ohio lawmakers banned fracking after confirming link to earthquakes

[xchrom]

http://www.nationofchange.org/ohio-lawmakers-banned-fracking-after-confirming-link-earthquakes-1358955768

Fracking, the act of injecting a chemical soup of substances like like lead and formaldehyde into fissures to expel natural gas, has been linked time and time again to both biological and geological consequences. Doctors have urged officials to ban fracking due to the serious links to cancer and other life-threatening conditions, and experts have been warning for years about how fracking may be to blame for certain earthquake ‘pockets’ around the nation.

In January of 2012, Ohio lawmakers placed a ban on fracking after a panel of experts said that they are certain the highly toxic gas-gathering process was to blame for an outbreak of earthquakes within the state.

The seismologist experts say that fracking is to blame for an entire string of quakes that have been troubling Ohio citizens and beyond. Among these earthquakes is a 4.0-magnitude earthquake that hit Ohio on New Year’s Eve 2012. In the past, fracking has also been linked to the appearance of mass sinkholes around the country — sinkholes that have actually been known to leak radiation along with other toxic substances. The sinkholes, which I’ve covered extensively in the past, actually forced residents to evacuate their homes nearby.

Described as ‘apocalyptic’, the sinkholes were behemoth in size, swallowing up 100 foot trees and reaching up to the size of around 4 football fields.

[riqster]

1. Unfortunately, fracking is again happening here in Ohio

Last edited Thu Jan 24, 2013, 01:00 PM - Edit history (1)

They stopped injection well operations due to earthquakes, but fracking itself picked right back up.

Just want to make sure nobody gets a false impression of Ohio's truly crap record on environmental matters.

[limpyhobbler]

2. I think many injection wells are still running.

It's just certain ones that were temporarily stopped.

[riqster]

3. Correct.

The article cited in the OP made it sound as if Ohio has stopped fracking: that is not the case. A number of inaccurate statements and overall sloppy reporting could lead a reader to think that this is a state whose Red Government is environmentally responsible.

My goal was to correct that impression.