gov. John Kasich to order a moratorium that is still in place on six Class II deep injection wells.
Hydraulic fracturing or fracking involves freeing the gas by injecting water into the earth. The water used in that process then needs to be disposed of. But, since municipal water treatment plants aren't designed to remove some of the contaminants found in the wastewater, drillers typically re-inject it into the ground.
The seismic events were clustered in the Youngstown area less than a mile around the Northstar 1 wastewater well, which is covered by the moratorium.
“Geologists believe induced seismic activity is extremely rare, but it can occur with the confluence of a series of specific circumstances,” the natural resources department said in a statement. “After investigating all available geological formation and well activity data, ODNR regulators and geologists found a number of co-occurring circumstances strongly indicating the Youngstown area earthquakes were induced.”
Northstar 1 was one of 177 operational deep wells mostly used for oil and gas fluid waste disposal. The well – drilled 200 ft. into the basement rock formation known as the Precambrian layer -- began getting injections of wastewater in December 2010, a few months before the quakes began.
Scott Anderson, senior policy adviser for the Environmental Defense Fund’s energy program, said he wasn’t surprised that the Ohio department found a link between the quakes and the well, noting that a similar situation led to a 4.7 quake in Arkansas on Feb. 27, 2011.
It’s not clear how much damage the small Ohio quakes caused, though the one on New Year’s Eve led to a few cracks in plaster and a damaged chimney, according to The Vindicator newspaper in Youngstown.
"It is the disposal of wastewater in deep injection wells that’s the culprit here, as distinct from hydraulic fracturing," Anderson said.
In response to the findings, the state Department of Natural Resources announced new regulations for transporting and disposing of the wastewater, also known as brine. Those standards include requiring operators to supply extensive geological data before drilling – including the existence of known geological faults -- and to implement state-of-the-art pressure and volume monitoring devices. It also prohibits any new wells from being drilled into the affected rock formation.
Anderson welcomed the Ohio changes but said he believed that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency should do more to ensure there won’t be similar earthquakes elsewhere in the country.
“What’s important is that people not locate those wells in seismically active areas and also it’s important that people not inject at too high a pressure into a formation that’s vulnerable to seismic activities,” he said.
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Let's see now. To get the gas out we pump volatile liquids into the earth at high pressure. The pressure causes the earth to fracture releasing the gas, but also dispels some of the volatile liquids into the earth. I guess we'll handle that problem at a later date.
The remaining volatile chemicals are extracted from the fracking process and pumped at high pressure into disposal wells because the volatile chemicals are too nasty for wastewater treatment plants to handle. And that's why this process causes those annoying earthquakes! Otherwise, everything is hunky-dory.
Really? Just lower the pressure and move the disposal wells? Keep pumping that crap into the earth, crack the earth, and just leave that crap in the ground, but in a different spot? That's the ticket?
And in other news, Ohio listed in the top 10 of the worst states to live in. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.........
UMM, In a word NO! Is English a second language for you? Did you not understand the article? The waste-water is produced from the gas wells and is required disposal. It is not pumped down the injection well to produce anything, its pumped down to get rid of it. The author tied it to fracking, but he is only fractionally correct (pun intended). Salt water (brine) naturally exists in or under the zones where the gas lies. If gas is produced too fast, the well can water log and die, wells are produced while trying to keep the water in the formation but often produced water is brought to surface. This brine water is then trucked (or piped at times) to injection wells that put the water back into the the formations. The injection wells can be at different depth depending on purpose, very deep just for disposal and sometimes shallower to be used for displacement (low pressure formations) but then displacement is not normally high pressure.
And yes water used in fracking that needs disposal is also pumped into the injection wells, often this water is produced by the flowing gas wells. Another fact people need to know as that injection disposal well are normally on a vacuum, meaning the water free flows down the well. It is no advantage to try and pump into a high pressure formation, I believe there are some more facts missing from this article.
would it be happening and if fracking was not was not occurring? then fracking caused it. Dealing with waste is part of the process not apart from it.
I think some of your facts are missing.
