Thursday, October 29, 2015

Save Our Water VOTE YES! FOR Youngstown Community Bill of Rights

Prevent Toxic Fracking Waste Earthquakes NOW  

 Prevent The Poison NOW 

Save Our Water - Save Our City 

VOTE YES! Nov. 3
on the Youngstown Community Bill of Rights,
the city charter amendment to ban fracking

VOLUNTEER at the polls, call Frackfree Mahoning Valley:
234-201-0402 or E-mail: frackfreemahoning@gmail.com
DONATE HERE to help pay for radio ads:
LISTEN to our radio ad: 




Thursday, October 1, 2015

Frackfree Mahoning Valley and Buckeye Forest Council Release Joint Statement on StatesFirst Earthquake Primer

Frackfree Mahoning Valley                                News Release
and
Buckeye Forest Council
_______________________________________________________
For Immediate Release:  September 29, 2015
Contact: Jane Spies:  phone: 330-619-0730   or   234-201-0402
Teresa Mills: phone: 614-487-9290
Or e-mail: Teresa@buckeyeforestcouncil.org
Susie Beiersdorfer:  phone: 330-881-1050 or 234-201-0402
______________________________________________________
Frackfree Mahoning Valley and Buckeye Forest Council Release Joint Statement on StatesFirst Earthquake Primer
Youngstown, Ohio, September 29, 2015 –   Frackfree Mahoning Valley (based in Youngstown, Ohio) and Buckeye Forest Council released the following statement regarding the induced seismicity primer by StatesFirst released on September 28, 2015:
       “The idea that human beings can control earthquakes is absurd and an example of hubris. No one can guarantee that earthquakes can be kept small or non-damaging.  It is not known where all of the faults are that may become lubricated by disposal or injection well fluids, thereby possibly inducing a quake.  The quake problem is often associated with unknown faults, many of which cannot be adequately mapped since the cost to do so would be prohibitive.  Continuing on the path the oil and gas industry is on along with some of their allies is gambling with the public health, safety, and welfare. That is unacceptable,” said Teresa Mills of Buckeye Forest Council. 
       "There will be continued public outcry about the recklessness of allowing massive amounts of fracking waste to be injected under the places where we live - our homes and our communities.  This is too great a risk to public health, safety and welfare.  Human beings cannot control earthquakes with 100% certainty.  The risk of causing larger, damaging, even life-threatening earthquakes is too high a price to pay. As evidenced by numerous news reports, efforts to prevent man-made earthquakes in Oklahoma and Texas apparently are not working. Earthquakes are continuing. We refuse to be unwilling human subjects in what essentially is an earthquake prevention experiment,” said Susie Beiersdorfer, a geologist and a member of Frackfree Mahoning Valley in Youngstown, Ohio.
       Agency officials are toying with earthquakes.  We find it disturbing that no impacted community groups are listed as participants in the production of this report, yet numerous oil and gas companies were involved in developing this primer. 

       We must keep in mind that the largest injection well quake associated with induced seismicity was a 5.7 magnitude earthquake in Prague, Oklahoma in 2011. There is now a lawsuit taking place in Oklahoma by a woman who says she was injured when rock fell from her chimney onto her legs, as a result of an induced seismic earthquake. There is no guarantee that quakes will not get even bigger.

       Attempts to stop the earthquakes in Oklahoma and Texas, for example, are apparently not working to protect public health and safety.  In fact, Oklahoma, which has now surpassed California for earthquakes, just had two quakes on September 24, 2015 that police reported caused power outages.
       If earthquakes are continuing in places where officials are trying to stop or “mitigate” them, why should the public have confidence that they can be protected from man-made earthquakes anywhere?
       In the Youngstown, Ohio area, there are now three man-made earthquake sites related to injection wells or hydraulic fracturing operations instead of just the original site associated with the now-famous 4.0 magnitude New Year’s Eve quake on December 31, 2011.  The number of earthquake sites grew despite new state regulations, and a 7-mile moratorium, in an effort to control the quakes.  How many more earthquake sites might there be in Youngstown and the surrounding area if the state continues on the same misguided path it is currently following?
       In addition, transparency needs to be improved on the part of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR). The Poland, Ohio earthquakes, were actually a series of 77 quakes, not just five larger quakes, as officials often repeat.

       The truth is that the constant creation of millions of gallons of fracking waste fluid must stop. There is no good solution to where it will all go. How many man-made earthquakes with potential contamination of drinking water and other problems might be caused by misguided, inadequate attempts to handle massive amounts of waste fluids?  This is too risky for public health and safety.

       Officials need to stop pretending that they can control earthquakes. They must protect the public health, safety, and welfare. They need to listen to the suffering and the voices of the many people who have earthquake damage in their homes that they themselves must try to pay for even though industry, who may have caused the quakes, should be held accountable legally, financially, and morally for any damage done. 
       Further concerns are:  What effect will quakes, even repeated smaller tremors, have on the integrity of the fracking or injection wells themselves?  How might this threaten drinking water supplies for families and communities?  How might this impact our aging infrastructure?

       “They do not emphasize a major risk factor in their equation, that being citizens and public health and safety.  We do not accept the thinking that it is an acceptable risk to cause earthquakes for the benefit of a few jobs tied to fracking,” said Teresa Mills.
       For media inquiries or for more information, e-mail:
234-201-0402

       For more information, would you please see the following WFAA news video and article:

"The Fault Line: Ohio quakes offer lessons for Texas”
“Two Earthquakes Cause Power Outages In Payne County,” September 24, 2015, by News9.com
Buckeye Forest Council:   http://buckeyeforestcouncil.org/
Frackfree Mahoning Valley:   www.frackfreemahoning.blogspot.com  

                                                               # # #