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After earthquakes, Ohio city questions future fracking wells
Posted by Reuters: Kim Palmer on January 13th, 2012
Reuters: Alarmed over a string of earthquakes linked to deep wells in nearby Youngstown, authorities in Mansfield, Ohio have threatened to block construction of two similar waste disposal wells planned within their city limits.
Ohio has over 170 active disposal wells, though only recently has it become permissable to use them for disposal of out-of-state waste from fracking, a controversial process to drive gas and oil out of underground rock.
Now, fresh questions about their safety are being raised...
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Ohio earthquake was not a natural event, expert says
Posted by Reuters: Kim Palmer on January 4th, 2012
Reuters: A 4.0 magnitude earthquake in Ohio on New Year's Eve did not occur naturally and may have been caused by high-pressure liquid injection related to oil and gas exploration and production, an expert hired by the state of Ohio said on Tuesday.
Ohio's Department of Natural Resources on Sunday suspended operations at five deep well sites in Youngstown, Ohio, where the injection of water was taking place, while they evaluate seismological data from a rare quake in the area.
The wells are about 9,000...
Ohio suspends well operations after series of small quakes
Posted by Reuters: Kim Palmer on January 2nd, 2012
Reuters: Ohio has suspended operations at five deep-well hazardous fluid disposal sites after a series of 11 earthquakes in the Youngstown, Ohio, in the past year, including one on Saturday with a magnitude of 4.0, officials said.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources said Sunday it was halting operations at five Mahoning County wells owned by Northstar Disposal Services LLC as a precaution, citing concerns of a possible link between well activity and the quakes.
"We are being overly cautious in...
Weather changes mean more dead zones for Lake Erie: expert
Posted by Reuters: Kim Palmer on October 27th, 2011
Reuters: After a celebrated comeback from abysmal water conditions and high pollution levels in the 1970s, Lake Erie is regressing to the highest levels of phosphorous contamination in 40 years, a Great Lakes expert said on Thursday.
"Levels are back-up to when it was considered a dead lake," said Jeff Reutter, director of the Ohio Sea Grant and Stone Laboratory at Ohio State University, speaking at the State of the Lakes Ecosystem Conference in Erie, Pennsylvania.
He said the lake is experiencing phosphorous...
Climate change making country’s water problems worse: expert
Posted by Reuters: Kim Palmer on October 27th, 2011
Reuters: Climate change and population growth in the United States will make having enough fresh water more challenging in the coming years, an expert on water shortages said on Wednesday.
"In 1985-1986 there were historical (water level) highs and now in less than 25 years we are at historical lows. Those sorts of swings are very scary," said Robert Glennon, speaking at the State of the Lakes Ecosystem Conference in Erie, Pennsylvania.
Glennon, a professor at Arizona State University and the author...