Ohio official admits possible link between fracking and earthquakes; bans disposal injection

[icymist]

4. Here is an article from the Youngstown, Ohio newspaper:

Ohio bans injection wells near D&L site in Youngstown

The Mahoning Valley ended 2011 with a deafening bang.

The new year promises to be more quiet.

After a 4.0 magnitude earthquake struck shortly after 3 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, Ohio banned injection wells within five miles of a Youngstown brine-injection well suspected of causing 11 earthquakes this year.
http://www.vindy.com/news/2012/jan/01/ohio-bans-injection-wells-near-dl-site-youngstown/

<snip>
Ray Beiersdorfer, a geology professor at Youngstown State University, said that brine water injected deep into the ground can act as a lubricant between underground formations. Under normal circumstances, the formations are held together by the weight of the formations above and by the force of gravity. But add the brine as a lubricant, and those formations — in this instance the Mt. Simon and Precambrian — can then shift on top of each other, causing an earthquake.

It is not known if the D&L well caused any of the earthquakes, but the state on Friday told D&L to cease operations to run radioactive tests and plug the bottom 250 feet of the well.

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Radioactive tests? What are they doing that's radioactive?