Click to enlarge; Credit: USGS
The Ohio earthquake follows a series of smaller earthquakes that led to a decision to close a deep injection waste water well in the area. The decision was just announced yesterday. The waste being injected was from the process of gas drilling using hydraulic fracturing, (a.k.a. “fracking”)
Part of the concern about earthquakes in the area is due to the fact that Youngstown is less than 80 miles from the Perry Nuclear Power Plant on the shore of Lake Erie. The plant experienced a high radiation problem in April of this year.
Note: The video below was made in April, 2011.
Here is the data on today’s earthquake from USGS:
Magnitude 4.0 Date-Time
- Saturday, December 31, 2011 at 20:04:58 UTC
- Saturday, December 31, 2011 at 03:04:58 PM at epicenter
- Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location 41.159°N, 80.729°W Depth 2.2 km (1.4 miles) (poorly constrained) Region YOUNGSTOWN-WARREN URBAN AREA, OHIO Distances 9 km (5 miles) NW of Youngstown, Ohio
11 km (6 miles) SE of Warren, Ohio
89 km (55 miles) ESE of Cleveland, Ohio
234 km (145 miles) NE of COLUMBUS, OhioLocation Uncertainty horizontal +/- 10.3 km (6.4 miles); depth +/- 10.2 km (6.3 miles) Parameters NST=108, Nph=125, Dmin=65.7 km, Rmss=1.02 sec, Gp= 50°,
M-type=”Nuttli” surface wave magnitude (mbLg), Version=5Source
- Magnitude: USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
Location: USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)Event ID usc0007f7s
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When I lived in Mansfield & they began fracking across the road from my home, it tremored frequently & shook our house & scared our animals. We moved to Johnsonburg & feel tremors from the paper mill & trains so have been trying to ignore any shaking when it comes our way, although fracking has started in this region too. Now I am wondering if vibrations we ignored may have possibly been from this earthquake or not. We live between Buffalo & Ohio in north western Pa. Its getting a bit scarier about all the fracking in the region and what real environmental impact it is going to continue having up here. I know we need to develop natural resources in the US to free us from foreign oil, but all these fly by night diggers that descended in Tioga County Pa over the last couple of years really changed the area and not for the better. Now its beginning in Elk County and obviously its going on in Ohio and I suppose parts of NYS. With all the gas deposits below these hills, what would happen if one section blew from an earthquake? Is it unreasonable to fear some sort of chain reaction? I think there should be moratoriums on continued fracking. Its not like they really opened so many jobs up here as a result since they hired locals to do dirty work in Mansfield and brought many workers from down south to run the jobs long term. Their families are safe back home down south. What about our families and neighbors here? Even the roads are more dangerous with all the wastewater trucks driving, many of their employees work 18-20 hr shifts with only 4-8 hrs off in between, raising more risks of accidents. i know this to be true in Tioga County Pa as my sons & friends of my sons have worked for these southern companies and talked about the violations in proceedures they witnessed, so what else is going on and how can we be sure these fracking operations aren’t raising more risks of earthquakes or other natural disasters in the near future? Who can you believe when such big money and powerful people are in control over it all?
Thanks for your comment, AveHurley. Living in an area with shale gas fracking in progress sounds disruptive, worrisome and certainly has had worse consequences in some areas than the loss of peaceful enjoyment of one’s home. (I read about someone in TX who had to move from his country property because his little boy was having constant nosebleeds from the fumes from a fracking operation nearby.)
I wish these sacrifices were at least going to benefit the country as a whole, but I don’t think that is true. The price of natural gas will rise, rather than fall soon, since LNG terminals here on the west coast and on the Gulf Coast are being built to facilitate shipping the gas out of the country.
The wholesale price for natural gas was historically low in the U.S. lately because we have had a more than ample supply for our own country even drilling conventionally. Our gas was priced regionally since it couldn’t be easily shipped overseas as oil can be. But the LNG terminals will change natural gas into an internationally traded and priced commodity. Some jobs will be created in this process, but overall it will be bad for American businesses when gas prices go up, rather than down.
Where I live the air is heavily polluted by woodsmoke in the winter and if gas prices go up, it will be harder to encourage people to move to cleaner natural gas. I don’t see any benefit to most of us in this.