Didn't see this posted yet (did I miss it?), but it's important to note. Ohio state geologists have recently linked fracking to earthquake activity. As a result, new permit conditions were put in place:
Today Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Director James Zehringer announced new, stronger permit conditions for drilling near faults or areas of past seismic activity. The new policies are in response to recent seismic events in Poland Township (Mahoning County) that show a probable connection to hydraulic fracturing near a previously unknown microfault.
Salon's Lindsay Abrams
notes that this is significant because:
It’s also one of the first times in the U.S. that earthquakes have been linked to fracking itself — in the past, Ohio quakes have been linked to wastewater injection wells, which are merely a fracking-related activity, and not inherent to the process. Those earlier quakes, over 100 of which shook Youngstown, Ohio, happened in an area where there were 177 active wastewater injection wells, the Columbus Dispatch explains. But there were none near the recent earthquakes in Mahoning County, leaving fracking as the prime suspect.