League's Forum on 

"FRACKING: 

FACTS AND FEARS"

Wednesday, February 29th, 
7:00 pm UD School of Law, 
Keller Hall; Courtroom

Free parking Lot A corner Stewart/Alberta Streets, 
one block away

All League meetings are free and open to the public.

Bring your questions for a panel of local experts as we explore the environmental and legal issues of the controversial process called fracking.

     Have you been hearing about thousands of potential jobs and the potential windfall tax revenues from the process of natural gas extraction called horizontal hydraulic fracturing of the underground shale rock layers, commonly known as fracking? Have you also been hearing about earthquake near Youngstown apparently caused by injection of used fracking fluid into deep wells? And have you also been hearing reports of contaminated residential wells, the threats to aquifers and surface waters, and about sick people and animals near the fracking sites? Join us on February 29th as we explore the Facts and Fears of Fracking.

So, what is fracking? First, some geology. Ohio has two types of underground shale layers: the shallower Marcellus shale in eastern Ohio where active fracking in going on now, and the deeper Utica shale layer which is under most of the state. Utica shale also contains oil. Drilling leases are being signed in many parts of the state, including Fayette County (Washington Court House). Vertical drilling leases have been signed in Greene County. Estimates are that 95% of residents of Carroll County in eastern Ohio signed drilling leases by the close of 2011.

     In the November, 2011 issue of Scientific American magazine, author Chris Mooney explains that the process of hydraulic fracturing of underground shale rock to extract natural gas (methane) began in the 1940's, but what is new is the ability to do deep drilling vertically and then horizontally which can free up massive amounts of this trapped methane gas. Chemically treated water and sand are injected at high pressure to crack the shale and keep the fissures open for gas extraction. The toxicity of this chemical mix, which the gas companies call "brine" and environmentalists call fracking fluid, does not have to be disclosed because the companies won Congressional approval to have it considered a trade secret. In a drilling area companies may drill a dozen or more vertical wells over a mile deep and then drill horizontally for long distances. About 20% of the fracking fluid comes back up out of the drillings shaft and must be disposed of. The industry prefers either to re-use the fluid if possible, or to inject the used fracking into high pressure injection  wells. Eastern Ohio has 177 of these wells including the now-closed one near Youngstown where 11 earthquakes have occurred since March, 2011.