This stretch of the Cuyahoga River is upstream from the dramatic fires of the 1950s and 1960s, but those fires left a legacy of environmental vigilance in nearby communties, including here in Portage County. The current concern is injection wells, where chemicals and radation-bearing fluid from fracking wells is pumped deep underground in what the federal government describes as the best practice for disposing of the material.
Earthquakes near Youngstown in 2011 and 2012 that experts believe were lkely caused by an injection well focused attention on these wells and fracking in general. Although regulators reacted with a suite of new requirements aimed at stopping the quakes, activists rallied to examine industry practices and make recommendations for study and additional regulation. You can see the agenda on the Ohio Environmental Council website.
