Fracking foes challenge Ohio earthquake assurances
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – A citizens’ group isn’t taking the word of state regulators that new permitting guidelines will protect public health after earthquakes in northeast Ohio were linked to the gas drilling method of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
Youngstown-based Frackfree Mahoning Valley says the science behind the finding is suspect and new permit conditions won’t prevent future quakes.
A Youngstown State University geologist affiliated with the group says the state didn’t produce a scientific report to accompany a geologist’s recently released conclusion linking Utica Shale fracking to earthquakes for the first time.
The spokesman for the state says issuing a report would have slowed down getting the information to the public.
The finding prompted the new conditions and a moratorium on new fracking at the site of recent quake activity.