COLUMBUS —
Ohio Gov. John Kasich on Tuesday issued an executive order that immediately imposed new state regulations on deep-injection wells used to dispose of chemically-laced wastewater from oil and gas drilling.
The directive gives the Ohio Department of Natural Resources temporary authority to implement a list of rules announced after a series of Youngstown area earthquakes was tied to one such deep well.
The official order signed by Kasich says the regulations will provide the greatest degree of citizen protection possible without causing irreparable harm to an important industry.
Under the order, the chief of the division of oil and gas resources management will have authority to order preliminary tests at proposed well sites, prevent drilling where tests fail, and limit injection pressure. The state also can order installation of automatic shutoff valves and monitor for leakage.
ODNR spokesman Carlo LoParo said the order will not affect a moratorium Kasich placed on deep injection wells surrounding the epicenter of the quakes. The moratorium halted regional disposal of millions of gallons of wastewater from hydraulic fracturing for natural gas or oil and other forms of drilling.
The Youngstown well had back-to-back earthquakes on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve that grabbed widespread public attention. It was closed after the second quake reached a 4.0 magnitude.
D&L Energy in Youngstown, the well’s operator in northeast Ohio, sought state permission in February to re-open the shuttered well to conduct independent research to prove the well didn’t cause the quakes. But as of April, it had not received the state clearance it said was necessary. LoParo said at the time that the state couldn’t approve the request because of the moratorium in place.
Kasich’s order is effective for 90 days, which will allow lawmakers time to make rules permanent.
World, nation, state
Ohio governor imposes new deep-injection rules
- World, nation, state
-
-
Military plans would put women in most combat jobs
Women may be able to start training as Army Rangers by mid-2015 and as Navy SEALs a year later under plans set to be announced by the Pentagon that would slowly bring women into thousands of combat jobs, including those in elite special operations forces.
-
Jurors share concerns, and opinions, on Trayvon Martin shooting
Seminole County residents poured into the criminal courthouse in Florida last week as potential jurors for the trial of George Zimmerman. By the dozens, most were sent back home.
-
Internal Revenue Service supervisor in DC scrutinized tea party cases
An Internal Revenue Service supervisor in Washington says she was personally involved in scrutinizing some of the earliest applications from tea party groups seeking tax-exempt status, including some requests that languished for more than a year without action.
-
Poll finds most men aspire to be fathers
A recent Associated Press-WE tv poll found more than 8 in 10 men said they have always wanted to be fathers or think they’d like to be one someday.
-
New evidence being checked in Cleveland kidnapping case
A state crime laboratory is checking new evidence to determine if there were additional victims of a man charged with kidnapping three women and raping them in his home over a decade, the Ohio attorney general said Friday.
-
Steubenville football player classified as sex offender
A high school football player convicted of raping a 16-year-old girl after an alcohol-fueled party last summer was given the state’s second-toughest sex offender classification at a Friday hearing.
-
Charla Nash denied permission to sue Connecticut over 2009 chimp attack
A multimillion-dollar claim against the state of Connecticut by Charla Nash — blinded in a 2009 mauling by a 200-pound chimpanzee that tore off her face — was dismissed Friday by state Claims Commissioner J. Paul Vance Jr.
-
Ideas for keeping your data safe from snoops
Phone call logs, credit card records, emails, Skype chats, Facebook message, and more: The precise nature of the NSA’s sweeping surveillance apparatus has yet to be confirmed.
-
With student loan rates about to double, lawmakers squabble
Student loan rates will double to 6.8 percent on July 1 if Congress doesn’t settle on a new plan soon, but disagreements flared Thursday, not only between the two parties, but between a veteran Democrat and President Barack Obama.
-
U.S. whites falling to minority in under-5 age group
In a first, America’s racial and ethnic minorities now make up about half of the under-5 age group, reflecting sweeping changes by race and class among young people. Due to an aging population, non-Hispanic whites last year recorded more deaths than births.
- More World, nation, state Headlines
-
