Drilling Down
Company Gets Permit to Handle Radioactive Waste
Monday, April 21, 2014YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Activists in Ohio are concerned that a local company may soon be handling waste from the oil and gas industry that they say is just too hot to handle. But a principal of the operation says that the objective of his company is to protect the environment and to ensure safety, especially when it comes to "hot" radioactive material generated from drilling operations in the Utica and Marcellus shale plays.
Exxon Moves Forward to Drill in Southern Utica
Thursday, April 17, 2014YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- XTO Energy Inc., a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil Corp., was awarded eight of the 12 new horizontal drilling permits issued by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources last week, the agency reports.
XTO received eight new permits to drill wells in Belmont County, in the southern tier of the Utica shale. The wells are targeted for York and Mead townships, ODNR reports.
Group Launches 'Listening Project' on Fracking
Tuesday, April 15, 2014YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Communities United for Responsible Energy, or Cure, plans to conduct a "listening project" this spring and summer to survey the effects of oil and gas exploration in Columbiana and Carroll counties.
The group, in conjunction with FracTracker Alliance, The Ohio Environmental Council, and Locals 809 and 1015 of the Laborers Union, plans to survey more than 1,000 residents of Columbiana and Carroll counties and learn how hydraulic fracturing has affected their lives.
Advocates, Opponents React to New ODNR Regulations
Friday, April 11, 2014YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- The Ohio Department of Natural Resources' decision to add new regulations to drilling sites across the state in connection with earthquakes last month in Poland Township is a step in the right direction, but more action is needed, a geologist says.
"I'd like to require companies that if they identify a previous unknown fault, they should report it to ODNR," says Raymond Beiersdorfer, a geology professor at Youngstown State University. "There needs to be some responsibility."