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Anne Petermann: Obama’s State of the Union: fantasy, fact, fiction or all of the above?

by Anne Petermann, Executive Director, Global Justice Ecology Project

During Obama’s State of the Union address last night the presence of the star of the reality TV show Duck Dynasty might have been the most real part of a very surreal evening.

Of particular note were Obama’s comments on energy and climate change.

While the US Southeast was being hammered by a highly unusual winter storm which stranded thousands in the metro Atlanta area, (no, this does not disprove climate change you nitwits, climate scientists have warned for years that a warming globe means extreme and unpredictable weather) Obama was proclaiming a desire to address climate change so that “when our children’s children look us in the eye and ask if we did all we could to leave them a safer, more stable world, with new sources of energy, [we can say] yes we did.”

This sounds wonderful until we consider the “all of the above” energy strategy Obama touted earlier in the speech, which gives a nod to some of the dirtiest, most polluting and destructive energy sources.  It includes shale oil from the Bakken oil fields in North Dakota–the gas flares of which can be seen from space.  This shale oil is so extremely volatile that in the past year two trains carrying bakken oil have exploded.  It means more coal; it means more deep water offshore drilling of the type that caused the BP oil spill disaster.  It means more nukes, even in the shadow of the ongoing catastrophe at Fukushima.  And it means more fracking.  Obama made a big show of his support for natural gas “if extracted safely,” which it is not.

Obama spent exactly one paragraph on climate change.  He declared it a fact.  That anyone even needs to do that in this day and age, decades after global warming was identified as a problem, after the Northeast US was smashed by not one but two hurricanes in two consecutive years, after Super-Typhoon Haiyan devastated the Philippines, after the record droughts in Australia, Africa and the US Midwest–to name just a few climate-related catastrophes of the past 8 years–is astounding.  However, climate change is not only a fact. In my opinion it is the single greatest threat to future generations of humans and most other species.  Yet it merited only a passing mention.  One paragraph out of a 13 page speech.

One sentence of that paragraph was spent celebrating the fact that since 2004 “the US has reduced our total carbon pollution more than any other nation on earth.”  He implies, of course, that this is due to US policy.

Having watched the US obstruct any positive forward action at the UN climate conferences from 2004-2011, however, I found this absurd.

If we look at the year by year numbers, in fact, we see a very different explanation for this carbon emission reduction.

An examination of the US total carbon emissions since 1990 shows a steady upward trend until it peaked in 2004 and 2005.  It then stayed steady until 2008, when it started to rapidly decline through 2012 where it reached its lowest point since 1993. (source: the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency)

2008 was the year of the economic crisis, and it was this crisis that drove down our carbon emissions, not actions by the Obama administration.  We saw the same trend in the mid-1970s during the oil crisis, and during other economic crises of the past.

At the same time, the per capita carbon emissions of the US remain some of the highest in the world, and we continue to be the second largest global emitter of carbon after China.

The fact is, economic growth–endless expansion of an economic system based on the transformation of natural resources (forests, grasslands, rivers, fossil fuels) into private profits–drives the destruction of the natural world and accelerates climate change.

And it was this same climate destabilizing economic growth that was the major focus of Obama’s SOTU speech.

But there was one more surreal and ironic moment that stood out. Obama defended the protesters in the Ukraine, stating that “we stand for the principle that all people have the right to express themselves freely and peacefully, and have a say in their country’s future.”  Here in the US, on the other hand, such actions would leave you subject to illegal NSA surveillance and political persecution–especially if they are targeted toward ending dirty energy extraction or exposing corporate false solutions to climate change.

Sorry children’s children.  The economy comes first.

[original post at Climate Connections, a project of Global Ecology Project]

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Oppose Fast Track Authority for Terrible Trade Agreements–Contact House Representatives Now!

  Email your Congress members now!

