Fracking' debate exposes weaknesses in Ohio Statehouse -- term limits and the death of home rule: Thomas Suddes

Still, Statehouse history is telling. In 2004, the General Assembly took away any right that Ohio's cities and villages had to regulate the "permitting, location and spacing" of oil and gas wells. That is, if someone wants to drill for oil and gas in your town, he or she doesn't need your OK. Someone in Columbus gets to decide.

The 2004 "pre-emption" bill's lead sponsor was then-Rep. Thomas Niehaus, a suburban Cincinnati Republican who is now the state Senate's president. Niehaus is one of the few people backing the pre-emption bill who is still in the General Assembly. And even he'll have to leave in December, thanks to Ohio's inane legislative term limits.

Consider the House's 2004 roll call on his bill. The vote, not especially partisan, was 59 in favor, 35 opposed. Of the 59 House members who voted "yes," only 11 are still in the legislature. Ten are now state senators, including Niehaus; Thomas Patton, a Strongsville Republican; Michael Skindell, a Lakewood Democrat; and James Hughes of Columbus, Tim Schaffer of Lancaster and Christopher Widener of Springfield, all Republicans.

One House "yes" has returned to the House after a term-limit hiatus: Rep. Ron Young, a Leroy Township Republican.

The House's remaining 48 "yeas" on Niehaus' 2004 bill are long gone, most due to term limits. Likewise, of the 26 state senators who voted "yes" on the Niehaus bill in 2004, only seven are still in the legislature (all now as House members).

What those numbers mean is that few people in the Ohio General Assembly today are accountable for fracking in Ohio -- or anything else. And fewer yet (except pro-fracking lobbyists) know anything about the specific issues raised in the 2004 debate. That is, when it comes to political deniability, term limits make Pontius Pilate seem like an amateur.

Click to read more ...

After earthquakes, Ohio city questions future fracking wells

Cleveland, Ohio (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 in the wake of 11 earthquakes that struck Youngstown last year, all centered near wells used for disposal of fracking waste.

In Mansfield, city officials are reconsidering plans to allow two new 5,000 foot waste disposal wells to be built. Last spring, an Austin, Texas-based company, Preferred Fluids Management, obtained a drilling permit for the wells.

The city wants Preferred Fluids Management to pay for the testing of every tanker of fluid previously discarded in the Mansfield wells and a full geological survey of the area. Otherwise, officials said, the city will fight the drilling.

"The city of Mansfield will be the first as a whole to oppose the injection disposal wells," John Spon, the city of Mansfield's law director, told Reuters.

There is a new demand for fracking fluid disposal in Ohio, because Pennsylvania no longer allows fracking companies to treat and then dump the water used in the process. To deal with waste, disposal wells are drilled to specific geological depths, and millions of gallons of leftover fluid are injected or sandwiched into the rock.

One obstacle city officials face is a 2004 law exempting these types of wells from urban zoning rules, essentially giving Ohio Department of Natural Resources exclusive jurisdiction.

Click to read more ...

Organization urging legislation to regulate gas and oil drilling

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - A statewide environmental organization is urging people to lobby Oho lawmakers to change state laws regulating oil and natural gas drilling.

The Ohio Environmental Council says that municipalities have more control over liquor permits than they do over deep well injection or drilling permits. 
 
"The state legislature has the power to do almost anything they want here," said Deputy Director of the OEC Jack Shaner.  "We're calling on our state legislature. We want the shock waves from Youngstown to emanate all the way to the state house in Columbus and to get laws changed to put our air, land, and water first. To put people's property rights and to put our health and safety first."

Hundreds question Ohio experts at quake meeting

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio —

About 500 residents living near an oil and gas wastewater well that a seismologist has linked to a series of earthquakes responded Wednesday to presentations from Ohio state regulators with both boos and cheers.

In a state investigation into a series of quakes in northeast Ohio, Columbia University seismologist John Armbruster has said that the injection of thousands of gallons of brine wastewater daily into an injection well at Youngstown almost certainly caused the quakes.

http://www.uticaod.com/environment/hydrofracking/x1987742813/Hundreds-question-Ohio-experts-at-quake-meeting

New Study: Severe Health Impact of Fracking

By Bernhard Debatin

A new study on the Impacts of Gas Drilling on Human and Animal Health (*)shows that fracking fluids, methane gas exposure, and other gas-drilling related contamination can have a serious impact on the health of both humans and animals. The study, conducted by private practice veterinarian Michelle Bamberger and Robert E. Oswald of the Department of Molecular Medicine at Cornell University, investigated 24 different sites with gas wells, 18 of which were horizontal hydro-fractured wells. The researchers observed and documented severe changes in health of both humans and animals living close to these sites. The majority of the observed animals were cows; other animals included horses, goats, llamas, chickens, dogs, cats, and koi.

Bamberger and Oswald interviewed animal owners affected by gas drilling in six different states (Colorado, Louisiana, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Texas). In addition, they obtained lab test results and data from drilling companies and state regulatory agencies. The most striking finding of the study is the death of over 100 cows, caused by their exposure to fracking fluids or drinking of fracking wastewater that was dumped or leaked into freshwater sources. The researchers also frequently found reproductive problems, particularly lack of breeding and stillborn animals, often with congenital deformations. Other health effects on both animals and humans encompassed a wide range of symptoms, such as upper respiratory symptoms and burning of the eyes,  vomiting and diarrhea, rashes, nosebleeds, headaches, and neurological problems.

Click to read more ...

Fracking Moratorium Urged as Doctors Call for Health Study

The U.S. should declare a moratorium on hydraulic
fracturing for natural gas in populated areas until the health effects are
better understood, doctors said at a conference on the drilling process.

Gas producers should set up a foundation to finance studies on fracking
and independent research is also needed, said Jerome Paulson, a
pediatrician at George Washington University School of Medicine in
Washington.

 Top independent producers include Chesapeake Energy Corp. and
Devon Energy Corp., both of Oklahoma City, and Encana Corp. of Calgary,
according to Bloomberg Industries.

 "We've got to push the pause button,
and maybe we've got to push the stop button" on fracking, said Adam Law,
an endocrinologist at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, in an
interview at a conference in Arlington, Virginia that's the first to
examine criteria for studying the process.

Click to read more ...

Balance still is key to drilling in Ohio

The issue: Earthquakes near injection well in Youngstown
Our view: Good science, effective regulation are critical

The economic potential of oil and gas drilling in Ohio is too big to neglect. So is the potential downside of storing wastewater from the drilling process in some deep injection wells.

Ohio has to find and maintain a balance that encourages drilling and protects the public. This will occur by relying on good science and maintaining effective government regulation and oversight.

The incidence of minor earthquakes near an injection well in Youngstown has rightly focused the attention of state officials and residents on the end result of drilling.

Millions of gallons of wastewater may be going into some wells that are not geologically compatible with storage of this brine. It may not be safe to do so, and the Department of Natural Resources has taken the only sensible precaution. It has shut down the well near the epicenter of the quakes and others within a five-mile radius until officials understand the situation.

Click to read more ...