Frackfree Mahoning
Valley News Release
and
Buckeye Forest Council
_______________________________________________________
For Immediate
Release: September 29, 2015
Contact: Jane Spies: phone: 330-619-0730 or 234-201-0402
Teresa Mills: phone: 614-487-9290
Or e-mail: Teresa@buckeyeforestcouncil.org
Susie
Beiersdorfer: phone: 330-881-1050 or
234-201-0402
______________________________________________________
Frackfree Mahoning Valley and Buckeye Forest Council Release Joint
Statement on StatesFirst Earthquake Primer
Youngstown, Ohio, September 29, 2015 – Frackfree Mahoning Valley (based in Youngstown, Ohio) and
Buckeye Forest Council released the following statement regarding the induced
seismicity primer by StatesFirst released on September 28, 2015:
“The idea that human beings can control
earthquakes is absurd and an example of hubris. No one can guarantee that
earthquakes can be kept small or non-damaging.
It is not known where all of the faults are that may become lubricated
by disposal or injection well fluids, thereby possibly inducing a quake.
The quake problem is often associated with unknown faults, many of which cannot
be adequately mapped since the cost to do so would be prohibitive.
Continuing on the path the oil and gas industry is on along with some of their
allies is gambling with the public health, safety, and welfare. That is
unacceptable,” said Teresa Mills of Buckeye Forest Council.
"There
will be continued public outcry about the recklessness of allowing massive
amounts of fracking waste to be injected under the places where we live - our
homes and our communities. This is too great a risk to public
health, safety and welfare. Human beings cannot control earthquakes with
100% certainty. The risk of causing larger, damaging, even
life-threatening earthquakes is too high a price to pay. As evidenced by
numerous news reports, efforts to prevent man-made earthquakes in Oklahoma and
Texas apparently are not working. Earthquakes are continuing. We refuse to be unwilling human subjects in what
essentially is an earthquake prevention experiment,” said Susie
Beiersdorfer, a geologist and a member of Frackfree Mahoning Valley in
Youngstown, Ohio.
Agency officials are toying with
earthquakes. We find it disturbing that
no impacted community groups are listed as participants in the production of
this report, yet numerous oil and gas companies were involved in developing
this primer.
We must keep in mind that the
largest injection well quake associated with induced seismicity was a 5.7 magnitude
earthquake in Prague, Oklahoma in 2011. There is now a lawsuit taking place in Oklahoma
by a woman who says she was injured when rock fell from her chimney onto her
legs, as a result of an induced seismic earthquake. There is no guarantee
that quakes will not get even bigger.
Attempts to stop the earthquakes
in Oklahoma and Texas, for example, are apparently not working to protect
public health and safety. In fact, Oklahoma,
which has now surpassed California for earthquakes, just had two quakes on
September 24, 2015 that police reported caused power outages.
If earthquakes are continuing in places
where officials are trying to stop or “mitigate” them, why should the public
have confidence that they can be protected from man-made earthquakes anywhere?
In the Youngstown, Ohio area, there are
now three man-made earthquake sites related to injection wells or hydraulic
fracturing operations instead of just the original site associated with the
now-famous 4.0 magnitude New Year’s Eve quake on December 31, 2011. The
number of earthquake sites grew despite new state regulations, and a 7-mile
moratorium, in an effort to control the quakes. How many more earthquake
sites might there be in Youngstown and the surrounding area if the state
continues on the same misguided path it is currently following?
In addition, transparency needs to be
improved on the part of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR). The
Poland, Ohio earthquakes, were actually a series of 77 quakes, not just five
larger quakes, as officials often repeat.
The truth is that the constant
creation of millions of gallons of fracking waste fluid must stop. There is no
good solution to where it will all go. How many man-made earthquakes with
potential contamination of drinking water and other problems might be caused by
misguided, inadequate attempts to handle massive amounts of waste fluids? This is too risky for public health and
safety.
Officials need to stop pretending
that they can control earthquakes. They must protect the public health, safety,
and welfare. They need to listen to the suffering and the voices of the many
people who have earthquake damage in their homes that they themselves must try
to pay for even though industry, who may have caused the quakes, should be held
accountable legally, financially, and morally for any damage done.
Further concerns are: What effect will quakes, even repeated smaller
tremors, have on the integrity of the fracking or injection wells themselves?
How might this threaten drinking water supplies for families and communities? How might this impact our aging
infrastructure?
“They do not emphasize a major
risk factor in their equation, that being citizens and public health and
safety. We do not accept the thinking that it is an acceptable risk to
cause earthquakes for the benefit of a few jobs tied to fracking,” said Teresa
Mills.
For media inquiries or for more information, e-mail:
234-201-0402
For more information, would you
please see the following WFAA news video and article:
"The Fault Line: Ohio quakes offer lessons for Texas”
“Two Earthquakes Cause
Power Outages In Payne County,” September 24, 2015, by News9.com
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