Congressional Push for Fast Track Authority Threatens Basic Consumer Rights, Food Safety, Local Sovereignty

Statement from Food & Water Watch Executive Director Wenonah Hauter

Washington, D.C.—“With the introduction of Fast Track legislation today in the Senate and House of Representatives, the Obama Administration came a step closer to its goal to be allowed unchecked authority to promote trade deals that undermine basic consumer rights, food safety and local sovereignty. The President is seeking Fast Track authority in order to complete controversial trade deals including the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the U.S.-EU Free Trade Agreement, which are actually corporate power grabs disguised as trade agreements.

“It’s deplorable that Congress would consider giving up their oversight role and allow the White House to push for an accelerated timetable for something as critical and far-reaching as the TPP. If Congress passes Fast Track, it would allow the President to set the terms for all future negotiations relating to trade deals, without any ability of Congress to amend the language. 

“Fast Track approval would pave the way for the TPP, which could have disastrous implications for American consumers. The TPP threatens the very essence of our democratic process by promoting privatization of public resources and corporate self-regulation. It would give companies the power to overrule local governing bodies on decisions about fracking, food safety, public health and the environment. Despite the far-reaching implications of these negotiations, the TPP has mostly been negotiated in secret. But over 600 official corporate ‘trade advisors’ are privy to the content in the agreements, even though Members of Congress, governors, state legislators, the media or the public haven’t had access to its text.

“Congress must not enable devastating trade deals like the TPP by granting the President fast track authority.”

Email your Congress members now!

Food & Water Watch works to ensure the food, water and fish we consume is safe, accessible and sustainable. So we can all enjoy and trust in what we eat and drink, we help people take charge of where their food comes from, keep clean, affordable, public tap water flowing freely to our homes, protect the environmental quality of oceans, force government to do its job protecting citizens, and educate about the importance of keeping shared resources under public control. 

See Ecowatch article on weakened environmental policies in latest draft.

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ODNR Injection Permit Appealed, a First This Century; Formal Complaint to USEPA Filed

Athens County Fracking Action Network; Buckeye Forest Council press release, January 9, 2014:

Athens, OH Jan. 9, 2014 –– Athens County Fracking Action Network (ACFAN) has filed a legal appeal of the K&H 2 injection well permit issued last month by Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ONDR) Division of Oil and Gas. The well would be the second on the property owned by K&H Partners of West Virginia, in Troy Township, Athens County, and would dispose of 168,000 gallons or more of frack waste per day. The appeal is the first of an ODNR injection well permit filed in over twenty years.

Filed on behalf of ACFAN by attorney Richard Sahli, the appeal to the Oil and Gas Commission follows formal objections by over one hundred area residents to the Oil and Gas Division during a September 2013 public comment period. The Athens County Commissioners, whose objections were among those filed, held a public meeting in November to hear public testimony after ODNR refused to hold a public hearing as requested by petitioners. The day following the Commissioners’ meeting, a 3.5 magnitude earthquake shook the county. Further objections, including another from the Commissioners, Athens City Council, and an Ohio University geologist, poured into ODNR, which has still not addressed concerns about seismicity in the region. Several requests for public documents submitted in early December have still not been answered.

The appeal raises numerous technical and legal objections about the adequacy of the well proposal to protect local groundwater, including issues revealed in inspection reports at the existing K&H well, which has been operating on the property since last spring. The K&H1 data referenced includes repeated failure of well integrity, indicating geological characteristics that do not adequately confine the wastes. The appeal also claims that “The Chief unlawfully and unreasonably approved the permit by requiring that the protective casing extend only to an inadequate depth of 1,900 feet in the approximately 4,000 foot deep borehole, thereby insufficiently confining the waste…”

ACFAN member, Nancy Pierce, said of the filing, “State oil and gas laws and regulations are so badly written and enforced that the only way we can protect ourselves is by challenging them though the courts.  Local officials have no power, because the state legislature has taken away all local control over oil and gas. Citizens have no power to protect themselves under an ODNR administration designed to protect the industry.”

