On November 30, leaders of the hydrulic fracturing gas industry met for the first time in Ohio at the Covelli Centre in Youngstown. In response, seven activists blockaded a 'hydrofracking' wastewater injection site nearby to protest environmental destruction and danger to human health while demanding clean jobs for Ohio and an end to earthquakes caused by the underground injection of toxic fracking fluids.
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Hundreds of millions of gallons of water are used per injection well at high pressure to fracture shale thousands of feet below ground to release gas. The water is combined with 596 proprietary chemicals, many of which are known toxins and carcinogens such as benzene, formaldehyde, heavy metals, surfactants, and many more.
Once the ground has been fractured or "fracked" these chemicals, along with underground gas, travel through new fissures in the shale towards the water table. This contaminates aquifers feeding residential wells and streams leading to blowouts, air pollution, water pollution, earthquakes, flammable water and explosive levels of methane. These chemicals also create a hazard causing extreme health effects including cancer and brain damage from endocrine disruption. A recent well leak in Broadview Heights sickened neighbors while local emergency responders could do nothing for 24 hours. In Chester Township 85 gallons of crude oil, gas, and toxic waste water shot 20 feet in the air.
The Youngstown injection well has caused eight nearby earthquakes since March of 2011 - seven of these with an epicenter located at the well. Arrested activist Ben Shapiro said, "Well casings and cement break and degrade in the best of circumstances, it's far more dangerous at the epicenter of these earthquakes. How in the world can V&M Star and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources think this can be safe anywhere for our drinking water?" activists blockade fracking injection well from wastewater deliveries
And while some officials like Ohio Governor John Kasich call drilling a "Godsend," his administration opposes any new taxes or industry regulations and will maintain staff of fewer than 30 inspectors. Without greater regulation and enforcement such officials are clearly looking out for industry profits instead of the safety of their citizens.
Arrested activist Annie Lukins says, "a country where some of our most toxic waste is disposed of so near to the place we get our drinking water is a country where human bodies are used as waste disposal. This practice is illogical, inhumane, and we cannot let it continue to happen. Until this is stopped the industry can expect more resistance."
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