Since the working fluid-injection well in Youngstown started operating last year, there were 10 minor earthquakes recorded in that area, far more than usual for the same period. Andy Ware is deputy director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. He says in November, the state enlisted seismic experts at Columbia University to look for a possible connection between the injection well and the earthquakes. Ware says they got some answers on December 24^th.

WARE:  With the Christmas Eve 2.7 earthquake, they were able to capture more detailed depth analysis. Originally we thought these earthquakes were occurring as much as a mile deeper than the injection well site. That information put it closer, within 2000 feet. We received that information on Thursday, discussed it with our geologists, and on Friday morning we talked with the company and reached an agreement with them where they would no longer accept fluids and stop injecting into that disposal well at 5 o’clock on Friday.

NIEDERMIER:  Then the next day, New Year’s Eve, the 4.0 earthquake hit Youngstown.

WARE:   After discussions with our geologists that day, our director recommended, in talking with the Governor, that the four wells that were due to come online within a 5 mile radius, that we would put a hold on them from starting up and accepting fluids and injecting fluids into the ground.

NIEDERMIER:  Has this happened anywhere else, is there any precedent for what’s going on in the Youngstown area regarding injection wells?

WARE:  That’s right.  Some folks would say we’re being overly cautious here, and we accept that.  There have been 177 operating class-2 disposal wells of this type in the state and we’ve only seen this level of seismic activity related to the Youngstown well.  There was an incident in the early 1990’s in Ashtabula County with a different kind of well associated with earthquake activity.  That was never confirmed.  But right now the only place in Ohio where we’ve seen seismic activity in conjunction with a disposal well is in the Youngstown area.

NIEDERMIER: Is it because there’s a higher concentration of the these wells, is there any correlation there?

WARE:  There’s only been the one well injecting, operating, the other four wells that we we’ve talked about were ones that were due to come online in the next several weeks.  Whether or not this is an anomaly or is related, we’re still not sure.  Back in 2006 there were a series of ten low level earthquakes that took place out in the middle of Lake Erie, obviously not associated with any drilling or mining activity - still not sure what caused that.  So, there are anomalies that happen historically.

NIEDERMIER:  What’s going on right now?  You talked about the seismic department at Columbia University, they’re still working on this, it’s kind of an open-ended investigation at this point?

WARE:  That’s correct.  Just like the Christmas Eve 2.7 earthquake where they collected data . It’s our understanding that with the higher magnitude that happened on the 31^st they’re going to be able to capture more detailed depth information, more information about the area, and so with that we’re going to have our geologists work with them and see if there may be a fault in the area that [was] previously unknown.

NIEDERMIER:  In light of all this is the state thinking about not accepting fracking fluids from other states, Pennsylvania and so forth, in the future?  Is that a possibility?

WARE:  What we would say is, again, there are 176 other disposal wells in the state of Ohio and we’re not seeing this activity at any of those.  It’s just this one well.  So to say there’d be a moratorium on all injection or to close down all 176 when there’s really only a potential link with only this one well, that would be devastating to the most promising job creating sector coming into Ohio.  And we’re not seeing any type of activity that would warrant it.  

NIEDERMIER: That’s Andy Ware, deputy director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.  He stresses that the closing of the Youngstown fluid-injection wells does not mean fracking operations to extract oil and gas from shale deposits are being halted. State Representative Bob Hagan of Youngstown is calling for all of Ohio’s injection wells to be shutdown. Though there is no proof these wells could be related to the earthquakes, injection wells in the western United States have been linked to seismic activity.