Hilcorp Energy responds responsibly to 5 quakes

The Greater Youngstown area certainly is no stranger to adversity tied to hydraulic fracturing for oil and natural gas.

Who, after all, could ever forget the rocking New Year’s Eve in 2011 when Youngstown and its environs were jolted by the most powerful of a series of 12 earthquakes that the Ohio Department of Natural Resources later attributed to injection-well operations at D&L Energy?

Then in March 2014, public confidence was shaken anew when seismologists pinpointed the epicenter of several earthquakes in Poland Township to wells being hydraulically fractured by Hilcorp Energy Co.

Then just last year, more than 2,000 gallons of waste oil spilled into a tributary of Little Yankee Run in Vienna Township from an injection-well operation of Kleese Development Associates, killing wildlife, fouling water resources and spreading fear throughout the community.

In those and other incidents, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and other state and federal agencies took charge, ordering shutdowns and initiating full-scale investigations.

But in an encouraging sign of growing corporate responsibility, a different response accompanied the immediate aftermath of a series of five earthquakes last week that some believe can be traced to fracking operations in Mahoning Township, Pa., near the Mahoning County line. This time, the company in charge needed no prodding, pushing or shoving from the long arm of the state or federal governments to do the right thing.

Houston-based Hilcorp Energy Co., one of the largest privately held oil and natural-gas exploration and production companies in the United States, independently acted to halt all fracking operations just a mere hours after it learned of the quakes. There were five of them that day – all technically described as micro-quakes because of their extremely low magnitude.

The company’s decision to act on its own to ensure that worker and public safety would not be compromised reflects its awareness of the amped-up public consciousnesss toward the potential hazards of fracking to the environment and community health.

It also reflects the higher standards to which companies drilling for natural gas and oil are being held as state governments – including those in Pennsylvania and Ohio – have enacted increasingly taut regulations to monitor the industry and safeguard public health.

Hilcorp’s decision makes good business sense as well. A recently released Gallup poll shows a growing majority of Americans oppose the fracking industry. The survey, released March 31, showed the number of respondents who oppose hydraulic fracturing up 11 percent, from 40 percent to 51 percent, since March 2014. Responsible actions, such as those exhibited by Hilcorp, can go far toward lessening the demonization of the oil and gas industry and building greater public trust in it.

FRACKING AS GROWING FORCE

Let’s face it. Even though the scope of hydraulic fracturing has dwindled considerably in Ohio and the Mahoning Valley in recent years, it remains a growing force toward greater energy independence.

In Ohio, the impact has been stark. As James Zehringer, director of the ODNR, told guests at a Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber luncheon one day after the Mahoning Township micro-quakes, the Buckeye State is poised to become 100 percent energy self-sufficient this year largely because of home-grown fracking.

Five years ago, Ohio produced only 9 percent of the oil and gas it used compared with a whopping 95 percent in 2015, Zehringer said.

Even though fewer wells remain active, those that are operating have become exceedingly more productive. And even though the future does not look particularly rosy for a renewed boom in fracking in the Valley, tangible benefits from Ohio production will continue to impact all state residents in lower or stabilized prices at the pump and on natural-gas bills.

Clearly then, one of the biggest challenges facing the oil and natural-gas drilling industry today is building more trust and support from the public. Actions such as that of Hillcorp last week in Lawrence County will go far toward that end. Other energy companies should follow its responsible lead.