Ohio wells halt injection on fracking wastewater due to quake

State authorities have suspended operations at two deep-injection wells for fracking wastewater in northeastern Ohio after discovering evidence that the operation caused a 2.1-magnitude earthquake.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources issued an order to American Water Management Services for its Weathersfield site.

The officials announced that the quake was relatively minor and the suspension is effective pending a full investigation.

American Water Management Services recently had received permission to increase pressures at its Weathersfield site.

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The citizens group Frackfree Mahoning Valley had called for an immediate halt to deep injection at the wells after the earthquake.

The Marcellus and Utica shale fields, rich in natural gas and oil, lie deep underneath parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York and West Virginia. More than 6,000 wells have been drilled there in the past five years.

In 2012, due to some seismic activities, Gov. John Kasich ceased disposal of fracking wastewater surrounding a well site in the same region.

After a series of earthquakes in nearby Youngstown, the state employed seismic-monitoring devices in the Warren area.

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