The filing of ACFAN’s appeal was coordinated with Buckeye Forest Council’s (BFC) filing of a closely related complaint with USEPA Region 5. The BFC complaint addresses violations and safety issues raised by K&H1 inspection data. It asks USEPA to undertake an immediate review of K&H1 violations, “bring appropriate enforcement action in the federal courts against the injection well operator,” and “require ODNR to suspend the permit for the drilling of the second well” slated for the site “until such time that through credible and scientifically valid geologic characterization and seismic study have been completed.” 

Teresa Mills, BFC Fracking Coordinator, stated, “We have become aware of numerous serious safety issues in construction and operation of the K&H1 well. With a second well permitted close by with clear potential for the same problems, the risk of groundwater contamination will snowball. It is up to citizens to act to protect our communities and water supply.”

### 

links if live links are broken:

acfan.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/ACFAN-notice-of-appeal-of-KH2-permit.pdf  and acfan.org/injection-wells/ 

buckeyeforestcouncil.org/ohio-injection-well-program/

 

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Star Tribune, MN: Massive solar plan wins bid over gas

Article by DAVID SHAFFER , Star Tribune, Minneapolis
Updated January 2, 2014 – 11:51 AM:

Minnesota soon could see at least a sevenfold expansion of solar power.

In an unprecedented ruling, a judge reviewing whether Xcel Energy should invest in new natural gas generators vs. large solar power arrays concluded Tuesday that solar is a better deal.

If the finding by Administrative Law Judge Eric Lipman is upheld by the state Public Utilities Commission (PUC), Edina-based Geronimo Energy plans to build about 20 large solar power arrays on sites across Xcel’s service area at a cost of $250 million.

“It says solar is coming in a big way to the country and to Minnesota,” Geronimo Vice President Betsy Engelking said of the ruling.

Geronimo’s Aurora Solar Project would receive no state or utility subsidies, but would qualify for a federal investment tax credit. Engleking said it is the first time in the United States that solar energy without a state subsidy has beaten natural gas in an official, head-to-head price comparison.

“The cost of solar has come down much faster than anyone had anticipated,” she said in an interview. “This is one of the reasons solar is going to explode.”  More…

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Deborah Rogers: The Myth of Energy Independence

 Energy Policy Forum: The Myth of Energy Independence

By Deborah Lawrence Rogers

Much rhetoric about energy independence has been bandied about from policy makers in Washington and executives in the oil and gas industry. We are assured that energy independence is possible now thanks to the large shale deposits being exploited throughout the country. The sound bites are frequent and effective. But when one looks more closely at the numbers, it becomes patently apparent that industry claims border on hyperbole.

The story goes that we have been engaged in a “shale revolution” since about 2005 when gas drilling in north central Texas’ Barnett Shale first emerged with significance. By 2009, nearly five years ago, we entered into the tight oil revolution (from shales) with production spiking from the Bakken formation in North Dakota and the Eagle Ford in south Texas. Industry apologists began speaking of the U.S. as having the potential to become “two Saudi Arabia’s”. Of note, however, is what industry executives and apologists were not mentioning: per well production peaked in both the Bakken and the Eagle Ford as far back as June of 2010. We know this from production records filed with state regulatory entities. That’s right. A frenzy of drilling which has more than doubled the number of wells in each formation since 2010 has masked the fact that operators have not been able to increase per well production beyond the levels seen a full three years ago. Another example of the drilling treadmill which can only hide flaws for so long.

But the merits of shale production can and should also be examined by looking at crude and gasoline prices. After all, the shale revolution is propounded to be carrying the U.S. toward energy independence. But is this really the case?

If true, then the added production from tight oil plays should be causing crude prices to decline for U.S. consumers which would then effect a concomitant decline in the price of gasoline. But this hasn’t happened. And for a very good reason. The shale energy “revolution” is simply not large enough to make a significant impact in global supply terms.

While the U.S. domestic production of crude has spiked approximately 34% since 2009, this surge has had minimal impact on global markets because it is almost imperceptible when added to global supplies. Hence the need for hyperbole.

Energy is a global commodity and as such it is traded in global markets where U.S. tight oil flows into the global crude mix. Industry hype would like us to forget this inconvenient truth.

