2 New Earthquakes Near Youngstown, OH – Fracking Connection?

A few years ago a now-shuttered injection well near Youngstown, OH was linked to a series of earthquakes in the area (see ODNR Finds Youngstown Injection Well Caused Earthquakes). The injection well was found to be located over an active fault--and when you inject a lot of liquid into a fault area, you get earthquakes. When earthquakes happen in areas like Youngstown--an area that doesn't usually see such activity--it's cause for concern. Yesterday morning there were two more earthquakes big enough to be felt in the Mahoning Valley area. The first quake was a 3.0 on the Richter scale, and the second a 2.6. So, out of "an abundance of caution," the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) has asked the single drilling operation in the area--Hilcorp Energy--to suspend their drilling activity for now. There are no active injection wells in the area--only Hilcorp's Utica Shale drilling operation of 7 wells on 2 well pads...

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