Not to worry. They'll re-open them a few days, as soon as people forget about the quake.

Let's see... poor regulation, poisoned well water, earthquakes. Yeah baby, clean, safe natural gas. Never mind the non-reporting of fugitive methane emissions along the chain of production, storage and distribution. Meanwhile methane seabed emissions in the Siberian Arctic have increased ten-fold in one year. The biggest tipping point on the planet. Willful stupidity. Blinding greed.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/faq/?categoryID=12&faqID=88

Thank Dick Cheney's Halliburton. Fracking - a gift that keep on giving. In fifty years "We" will be giving Halliburton a no-bid contract to purify the water they are fouling today. Think of the job creation.

It may not be such a big deal, nothing to be "excited" about.

There are only two nuclear power plants operating in Ohio and only about 180 gas and oil wells being fracked in Ohio... So the odds of a catstrophic disaster there are probably less than 50/50. Nothing to be "excited" about.

And water supplies being ruined? __ Nahhh... They have the Ohio River and Lake Erie in Ohio and average ranfall in Ohio is prretty good, it ain't Texas.

Think about the "econony",, focus on that... We are alwys reminded that, "It's the ecomomy stupid"..... Speaking of stupid,, hmmmm.

Now if they are fracking wells along the extremely dangerous ~New Madrid~ earthquake fault line, which runs from northern Illinois to Arkansas, then we have something to think about... Think of maybe a bad-ass magnitude 8 or 9 earthquake with 15 nuclear reactors located along that dangerous fault line. Now there we are talking "excitement".

I honestly believe that someday, some oil exec wizard will blithly explain, that if we use small atomic bombs deep in the ground, that we would not have to pump in nasty water to frack and cause earthquakes... And our brain damaged 536 DC elected would approve it, saying, "It's the ecomomy stupid". .

I actually did a paper in 1970 about a deep disposal well at Rocky Flats Arsenal (used to dispose of chemical weapons) that initiated a series of earthquakes, it isn't a new problem. On the other hand...the cost of the black gold, whether it is tar sands oil or Iraqi oil or soon...Iranian oil is far higher than the environmental cost of shale gas. No energy comes without cost. Done with better oversight this is where we need to move to. Conservation is also huge...but in the meantime...unless you want to walk to work, saw your wood by hand, give up the night to darkness...shale gas is a much better alternative to the sad parades at Dover Air Force Base. BTW, I live off the grid in a solar powered, compost toileted, rain water captured house. I still need fossil fuel.

This may not bode well for the disposal of CO2 - should we ever get those Direct Air Capture Devices working.

Caveat: I haven't looked into this - just off the top of the head - but if DAC became mandatory, and a drawdown in a hurry of atmospheric CO2 to < 350 ppm - there would be an awful lot of CO2 to sequester.

Manysummits - former oilfield consulting wellsite geologist - on the cutting edge of horizontal drilling way back when
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One must not forget that many claim that the Great Tsnumai that killed hundreds of thousands of people was triggered by companies drilling for Oil and Gas in the very area that was its epicenter.

I am not stating that ut a FACT that such an event was triggererd by such. I am merely stating there a good possibility that it was and it will never be properly investigated.

Wasn't there also a 5.0 fracking-related quake in Oklahoma?

Pressures build up on the earth's crust when millions of tons of silt migrate down the Mississippi, or when 300 years of ocean storms slowly move Cape Cod into a new shape. An earthquake is when the crust lets loose to find equilibrium again. These stresses can found in many places in America.

I recently heard a fracking apologist claim that fracking didn't actually create the stresses of the earthquake. He had made up a straw argument -- no one had accused the fracking companies of creating the megatonnage of stresses. The real question is, did fracking the rock cause existing stresses to let loose? I mention this because you may run into a similar apologist dealing out the same straw argument. Nationally, these people tend to operate under tight central control.

No, one does not have to have fossil fuel, just as we do not have to have these computers.

We need to move quickly to an agrarian society - and the cities can, too, in their parks and empty spaces.

We out here in the hinterlands can get along without fossil fuels, and do. Wood cookstoves and woodburning heater stoves, double-paned glass windows along South side of house for winter heat from the sun covered with quilts at night, candles for reading, grow own food so no need for store, and so on. It's pretty easy, really.

I'm an organic grower who has (not now--bit older--though I do live almost this simply) lived in an uninsulated log cabin in the Maine Woods through several winters. Got my water from the lake, including in winter (smashed the ice every day), dragged wood in from the woodpile (still do that), and so on.

The only problem with living like that is that one doesn't have much time for much else. But there is time to visit friends down the road, read a lot, and write some.

Time to think and be human.

Btw, there was a 7.3 quake in Siberia on Dec 27th... Understand there is quite a bit of oil or natural gas drilling going on there.

About 55 million years ago massive earthquakes in the Siberia area and a result of very heavy volcanic activity with releases of vast amounts of poisonous gases (may) have been the reason most life on the planet was rather suddenly eradicated. That according to some top sientists and geologists.

This fracking is truly insanity, any good geologist would know it and admit it.

del

~James Housel~ wrote,, > ("No energy comes without cost. Done with better oversight this is where we need to move to.").

We damn sure do need to move to clean energy,, but shale gas is not the better option,,, solar, tidal, geothermal are viable, cost effective alternatives with zero cost for fuel and they don't fill the atmopshere with Co2.

now, if they could harness the earthquakes...

