COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (DNR) issued 75 new permits for horizontal drilling in the Utica or Point Pleasant shales between the first of the year and March 4. That’s compared to just 43 permits in January and February 2016.

 

 The oil and gas industry in this state was once confronted with concerns about polluted groundwater and contaminated soil. But now the big concern for this industry is the resulting earthquakes due to fracking and an industry work shortage.

 

State officials are investigating whether a Richter magnitude 3.0 earthquake in the Wayne National Forest last month was caused by nearby oil and gas operations. It wouldn’t be the first time, as hundreds of temblors have been linked to drilling operations and injection wells in Ohio and other states like Oklahoma.

 

The latest quake occurred on April 2 near Graysville in Monroe County, in the national forest’s Marietta Unit. Activity at nearby wells was halted within an hour after the quake, according to the DNR.

 

Also according to the state, eight permitted Utica shale well sites are within five miles of the epicenter of that earthquake, which is about 120 miles southeast of Columbus.

 “Review of the seismic data placed the event in proximity to ongoing oil and gas well completion operations,” DNR spokesman Steve Irwin said. “The division continues to evaluate seismic data and completion operations in the area.” 

 

Fracking involves pumping a mixture of water, sand and chemicals deep underground to fracture rock formations and release trapped oil and gas. The wastewater that comes up with the oil and gas can be reused, but disposal eventually is necessary. Frequently, that wastewater is injected deep underground.

  “It’s too soon to connect regional hydraulic fracturing with that early April quake,” Miami University seismologist Mike Brudzinski said. “I think it’s natural to think of this as a potential relationship. The next step is trying to do the science to make sure that’s true.”

 

Brudzinski said Ohio typically experiences earthquakes of this magnitude a couple times a year. Still, he noted that the state’s southeastern region is not one with a long history of seismic activity.

 And this area is slated for more fracking activity – since December, federal officials have auctioned the oil and gas leasing rights for more than 1,800 acres of the Wayne National Forest’s Marietta Unit for eventual fracking. 

 

“The reason this quake is generating more attention is the location,” Brudzinski said. “People are concerned about this as an indication of a risk involved with hydraulic fracturing.” 

 

 In 2015, the U.S. Geological Survey released results of its first widespread examination of possible links between earthquakes and the oil and gas industry.

 It reported that oil and gas drilling and wastewater-injection wells spurred hundreds of earthquakes in Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas, as well as Ohio.

 Despite the threat of earthquakes and their relation to fracturing, wells have sprouted in various counties. The most drilling permits have occurred in Carroll County, with 434 producing wells. Belmont County is next, with 260 producing horizontal wells. There are 150 wells in Monroe County, and in Noble County there are 129 wells with another 31 being drilled.

 Oil and gas activity has made its way westward in Ohio. In Greene County (Xenia), just 15 miles east of Dayton, there are 45 oil and gas permits that have been issued.

 In Pennsylvania, there have been 196 drilling permits issued since the first of this year.