Ohio's Fracking Problems

     Natural gas, found between layers of shale sometimes deep below the surface of the Earth, is formed primarily by decaying plant and animal matter.  And of course, it takes millions of years to form like most fossil fuels.  Beginning in the later 19th century, natural gas emerged as an industry on the national stage in the United States.  And naturally (pun not intended), federal regulation of the industry arose to protect the need of consumers.  More recently, natural gas has gained more attention, both on the local and national level, for being being the next step in the age of renewable and clean energy.  However, it is neither renewable nor that much cleaner.
     This is a very pressing issue currently in eastern Ohio.  It is thus because this region of Ohio contains portions of both the Marcellus and Utica Shale deposits and easily accessible drilling depths.  As a result, natural gas companies began drilling into these rich deposits to extract the gas.  For those unfamiliar with the process of natural gas drilling, sand and other toxic chemicals are added to water and this mixture is then injected at high pressures into the ground to penetrate the shale layers and force natural gas into underground pipes to later be pumped to a processing facility.  After the drilling process, natural gas companies either have the option to treat the water chemically (which is very pricey) or to inject the waste water into natural wells hundreds of feet under surface of the earth and below any water tables.
     The cause for most of the concern then is how stable these wells containing all of these toxic wastes really are.  Since injections into underground wells has commenced in Ohio, regions with normally stagnant geologic activity have seen rises in the numbers of earthquakes they see each year.  Paul Hsieh, a research hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, Calif, is on record concerning deep earth water injection saying that it's "widely documented and accepted within the science community.  It's seen all over the world."  Such concerns have led to states across the country, including Ohio, to try and push more stringent fracking regulations into legislation, some in effort to control natural gas industries, some in effort to appease them.  
     Ohio's "landmark" fracking legislation did little more than give natural gas drillers a longer leash on which to roam.  A pro-environmental website (ecowatch.org) is quick to point out the pitfalls of Senate Bill 315.  Including that the gas industry had a lot to do with how the bill was worded and written, if fracking companies call their chemicals they use with the water "trade secrets", then they do not have to disclose them to the public, natural gas companies will pay less taxes than in any other state in the country because of new tax breaks on properties deals, and no citizen input or notification will be allowed on any part of the fracking process.  This was clearly something that angered many environmental activists, both locally and nationally alike.
     I think fracking would be more effectively regulated on the national scale.  It seems to me that on the state level, natural gas companies and other special interest groups have too much control of locally made decisions.  This is an example of the "race to the bottom" mentality of many states regarding environmental regulations.  If environmental legislation is lax enough, more industries will want to come into their state and will help the local economy but hurt the environment in the process.  There are also many transboundary issues, namely when it comes to the sources of the natural gas.  The Marcellus Shale mentioned above, stretches across eastern Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York.  In addition to that, natural gas companies are paying Ohio to bring their toxic wastewater from drilling sites outside of the state and injecting into wells here.  
     If the national government were able to wholly regulate the natural gas industry, it would be the end of many of these dirty politics and back door dealings.  However, there would still be some negatives to such federal regulation.  Just like with state governments, natural gas special interest groups would be able to work their influence on national representatives.  Also, local environmental interest groups would be outraged at the federal government extending their hand again into local matters.  I do not think that federal regulation is the best solution for fracking, but something has to be done in places like Ohio to help stricter regulations to be enacted.  

sources so far:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/03/ohio-fracking-earthquakes_n_1182079.html
http://ohiodnr.com/tabid/23947/Default.aspx
http://www.naturalgas.org/overview/history.asp