Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Summer 2013

Publication Title

Case Western Reserve Law Review

Keywords

Hydraulic Fracturing, Oil Spills, Emergency Preparedness

Abstract

In this article, Robertson notes that Ohio is moving quickly towards hydraulic fracturing of horizontal wells and some argue it has insufficiently considered and managed that rush in light of the potentially disastrous, albeit unlikely, consequences of groundwater contamination, explosion at wells or drilling sites, depletion of freshwater supply as high volumes are used in fracturing, and disposal of contaminated flowback water. Similarly, although drilling for oil from deep water rigs was neither a new idea nor a new technology when the Macondo well blew out on April 20, 2010—killing 11 people, spewing tons of oil in the Gulf of Mexico, and sinking a $50 million drilling rig—most deep water wells that preceded it had not been drilled quite so deeply into the seafloor. Many of the technologies employed there were untested at such great depths, and regulation and enforcement had not kept pace with the advances in technology. This Article considers just a few of the lessons identified through government and other studies that followed the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. It considers how those lessons might be applied to Ohio’s regulation of hydraulic fracturing in the hope that Ohio can avoid some of the same mistakes that arguably paved the way for the blowout in the Gulf. In particular, this Article discusses three areas of potential concern: agency structure and responsibility, inadequacies in research or follow though, and emergency planning and preparedness for disaster.

Previous Versions

Dec 9 2013
Nov 3 2013

Volume

63

Issue

4

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