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2011 Youngstown quake was impetus for multi-state study of injection-well seismicity
By Ed Runyan
YOUNGSTOWN
A 148-page report written by officials from 13 states affected by man-made earthquakes had its origins in the 4.0-magnitude New Year’s Eve 2011 Youngstown earthquake.
Richard Simmers had been on the job just one month as chief of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Oil and Gas Management when that quake occurred.
Eventually, it was determined that the 4.0 quake probably resulted from the activities of the Northstar 1 injection well in Youngstown, Simmers said in an audio summary released on the Induced Seismicity Working Group’s website, www.statesfirstinitiative.org. The report was released Monday.
Injection wells dispose of waste products, primarily brine, resulting from the mining of gas and oil.
The Division of Oil and Gas created a new department related to seismicity, purchased seismometers to measure ground-movement and deployed them to begin to better understand the relationship between injection wells and man-made earthquakes. The Division of Oil and Gas also worked on legislative changes, but Simmers said he felt something more was needed.
Simmers said the Youngstown earthquakes, which were followed by additional seismic events connected to the Carbon Limestone hydraulic fracturing operation in Poland Township, caused him to seek out industry officials in 2013 to discuss the need to gather information about man-made earthquakes occurring throughout the United States. The project began in May 2014 with Simmers as co-chairman.
The project initially focused on Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas and Kansas, but branched out to include others. Its work was done by 24 state employees with help from 60 volunteer consultants.
The report they produced is intended to be a reference document to help officials running state regulatory programs be aware of the latest research and approaches being used to manage seismic activity associated with the gas and oil industry, particularly the injection of the industry’s waste water, Simmers said.
Teresa Mills of Buckeye Forest Council, an environmental group, said of the report, “The idea that human beings can control earthquakes is absurd and an example of hubris. No one can guarantee that earthquakes can be kept small or nondamaging.”
“We refuse to be unwilling human subjects in what essentially is an earthquake-prevention experiment,” added Susie Beiersdorfer, a geologist and member of Frackfree Mahoning Valley. Mills and Beirsdorfer made their comments in a news release.
A recent report from the Ohio Oil and Gas Commission relating to the denied request from American Water Management Services of Howland to reopen a suspended injection well in Weathersfield Township indicated that the Working Group’s report would provide guidance to oil and gas divisions.
The report is likely to lead to changes in Ohio law to better protect Ohio citizens from man-made earthquakes, Simmers said.
Rex Buchanan, interim director of the Kansas Geological Survey and the other co-chairman of the group, said in the audio summary that his state has been affected by oil-and-gas-induced earthquakes because there had been only one or two earthquakes in Kansas per year until 2014.
They increased to 125 in 2014 and already have reached 120 so far in 2015, he said. The number is even greater in Oklahoma, where oil and gas activity is even more prevalent, he said.