So how much impact has U.S. tight oil had on the global energy mix? Negligible. The “shale revolution” has added about 1.5% to total global crude supplies. Further, this figure is unlikely to change dramatically given that almost all U.S. crude is being produced from only two plays, the Bakken and the Eagle Ford, both of which have already experienced per well declines as discussed above. Without additional significant new finds, the U.S. contribution to global energy supply is limited at best.

An addition of 1.5% to total global supplies does not lower prices of crude and thereby gasoline regardless of political posturing and endless sound bites. In short, the crude markets have been unmoved by the U.S. “shale revolution”. In fact, the average price of both crude and gasoline in the U.S. has fluctuated wildly during the corresponding time period and is, unfortunately, another indication that price stability is not occurring thanks to tight oil. Gasoline prices too have risen during the same time period placing further inflationary pressures on U.S. consumers.

That is neither energy independence nor energy security.

Further, the new crude which is being produced from shales is expensive and difficult to extract thereby driving up the costs considerably as compared to crude produced from more conventional wells. Producers need a crude price of about $100/bbl to make tight oil economic and a bit profitable. If prices decline, production will be priced out and if prices rise, consumers will be priced out.

But perhaps what is most interesting of all is what the industry actually has to offer U.S. consumers: a considerably more expensive version of the same old widget. An effective widget but not a new and improved widget. Industry is not offering an improved version of an old product. In fact, it can reasonably be argued that they are offering an inferior version of an old product in that the environmental costs of tight oil are proving fairly significant together with the costs of damages due to climate change.

This could go far in explaining why industry has engaged the services of public relation firms, indeed, even hiring PR executives and bringing them in house. The hyperbole over shales has reached fever pitch. After all, convincing people to pay considerably more for a product that is neither new nor improved but still extracts considerable damage to the local environment requires considerable Madison Avenue talent.

And yet what’s an industry to do when it has an environmentally unfriendly production model, a finite supply and a product which is known to be the primary culprit behind devastating climate change: hire a good PR firm, of course!

Deborah Rogers, Energy Policy Forum, 26 Dec 2013 

Printed with permission by the author.

ACFAN note: Of related interest at acfan.org, see economics page, for example, Harvard Magazine‘s Jan-Feb. 2014 piece on tax subsidies to oil and gas.
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PA Supreme Court on fracking risks

From Think Progress, Dec. 19, 2013: “Some major parts of Pennsylvania’s two-year-old Marcellus Shale drilling law are unconstitutional, the state’s Supreme Court decided Thursday.

“As the  Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports, the court voted 4 – 2 that a provision that allowing natural gas companies to drill anywhere, regardless of local zoning laws, was unconstitutional. Seven municipalities had challenged the shale drilling law, known as Act 13, that  required ‘drilling, waste pits and pipelines be allowed in every zoning district, including residential districts, as long as certain buffers are observed.’

“The Court said Act 13 ‘fundamentally disrupted‘ the expectations of Pennsylvania residents living in residential zones, and that the provision wasn’t in line with Pennsylvania’s constitution or Environmental Rights Amendment, which guarantees Pennsylvanians the ‘right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment.’

“’To describe this case simply as a zoning or agency discretion matter would not capture the essence of the parties’ fundamental dispute regarding Act 13,’ the ruling read. ‘Rather, at its core, this dispute centers upon an asserted vindiction of citizens’ rights to quality of life on their properties and in their hometowns, insofar as Act 13 threatens degradation of air and water, and of natural, scenic and esthetic values of the environment, with attendant effects on health, safety and the owners’ continued enjoyment of their private property.’”

More…

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Athens County Commissioners request seismic study before ODNR proceeds any further with K&H2 permit process

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Athens County Commissioners sent a letter to ODNR on Wed., Nov. 27, requesting a moratorium on the K&H2 injection well permitting process. The letter calls for a complete seismic study and review of the area. It states that the Nov. 20 3.5M Athens County earthquake, “felt in Little Hocking near the K&H site raises substantive concerns relevant to health, safety, and environmental conservation.” Among these concerns, the letter states, are the peer-reviewed science documenting associations between injection and quakes and “the incompleteness of the data on the Athens 2013 quake [that] point to the lack of seismic data for the region,” according to USGS.  The letter states that the study should include determining “whether citing an injection well in an active earthquake zone is proper.”

