U.K. Quakes Likely Caused by Fracking

Two small earthquakes that shook the Lancashire coast of northwest England and the nearby city of Blackpool earlier this year were probably caused by hydraulic fracturing, or fracking—a shale gas extraction technique that was being used nearby to explore its shale gas wells—according to a report released today. The energy company Cuadrilla Resources had begun an experimental drilling operation half a kilometer from the quakes' epicenter in March.

Fracking has caused concerns in some countries over its potential health and environmental impact—critics accuse it of contaminating drinking water with gas and the chemicals used for extraction—and it is banned in some countries and some U.S. states. Cuadrilla's is the first fracking operation conducted in the United Kingdom.

After geologists pointed the finger at Cuadrilla as the possible cause of the quakes, it commissioned independent experts to prepare a report on the topic. Entitled Geomechanical Study of Bowland Shale Seismicity, it has concluded that it is "highly probable" that the quakes were triggered by Cuadrilla's fracking: high pressure injection of fluids into rocks in order to fracture them and release shale gas. But the quakes were a fluke, the report continues, as the geology of the region was highly unusual to begin with.

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FracTracker- Co-occurrence of earthquakes and geological faults in Central NY

Created Oct 3, 2011 by Karen Edelstein

Despite some assumptions to the contrary, earthquakes are known to occur across the northeastern United States. In Central NY, they are sometimes associated with known geological faults

Follow the site

http://data.fractracker.org/cbi/snapshot/full?concept=~01e73a7988edde11e0829c942a7385dc67

Slow Down Fracking in Athens County (SD-FRAC)

While fracking obviously has some economic benefits for involved individuals, companies, and communities, critics have pointed out that the expected benefits are vastly overstated by the industry and the Ohio government. The recent study The Economic Value of Shale Natural Gas in Ohio, conducted by OSU economists Weinstein and Partridge, showed that the widely touted creation of 200,000 jobs in Ohio through fracking is more likely to be in the vicinity of 20,000 jobs. A similar number of fracking-related jobs was in fact created inPennsylvania between 2004 and 2010, although the industry prediction was much higher (between 100,000 and 200,000).

While 20,000 additional jobs may still be welcome in a shaky economy, the researchers point out that “like virtually every other economic event, there are winners (e.g., landowners or high-paid rig workers) and losers (e.g., those who can no longer afford the high rents in mining communities and communities dealing with excessive demands on their infrastructure).”  The authors also emphasize that industry-funded studies usually don’t address the fact that most fracking jobs are temporary but “long-term regional economic development requires permanent jobs” [p. 2]. If most of those 20,000 jobs are only short-term jobs and (as seems to be typical) are mostly held by out-of-state workers, then the boom will be quite short-lived.

Moreover, while some landowners may end up with a considerable amount of money, one must seriously question the assumption that there is an overall net positive economic effect of drilling.  A study cited by Weinstein and Partridge submits that “previous industry-funded reports have focused on the benefits while ignoring the costs and risks associated with natural gas extraction” and that they “haven’t properly accounted for other impacts, including the costs of environmental degradation,” nor for “the impact on infrastructure, property values, and the ‘displacement impact’ pollution can have on other industries such as tourism and fishing” [p. 5].

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NO FRACK Ohio- Stop the Madness Statehouse Protest

Please join us to protest hydraulic fracking wells and disposal wells being located in our communities. Jan. 10th at the Ohio Statehouse. 1-3pm WE WANT A MORATORIUM ON DRILLING PERMITS AND WASTE DISPOSAL NOW, BEFORE MORE COMMUNITIES ARE ROCKED WITH EARTHQUAKES AND OUR WATER IS POISONED! Speakers will include Rep. Bob Hagan and representatives from communities turned into wastelands. We will have indoor access to warm up. Please bring signs without sticks, and dress warm. Find parking at this link http://bit.ly/vBy0Py To RSVP, please fill in the form below. If you can't attend, but wish to remain informed about future opportunities to make your voice heard, we encourage you to share your contact information, which will be solely used for that purpose.

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Bath rescinds vendor regs in favor of more stringent county ones

EVENT in Bath Township

township residents with questions about oil and gas drilling in the township can get some answers at an upcoming program sponsored by the township and the Friends of Yellow Creek. The meeting will take place Jan. 23 at 7 p.m. in the Revere High School Auditorium.

http://www.akron.com/akron-ohio-community-news.asp?aID=14753

Jobs not best benefit of Ohio shale drilling: OSU study

Natural gas drilling in Ohio offers several benefits, but enough new jobs to impact the state's economy isn't one of them, a new economic study released this week by Ohio State University says.

"Although we should not expect natural gas to be a big job creator, there are significant benefits to producing natural gas that are getting lost in the hype of job creation," co-authors Mark Partridge and Amanda Weinstein said.

The two largest benefits of opening up shale drilling in Ohio are the environmental benefits of cleaner gas displacing coal for power generation and lower electricity costs benefiting the state's massive manufacturing economy, the authors said.

Manufacturing accounts for 27% of Ohio's $477 billion economy, according to the state government; oil and gas production accounted for 0.4% in 2010.

The 27-page study examining the economic impact of drilling in the Utica and Marcellus shales in the state faults previous industry-funded studies that predict as many as 200,000 new jobs for the state for using impact models long discarded by academic economists for routinely overestimating job creation numbers.

A September study sponsored by the Ohio Oil & Gas Energy Education Program predicted oil and gas investment in Ohio would increase more than 20 times the current $988 million/year and create 205,520 jobs. (OSU professors participated in portions of that study also.)

Partridge and Weinstein said the number of permanent jobs is likely to be a more modest 20,000.

"Previous studies on the economic impacts of natural gas appear to have widely overstated the economic impacts," Partridge and Weinstein wrote. In addition to being funded by industry, "not the best sources of information for economic effects (regardless of the industry)", those studies ignore that oil and gas operations are three times more capital intensive than other industries, resulting in fewer jobs per dollar spent.

Those studies, primarily focused on the Marcellus' impact on Pennsylvania, also have ignored the displacement effects of gas drilling - be it coal miners laid off because power plants burn more gas or tourism workers eliminated because of drilling's effects on the environment - the study said.

Partridge believes Pennsylvania gained 20,000 Marcellus Shale-related development jobs between 2004 and 2010, much fewer than the 100,000 jobs reported in "industry-funded studies."

http://www.platts.com/RSSFeedDetailedNews/RSSFeed/NaturalGas/6787366

Former Ohioan will discuss fracking

Chris Crews, a former Ohioan living in New York City, will present "Updates from the Fracking Front, New York to Ohio" at 10:30 a.m. Jan. 1 at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church of Bellville, 25 Church St.

http://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/article/20111221/NEWS01/112210328