Frackfree MV installs 4 Trumbull County seismometers

Staff report

BROOKFIELD

Frackfree Mahoning Valley installed four seismometers near injection wells in Trumbull County to track seismic activity.

There are two injection seismometers installed near the site of five injection wells in Brookfield, one near the Vienna well and another near the Weathersfield well.

John Williams, Frackfree MV member, said it was important to track data in Brookfield because residents have been reporting loud booming noises near the site.

Officials haven’t pinned down the source of the booming noise, but activists worry it may be linked to the injection wells.

Oil and gas companies install seismometers near its injection wells per state regulations, but the group wanted to track seismic activity itself.

“This way, now the people own the data and we will share it with everybody,” Williams said.

So far, Williams said there hasn’t been strange activity in the seismic readings, but when there are “booms,” the group wants to be able to analyze the data to see if seismic activity changes.

The seismometer was funded through a donation to Frackfree MV.

The Weathersfield seismometer is installed 1.3 miles away from the Meander Dam. Williams said the group fears the dam being compromised and flooding nearby areas if there are earthquake tremors.

The group is working on creating a live stream of the data on the website frackturedplanet.com.

There are resources on the website instructing how to interpret seismic data, and a link to a Google forum to report occurrences near the wells such as the booming noises.