ODNR Finds Youngstown Injection Well Caused Earthquakes

A preliminary report released by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) on Friday concludes that a dozen earthquakes in northeastern Ohio were “almost certainly” induced by injection of gas-drilling wastewater (a full copy of the report is embedded below). The evidence is overwhelming: The earthquakes did not begin until three months after the injection well went online; the quakes were all clustered around the well bore; and a new fault has been discovered in the bedrock where the wastewater was being injected. Taken together, the ODNR is as sure as it can get that the injection well was causing the earthquakes.

Therefore, the ODNR has issued new regulations for injection wells, what state officials are calling among the toughest rules in the nation. From the ODNR press release:

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