Fracking fluids are hazardous waste - and full of man-made chemicals. That's why they can't be disposed of in municipal wastewater facilities.
But instead of making fracking companies pay for hazardous waste disposal, the Reagan administration gave them an exemption in 1980 that allows this hazardous fluid to be pumped back into the ground.
At the time they got the exemption, the oil companies swore that there was no risk whatsoever in pumping this crap into the earth. Guess they were wrong!
And it gets even better (if you're a fracking company):
Don't worry, Newt is going to colonize the moon so we will all have a place to go once we have completely destroyed this planet. I am amazed that the EPA allows them to "inject" dangerous chemical wastewater into the ground, while the neighborhood car wash gets fined if they spill any wash water into the storm sewers.
RealAmericansFirst,,,,,,,Thanks for that good info. It sheds a lot of light on just how this thing got out of control. Oil companies own Congress and have the laws written so they can do whatever they want. We don't need no stinkin regulations, the oil companies know what is best for us and the planet, right ?
You're right, MM.
And the new Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Fred Upton (R, MI), is BLATANTLY bought out by these companies.
There is not (nor has there ever been) ANY mention of the Committee's 2011 report on fracking anywhere on the Committee's website. (instead, if you go to "Committee Actions", you can link to things like the Republican National Committee's website and "Republican Views")
We, the American taxpayers, PAID for those hearings and the report that was issued. WHERE IS IT?
Ken Trout,
You are missing some facts as well, as RealAmericansFirst showed, like this:
“In [some cases when companies were unable to fully list chemicals used], it appears that the companies are injecting fluids containing unknown chemicals about which they may have limited understanding of the potential risks posed to human health and the environment.”
-U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce Minority Staff,
Chemicals Used in Hydraulic Fracturing, April 2011
the drilling industry likes to advertise the fracking chemicals as being friendly and familiar--bleach "like you use in the laundry", guar gum "like in your yogurt" and so on. but they don't want to reveal specifics about the content. the gop candidates like to cheer ND's oil industry-friendly western counties but water is already scarce out there (some farmers have to drive 30 miles to fill up a portable cistern. the water that is in the ground tends to be salty, alkaline, and nasty to bathe in (slimy feeling). things will get interesting with the fracking out here
I hate to ruin your conspiracy theory but most companies are very happy to share what chemicals are added to the fracing fluid, and do you know why? They are stimulation companies, not chemical companies. They buy what the well engineers suggest and add to the slurry. BTW the chemicals consist of less than 1% of what is pumped during a frac. Anyone can approach or go to any of well stimulation companies and get the product names or even ask for a Material Safety Data sheet on each product, by law they have to give you a copy. Once you have the name of the fracing fluid you can even get the MSDS online no problem, its no big secret. There are SOME industry secrets with some of the fluids but these are not everyday use chemicals, and yes they still have to hand out an MSDS sheet if asked.
And there is also information out there that even that 1% can cause damage in the population. That parts per million and even parts per billion in the water supply of certain chemicals have long term health effect on human beings, It makes the chances so much greater for cancers and other health problems.
Ken Trout - just curious, who pays your salary?
And I call "pants on fire" on your last post. Even Congress wasn't able to get a list of all the chemicals used in fracking:
"An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time. Earthquakes are measured using observations from seismometers." (Wikipedia)
"http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/?source=sitenav" this is the site that people can find out more information about the quake and faults.
Pipelines going down that deep I would consider new faults.
Nothing like a fresh tall glass of birth defect and cancer water from the faucet to go with those earthquakes!
Thanks frackers!
Ignorance is bliss, right Bill. You fit the bill perfectly. Idiot A+
GCCal,
And if Bill is correct, what does that make you? Polluted wells in the South West, west Texas ranchers deprived of irrigation and stock water, polluted and explosive water in western Pennsylvania, and earthquakes in Ohio. Obviously the cost cheap natural gas is our food, our water, and our land.
But it serves your education and self-interest just fine?
GCCal--
And what are your sources?
