Recent Fracking News
Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 9:29AM Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 10:29PM WARREN - The existing permit ends today for the Warren Water Pollution Control Facility to dispose of treated brine water in the Mahoning River. Until hearings are held on new regulations, however, the practice is expected to continue.
As it stands, that's a temporary reprieve for Director Tom Angelo and at least one city business associated with the practice, Patriot Water Treatment.
Patriot pretreats the wastewater trucked into the city from natural gas drilling sites to remove heavy metals, bromide and other contaminants. That brine water is then sent into Warren's sewer to the city plant before it is discharged into the Mahoning River.
Last year, Ohio EPA informed Warren it would not reauthorize this activity and that the city's discharge of brine wastewater would end with its existing permit effective today.
A draft permit in place prohibits the city from accepting, treating and discharging brine wastewater from shale gas drilling, exploration or production.
However, Angelo explained Monday that when a new permit is not yet in effect, a facility may continue to operate under the terms of the existing permit, and Warren will continue to receive treated brine water from Patriot until the issue is settled.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 2:17PM Ohio should have an amendment to our state constitution (similar to the one Wisconsin is using on Governor Scott Walker) that would allow us to remove an elected official. The principle underlying the recall of public officers has been defined as an effective speedy remedy to remove an official who is not giving satisfaction to the public and whom the electors do not want to remain in office, regardless of whether he is discharging his full duty to the best of his ability and as his conscience dictates.”
Read more: http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/sen-kathleen-vinehout-wisconsin-s-recall-law-exists-to-assure/article_d292ea6c-1e5f-5042-b2da-fd55c97eeb2a.html#ixzz1kDOdH2So
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 8:14AM Monday, January 30, 2012 at 2:14PM Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine thinks Ohio’s natural-gas and oil drilling laws are “not adequate” compared with other states.
“I think Gov. [John] Kasich has made the point very correctly that fracking can be very good for our economy,” DeWine told The Vindicator on Tuesday. “We want to encourage growth and jobs, but at the same time, we have to assure the public that the protections are in place.”
DeWine said through investigation and research, he has come to three conclusions regarding Ohio’s laws: The state is not stringent enough on penalizing violations, the attorney general’s office has no jurisdiction to help landowners who may have been swindled by landmen, and there is a need for stronger chemical disclosure regulations.
“If there is a problem later on health officials and first responders need to have an understanding what is in there,” he said. “It just makes common sense.”
Monday, January 30, 2012 at 2:08PM It was recently published in Scientific American, the winner of the 2011 National Magazine Award for General Excellence, that the fracking itself is not the cause of the repeated quakes, but rather it's possible that the disposal of fracking wastewater into wells is the culprit.
Because of the close proximity of the quakes to a wastewater injection site, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources had mobile seismographs installed in the vicinity of the quakes.
The seismographs revealed, with 95 percent certainty, that the last two earthquakes were within 100 meters of each other.
Additionally, they both placed within 0.8 kilometers of the injection well and at roughly the same depth as the fault that caused the quakes.
Youngstown, Ohio, tends to be seismically inactive, but it's friction that keeps the faults from moving, AccuWeather Expert Senior Meteorologist Jim Andrews said.
"By injecting fluid underground, existing faults may be unlocked."
Monday, January 30, 2012 at 2:02PM Quick Look: Companies like Continental Resources and Chesapeake Energy are two oil companies largely engaged in shale fracking, with Chesapeake forecasting more than 50% of its revenues coming from shale. Integrated oil companies that aren't completely dependent on shale will be a safer bet for investors.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2012/01/26/investopedia70484.DTL
