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Fracking caused earthquakes in Noble County. How will it impact future developments?
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources asked Encino Energy to halt fracking operations in Noble County after recording an abnormal number of earthquakes in the area.
According to the department, the seismic activity occurred near the Bears Pad, a well pad in Buffalo Township, between April 22 and May 8.
"The Division's seismic monitoring network measured seismic events that occurred close to the pad," an ODNR spokesperson said in a statement.
According to the department's earthquake database, 53 earthquakes were recorded in the Southeast Ohio county within that time frame. Two of those hit magnitudes over 3.0 on the Richter scale. A magnitude of 3.0 is the threshold where earthquakes are often felt by people but rarely cause damage.
Texas-based Encino Energy, operating as EAP Ohio LLC, executed an operating agreement for oil and gas development in Buffalo Township in December, according to public records.
The site is in a rural area in northern Noble County. Earthquakes occurred north of the well pad up to the Guernsey County line.
The company halted fracking operations on the wells at the Bears Pad on May 8 and operations there remain ceased, according to ODNR.
Encino Energy did not respond to a message seeking comment.
Michael Brudzinski is a professor of seismology at Miami University who studies earthquakes, including analyzing relationships between the oil and gas industry and earthquakes in Ohio and surrounding regions.
Fracking can cause earthquakes by disturbing dormant faults deep underground, Brudzinski said.
"The process of hydraulic fracturing involves injection of a large amount of fluid, primarily water with a little bit of sand. The process there is trying to fracture a crack to open the rocks that have oil and gas stored in it," he said. "We've learned over time that sometimes when folks are targeting those rocks, the water can leak out of the rock formations ... and that water can leak out into nearby faults.
"And when you are injecting fluid into a fault zone, it sort of props it open a little bit, and that allows the fault to slip," he said.
Eastern Ohio is not a plate boundary currently, but was in the past, so it is imagined that the area has dormant faults that are "woken up" by injecting liquid underground, Brudzinski said.
"It's a pretty rare thing to happen, but we do have some areas in eastern Ohio that tend to be a little bit more likely that others based on the number of wells that have been operated and the number of earthquakes we see," he said.
Ohio has taken an approach to try and balance environmental risk and potential for earthquakes with potential for economic development and need for energy production, Brudzinski said. He believes the approach has been successful.
"We don't regularly have earthquakes associated with oil and gas activities in Ohio. That's an accomplishment," he said. "Ohio has been proactive."
ODNR said Encino "likely will flowback and produce those wells," meaning the company will extract oil and gas from fracking that already occurred.
Brudzinski said that means the company likely won't get to extract all of the oil and gas that could be available there.
"There was some stimulation of the rock layers prior to when the earthquakes took place, so there will be an ability to try and harvest some oil and gas from those areas, but they won't be able to operate the full extent of the well," he said. "There will be some economic loss for the company to not be able to stimulate all of the rock layer there."
The Bears Pad, located at 52750 Old Infirmary Road, is the first well pad drilled in Buffalo Township, according to township Trustee David Wikander.
Wikander said he personally didn't feel anything despite living close to the area of the recent earthquakes. He said he heard from some residents that felt them, but they didn't cause any issues because they were small.
For now, Wikander said he's not concerned about the future of oil and gas drilling in the area, and he's hopeful it could even expand.
"To me, I don't see a problem, as long as it's not affecting structures or anything like that," he said. "I would say it'll probably keep going. They've invested a lot in infrastructure in our area, and I think it's a good thing for our community."
ODNR said "any future permits to drill a well that may be issued in the area of this seismicity will include seismic monitoring terms and conditions."
Future drilling in the area will need to meet additional standards, Brudzinski said.
He said there are some potential methods to mitigate earthquake risk in known fault zones, such as by slowing the rate of injection over time, changing the viscosity of the fluid or avoiding those specific spots.
According to the ODNR earthquakes database, 161 earthquakes have been recorded in Ohio so far this year.
In Noble County, 69 earthquakes have been recorded this year. That's nearly 43% of the state's total recorded so far in 2025.
Seventy-six earthquakes have been recorded this year in Washington County, 47% of the statewide total. The largest was a 2.8 magnitude earthquake on Feb. 3. Washington County is south of Noble County.
Just 16 earthquakes have been recorded outside of Washington and Noble counties.
The largest earthquake by magnitude recorded in the state so far this year was a 3.9 magnitude earthquake in Jackson County on Feb. 3.
Reach Grace at 330-580-8364 or gspringer@ Follow her on X @GraceSpringer16.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Fracking led to quakes in Noble County, future development impacted
