EARTHQUAKE TIME LINE

EARTHQUAKE TIME LINE

A look at the key events in the Youngstown injection well-earthquake situation:

July 12, 2010: ODNR issues permit for brine-injection well on Ohio Works Drive to Youngstown-based D&L Energy Inc.

Dec. 22, 2010: D&L begins operating Youngstown well at a maximum rate of 1,890 pounds per square inch.

March 16, 2011: ODNR grants D&L request to increase pressure to 2,250 psi, making it highest-pressure well in Ohio.

March 17, 2011: First earthquake (and foreshock) strike the Mahoning Valley.

May 13, 2011: ODNR grants D&L request to increase pressure to 2,500 psi.

Oct. 28, 2011: ODNR spokeswoman tells The Vindicator there is no correlation between earthquakes and injection well.

Nov. 7, 2011: ODNR Geologist Tom Tomastik tells WKSU there is no link between earthquakes and injection well.

Nov. 15, 2011: James Zehringer takes over as Ohio Department of Natural Resources director, immediately seeks additional information regarding Youngstown seismic activities. Until this point, no substantial evidence-gathering took place.

Dec. 7, 2011: ODNR says it dispatched the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University to set up the seismographs in the Mahoning Valley.

Dec. 24, 2011: A magnitude 2.5 earthquake rattles the Valley.

Dec. 30, 2011: Upon reviewing extensive data from Lamont-Doherty, the D&L well in Youngstown is shut down until further notice.

Dec. 31, 2011: A magnitude 4.0 earthquake strikes the Valley. The quake was felt as far away as Buffalo, N.Y.

Dec. 31, 2011: ONDR bans injection wells within five-mile radius of D&L Youngstown well. The ban later was increased to a seven-mile radius.

Jan. 12, 2012: ODNR officials tell about 500 residents at the Covelli Centre that they are still unsure of injection well’s ties to earthquakes.

Jan. 18, 2012: Jeffrey Dick, geology department chairman at Youngstown State University, testified at a joint subcommittee meeting that in private talks with ODNR, he detailed the potential problems with drilling to great depths, including the Precambrian, the formation for which the D&L Youngstown well was drilled through.

March 9, 2012: ODNR finds D&L Youngstown injection well sparked series of seismic events.

Source: ODNR records, Vindicator files, U.S. Geological Survey.