Athens City Council also voted unanimously Monday evening (12-2-13) to oppose permitting of the K&H2 injection well based on health and safety concerns, especially given recent seismic activity in the area and the inability of concrete to guarantee well integrity in an earthquake.

A report from Perry County indicates that the Sherrif’s office entrance, damaged in the Nov. 20 Athens County quake, is now a danger to people entering the building.

ACFAN NOTE: The Athens News, in printing a “correction” of its discussion of the earthquake, omitted a vital error in ODNR information provided recently to the News: The map of area injection wells provided by ODNR and purporting to include abandoned and plugged wells, which appeared on the front page of the Athens News last month, OMITS the abandoned well a mile from the Nov. 20 Athens quake epicenter, although this well was described in an e-mail from ODNR as follows:

Athens County, Permit #3036 was converted to a saltwater injection well in late 1985 and started injection operations into the “Newburg” Dolomite at depths of 2912 to 3242 feet in 1986. The injection well was used exclusively by Hocking Technical College to dispose of the production brine from the Clinton oil and gas wells Hocking Technical College drilled on their property back in the 1980s. This well stopped injecting in 1994 and was plugged and abandoned on March 9, 2001. Below is the injection volumes per year in barrels.[note: a barrel is 42 gallons]:
1986 – 4615 bbls.
1987 – 5654 bbls.
1988 – 5338 bbls.
1989 – 6770 bbls.
1990 – 7745 bbls.
1991 – 5260 bbls.
1992 – 5062 bbls.
1993 – 8590 bbls.
1994 – 0
1995 – 0
1996 – 0
1997 – 0
1998 – 0
1999 – 0
2000- 0
2001- 0
Tom Tomastik, Geologist 4, Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management 2045 Morse Road, F-2, Columbus, Ohio 43229-6693, (614) 265-1032
__________________________________________

Note the following information on the lack of accurate reporting prevalent with small earthquakes in the U.S. noted by William L. Ellsworth in his review, Injection-Induced Earthquakes, in the peer-reviewed journal, SCIENCE 12 JULY 2013 VOL 341:

“…seismic monitoring capabilities in many of the areas in which wastewater injection activities have increased are not capable of detecting small earthquake activity that may presage larger seismic events.

“… smaller [than 3.0M] earthquakes are not routinely reported in the central and eastern United States. So it is possible that smaller earthquakes could be more common in the vicinity of these wells…

“At present, with the use of seismological methods, it is not possible to discriminate between man-made and natural tectonic earthquakes. Induced earthquakes sometimes occur at the source of the stress or pressure perturbation; at other times, these events take place deep below and kilometers away from the source.
“… routine earthquake reporting in the region is incomplete for events of M < 3…”
“The RMA earthquakes demonstrate how the diffusion of pore pressure within an ancient fault system can initiate earthquakes many kilometers from the injection point, delayed by months or even years after injection ceased…”
Stay tuned.
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USGS documents the many unknowns of Athens quake

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From USGS on the Athens Nov. 20, 2013 quake: 

             Depth    Uncertainty

Depth 7.9 km ± 7.8 km
This suggests it could have been much more shallow than generally stated and therefore even more likely, it would appear, to have been influenced by injection as well as by lifting of great pressure by Nelsonville bypass construction (more below).

Note from USGS technical info page on depth:

“…Sometimes when depth is poorly constrained by available seismic data, the location program will set the depth at a fixed value. For example, 33 km is often used as a default depth for earthquakes determined to be shallow, but whose depth is not satisfactorily determined by the data, whereas default depths of 5 or 10 km are often used in mid-continental areas…” Look familiar and suspicious?
Also note the distance to the nearest seismic monitor for this quake is 69.1 km, or about 41 miles!
The uncertainty even of the location is listed as “unknown,” which is explained on the USGS technical page as occurring when “the contributing seismic network does not supply the necessary information to generate uncertainty estimates.” (http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/terms.php)
A wee bit of uncertainty with this quake it appears. And ODNR is claiming it understands its origins? Hogwash.