When will I see results from an unbiased scientist or organization that is willing to make the call on this? While O&Gs operate without abandon and Greenies cry foul, scientific communities and the general public continue to just "watch fools play". America hath become a place of the invertebrates AGAIN!
The call on what?
I agree that it is somewhat difficult to find unbiased information out there, and that more importantly, the media seems to fall far behind the real pace of what is happening, but scientists have studied and are studying fracking. There does seem to be a small number of scientists studying fracking that aren't being paid by corporations, but that's what happens when a culture doesn't truly focus on the future or health of its resources and people.
It's not that there's NO information out there, though, so hopefully you are really asking.
Kryss,
What do you want you quote? The Oklahoma or Texas studies which admit they were funded by the industry, but they will maintain a fair study. Despite where their future funding, jobs, and family jobs exist?
Kasich action speaks for itself. Something is out of control. University CONTROLLED studies may be correct, but can we expect ALL drillers and operators to follow the rules? Especially if they are out of state?
Bill,
I think we agree....? I've had a far-from-easy time finding scientific information on fracking. What little I have found suggests it's a gamble at best on many levels.
What's worse than the issue that drillers and/or operators may not follow rules is that in many cases, the rules are too lenient or nonexistent. For instance, the recent study “Natural Gas Operations from a Public Health Perspective” and published in Human and Ecological Risk Assessment: An International Journal (2011) recommended full disclosure of chemicals used, along with actual monitoring/regulation of these, and advised fracking no longer be exempt from the US Safe Drinking Water Act.
Then there's this:
“A November 2010 study of fracking's effect on radioactive material in the Marcellus Shale by Tracy Bank, a geologist at the State University of New York in Buffalo, found that the process that released the gas also releases uranium trapped in the shale. She said additional study is needed to understand and predict the reaction in the shale to fracking.”
I have more information, but many more real studies need to be done. What I was trying to ask is, is basically championsaints claiming there's no information on which to base his/her preliminary opinion on? Maybe I was reading him/her incorrectly.
Here is an interesting documentary about Fracking for Natural Gas. Very enlightening!
topdocumentaryfilms.com/gasland/
The American Petroleum Institute says fracking is safe, I think we should defer to their expertise on these matters. They would never lie to push their agenda!
Here is a little article talking about the Keystone XL Pipeline.
http://www.prairiefirenewspaper.com/2010/11/the-keystone-pipeline-proposal
I welcome any comments.
I loved the CANADIAN producers telling us that Keystone would provide a cheap, efficient pipeline to... the European and Asian markets. If the Canadians want to pipe oil and gas to Europe and Asia, why don't they soil their land? Hudson Bay is closer. But the Koch brothers don't have pipes up there.
youngstown needs to fall back into the earth,what a crappy town
The city we reside in is not far from the injection well sites. I know a lot of people think the earthquakes had nothing to do with the injection well, but we haven't had another quake since they stopped using the injection well. The tremors were not as strong in our city, but my in-laws, who live in McDonald, suffered damage to their house because of them.
"The dwarves delved too greedily and too deep. You know what they awoke in the darkness of Khazad-dum... shadow and flame."...
This is just more evidence of the willingness of the energy industry to use processes and procedures that have never been proven to be safe, despite their claims to the contrary. Maybe if we could use some of these deep drill processes to drill some common sense into their GOP supporters and teapublicans we can penetrate the bubble they live in.
As an oilfield geologist working primarily in North Dakota, I've often wondered why no one has come up with a process to reclaim the water back out of used frack fluid. In North Dakota, water is a relatively scarce resource, and with the thousands or wells yet to be drilled and fracked it will only become more so. Disposing of used frack fluids in North Dakota isn't an issue, as it is reinjected into formations that already contain underpressured, highly saline, petroleum tainted formation water. This saline water cannot be used for fracking, I think because the salt would crystallize out in the microfractures and plug them. So...., if someone smarter than me would invent an economically feasible process to distill, filter, or otherwise reclaim the water in frack fluid to be reused it would be a boon both financially for them and environmentally for all of us.