Fracking linked to earthquakes

Ohio’s Department of Natural Resources concluded fracking oil-extraction techniques caused a dozen earthquakes in the state.

Investigators noted that the seismic activity grouped around a well bore in Youngstown was likely prompted by drillers injecting high-pressure wastewater into a fault in the area’s Precambrian-era rock, according to the Huffington Post. Though the earthquakes were minor, Ohio’s oil and gas regulators announced tough new regulations on March 8 that will require well operators to submit more comprehensive geological data prior to drilling and electronically track the makeup of fracking fluids. The regulations also will ban fracking-water injection into Precambrian rock.

Last May, Britain suspended fracking nationwide following a tremor caused by shale-gas exploration.