Ohio frack job shut down Monday after earthquakes, but officials say fracking didn't cause tremors

State officials in Ohio ordered a hydraulic-fracturing operation to be shut down after an area with no history of seismic activity before fracking experienced four small earthquakes in a day, Will Drabold reports for the Columbus Dispatch. Officials said Monday's quakes were not caused by fracking, but on the same day the Ohio Department of Natural Resources "ordered Texas-based Hilcorp Energy to shut down an active well at the Carbon Limestone Landfill near Lowellville."

The department said in a statement, “Activity will remain suspended until further notice. The decision was made out of an abundance of caution after analyzing location and magnitude data provided by U.S. Geological Services.” The correct name is the U.S. Geological Survey.

Prior to 2011, the area had never had a recorded quake, but "From January 2011 to February 2012, researchers recorded more than 100 earthquakes in Mahoning County that were linked to the pumping of fracking waste deep underground into an injection well in the Youngstown area," Drabold writes. (Read more)