You know this is like a really bad B grade SciFi movie, only it's F en REEL.

Shit wa do...if a dumbass redneck like me with less than a high school edercation can figure out that frackin is way off the charts stupid..why da hell can't more highly edercated sorts?

They tried that shit here in the Matsu Valley a few years back and we ran their asses outta the state and recalled one state senator that was their lick spittle down on his knees corporate lackey. His name by the way is Scott Ogden, and even dumbass rednecks up here hate his slimy ass.

Damn it's cold up here tonight..bout -20F. Life in a white trash motorhome ain't all she's cracked up ta be.

Just noticed something !!!

The headline is wrong ! It was not the "Fracking Wells [that were] Closed After Earthquakes" (CD headline) -

It was "four fluid-injection wells in eastern Ohio will be "indefinitely" prohibited from opening in the aftermath of heightened seismic activity in the area, an official said. (CD 1st paragraph).
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Check the New York Times link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/02/science/earth/youngstown-injection-well-stays-shut-after-earthquake.html?_r=1

"An official in Ohio said on Sunday that the underground disposal of wastewater from natural-gas drilling operations would remain halted in the Youngstown area until scientists could analyze data from the most recent of a string of earthquakes there...

it was centered near a well that has been used for the disposal of millions of gallons of brine and other waste liquids produced at natural-gas wells, mostly in Pennsylvania..." (these were the fracking wells, and it was the waste from these shale gas fracking wells that was being disposed of).
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That would make my previous comment on this thread more relevant (at 4:50 pm - re CO2 disposal wells). If an earthquake caused the meltdown of a nuclear reactor - that would clearly be unacceptable. (Law of unintended consequences strikes again)

Manysummits - in Calgary
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PS

The two processes are quite different, once you think about it.

"Fracking" injects fluids under pressure to physically open up the reservoir and enhance the ability of other fluids - oil or natural gas, to flow back to the surface. Sometimes (often), particulates are included in the injection process, so that the fractures induced or opened up by the high pressure injection stay open after the pressure is relieved - which is immediately after the pumper truck at the surface shuts down.

Then, fluids are allowed to flow back to the surface. This includes in the case of shale fracking (and other forms as well) some pretty potent brews. Of course, if the fracking is successful, oil or gas (or water), whatever we were after in the first place - also returns in volume. This return of fluids in volume actually lowers the reservoir pressure.

In disposal wells - it is different. Fluids are to be more or less permanently disposed of. The injection is somewhat analogous to fracking, in that these fluids of necessity must be injected under pressure sufficient to overcome the reservoir pressure - but here the analogy ends. The injection of these disposal fluids more or less continuously jacks up the reservoir pressure - unlike withdrawing valuable fluids from a producing well (which tends to deplete pressure).

This may be getting a bit tedious for the uninitiated - so I'll leave it at that.

Reservoir engineers - jump in if you dare. (I was an exploration wellsite geologist)

Please note in passing I am opposed to shale gas fracking - this is one of the unconventional sources of hydrocarbons which must be left in the ground - like the Canadian Tar Sands oil.
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I am opposed to fracking, and to the irresponsible extension of the fossil-fuel age. But I am disappointed when so many of those opposed grasp at scientifically unsupported conclusions.

I can find no credible science explaining how an activity so many orders of magnitude smaller and shallower than tectonics is resulting in anthropogenic earthquakes. We will only transcend the short-sightedness and greed of the present age through the advance of reason. When we leap to collective conclusions without clear understanding, and when we join in the cacophony of baseless sensationalism, we discredit and harm particular causes,and political engagement and activism in general, and over the long term.

Increasingly polluting the conscious collective environment with junk science may become even more harmful than our pollution of the natural environment, because this ignorant crescendo numbs and dumbs us into confusion, irrationality, apathy, and inaction in confronting the greatest and most defining issues of our times.

All too true, but sometimes "collective conclusions" don't need sophisticated science to be correct. When there's a forest fire, we all run like heck in the other direction. Simple cause & effect often suffices for adequate conclusions of danger. The fact that western science consistently denigrates anecdotal evidence as meaningless has been a hindrance to progress occasionally. How many times do we have to see the same thing happen to make a conclusion that it's dangerous?

That certainly doesn't mean that we start pulling erroneous conclusions out of our nether regions. But when there's no time to waste, god-given common sense is a considered resort.

~~hypewaders~~ you wrote, quote,,, > ("I am disappointed when so many of those opposed grasp at scientifically unsupported conclusions. I can find no credible science explaining how an activity so many orders of magnitude smaller and shallower than tectonics is resulting in anthropogenic earthquakes.").. End Quote.

Are you a scientists ~~hypewaders~~,,, what field of study ?

Scientists/geologists whom are officials who work for the Ohio government, stated the following,,, quote,, > ( McDONALD, Ohio (AP) — "Officials said Saturday they believe the latest earthquake activity in northeast Ohio is related to the injection of wastewater into the ground near a fault line, creating enough pressure to cause seismic activity.") .. End quote.

When geologists in Youngstown, Ohio state there was "little doubt" the quakes are tied to injection wells used to dispose of fracking waste deep underground, they are certain that fracking is causing earthquakes... Then they should be taken very seriously and you really should not be disappointed that others like most of us here believe them.

If you know of some scientific proof that states otherwise, it would be nice if you would share it with us and perhaps also notify the Ohio officials,,, unless what you wrote and posted here is just that you're wading through some hype. .