ODNR also claims that only deep injection causes quakes. More hogwash. The 5.7M Oklahoma quake is associated with fluid injection to depths starting at 4000′ (citation below). That’s EXACTLY the depth of the proposed K&H2 injection well. It also occurred in sedimentary rock, not deep basement layers ODNR claims are the only strata at risk.

Whether or not last week’s quake was caused by injection, siting a 5500-barrel a day (231,000 gallons) injection well facility in a seismically active region is a relevant and substantive concern that must be addressed based on new information. What is the integrity of this well to withstand future quakes? What other unmapped faults are there and what fissures created by recent Washington County and Athens County quakes that might allow migration of waste to drinking water supplies? Because there is no aquifer mapping of the area (as would be required if we were subject to USEPA permitting requirements), our concerns are greatly magnified by the recent quake.

It is certainly plausible that injection of 2.1 million gallons of oilfield waste a mile from the epicenter through a now abandoned injection well in the field by the movie theater (and the Hocking River) combined with the many tons of mountain removal at the southern end of the new bypass greatly lifted pressure on underlying layers and allowed lubricant from the injection materials to lubricate faults.

The people and public officials of Athens County are upset because we are paying attention to the science, as hundreds of calls and letters to ODNR over the past week can attest. ODNR and the Kasich government have no interest in science or in protecting the public interest. They are a brutal government quite willing to destroy the people they were elected to serve and the natural resources they are entrusted to protect. Shame on ODNR and all who carry out its immoral agenda. 

citation: Keranen, K. et al. Potentially induced earthquakes in Oklahoma, USA: Links between wastewater* injection and the 2011 5.7M earthquake sequence. GEOLOGY, June 2013; v. 41; no. 6; p. 699–702.
*Note: ‘wastewater’ is a euphemism. It should be ‘waste,’ just as we don’t say ‘lemonade water’ or ‘pee water’.  It’s not water. It’s toxic, radioactive waste.
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ODNR RESPONSES MISLEADING AT BEST. K&H PERMIT SHOULD NOT BE GRANTED

ODNR’s “responses” to over 100 public objections on the K&H2 injection well application do not address many relevant and substantive concerns. ODNR did not answer many objections. Some responses are outright untruths; others are extremely misleading. For ODNR to move forward with permitting would be irresponsible and in flagrant violation of its legal responsibility to protect drinking water as well in violation of the clear intent of Ohio law to address ANY relevant and substantive objections in a public hearing.

For example, “The U.S. EPA excludes certain wastes from the definition of hazardous because of their lower toxicity” (#16) is patently false. According to US EPA, “We all should recognize…that some Class II fluids are ten times nastier than some Class I injectates…There are many solvents, for example, that would be classified as hazardous and the wells injecting them as Class I if they were not used in conjunction with oil and gas production.”[1] Class 2 wells are exempt due to Halliburton and other legislation, not due to actual toxicity. These exemptions do not relieve the state of its drinking water nonendangerment obligations.

“How does ODNR ensure that casing and tubing will withstand degradation by the injection fluid?” (#13) is not answered. The response does not state that materials won’t fail. It simply says what ODNR is supposed to do when they do fail. ODNR checks injection pressure every 11-12 weeks at best, time for a lot of fluid migration. How do they determine a leakage is “minor” or protect our water when this leakage occurs?

ODNR response #14 states, “The longevity of a well will depend upon the operator’s commitment to fluid treatment and regular well maintenance.” Given known well failures documented in industry and academic reports, this response does not assure confidence or the state’s mandated protection of our drinking water “until the end of time!”[2]

#15 does not answer the question of total lack of water monitoring. It states that there can be leakage but claims it is contained within outer steel and cement casing, known to fail. The response also states that contamination would have to be discovered by area residents. The K&H2 application provided no data on whether or how geologists determined depths of drinking water supplies, thickness and nature of confining strata, and porosity. Public concern is therefore NOT addressed, especially given recent seismic activity and NO seismic study. What is the shearing potential of this well, for example, in an earthquake?

“How can a maximum [pressure] also be an average?” (#3) does not answer the question, understandably difficult since a maximum cannot also be an average (unless there is NEVER variance in injection pressure). Didn’t we learn about averages in about fourth grade? Answer #4 states that an average can be zero, which would also require there never be any pressure needed to inject 4000 barrels a day through a 2 2/3” tube to a rock layer 4000’ deep. Implausible to say the least. These are therefore still relevant and substantive concerns.

ODNR misleads in its comparisons to USEPA requirements. Key is that ODNR never approves of contents or even has a record of exact contents. “Ohio calculates the maximum allowable injection pressure in a more conservative and protective manner” misrepresents the facts. Unlike USEPA, which requires all contents to be reported to determine maximum pressure, ODNR uses a formula based in the specific gravity of production fluid from the Clinton formation, a shallow oil and gas layer. This does not account in any way for actual specific gravity of flowback from much deeper layers accessed and chemicals used in fracking. #11 also misleads since ODNR only uses an actual specific gravity when an operator requests a change in maximum pressure.

ODNR has NOT shown that ALL public objections are irrelevant and without substance or assured the public of its ability and commitment to carry out its federal and state-mandated responsibility to protect drinking water. 

See post that follows and acfan.org/injection-wells/ for more.

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3.5M quake in Athens County, fifteen hours after injection well meeting. The earth saying, “Time for direct action”?

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A 3.5M earthquake shook Athens, Nelsonville, and surrounding areas yesterday, frightening many in their shaking homes and many aware of the clear implications for our drinking water. Our land is becoming riddled with holes into which massive quantities of toxic, radioactive frack waste are being dumped. And we now know that this is happening in a seismically active area as well as one pockmarked with abandoned wells and mines and flowing with acid mine drainage, which speeds wells’ inevitable pipe and cement corrosion and degradation. How safe do you feel with ODNR at the wheel?

The quake was possibly the largest ever originating in Athens County (there was possibly one similar in size in 1886. Records are contradictory.) It is less than a mile from an abandoned injection well along the Hocking River that received over 2 million gallons of oil and gas field waste before being “plugged” a decade ago.

ACFAN issued the following press statement following the quake:

ACFAN considers the Athens County 3.5M earthquake (11-20-13, epicenter near Doanville, 2 mi. SE of Nelsonville) an alarming occurrence given imminent approval by ODNR of an Athens County injection well that will dump 168,000 gallons a day (63,000,000 gallons/year) of toxic radioactive frack waste below our community. Approval would make the K&H site the largest facility in the state. The 3.5 quake makes it the largest ever with an epicenter in Athens County.  

The occurrence of this quake makes it unconscionable and illegal for ODNR to permit the K&H2 well without a seismic survey of the region. Migration of waste into drinking water due to future quakes would put tens of thousands of people at risk. Even Tuppers Plains’ C-8 treatment cannot clean radioactive water. Underground injection well programs MUST protect drinking water by state and federal law.

The science on induced quakes is clear: injection can cause earthquakes. Whether or not this particular quake was caused by injection wells (the nearest active injection well is less than ten miles away), the occurrence demands of ODNR that an adequate seismic study be required before further considering permitting this dangerous well.
People are urged to write ODNR Director James Zehringer (james.zehringer@dnr.state.oh.us) and Chief Simmers (Rick.Simmers@dnr.state.oh.us) to demand that the K&H2 permit process be suspended. People are also encouraged to contact USEPA Region 5 Administrator Susan Hedman hedman.susan@epa.gov to demand suspension of all Ohio Class II injection well permitting until a full USEPA audit is conducted. Please also write Sherrod Brown’s office either using his online form or by writing jeanne_wilson@brown.senate.gov.