"The millions of gallons of chemical-laced wastewater that fracking produces must flow somewhere, and Ohio is trying not to be that place."

"The oil and natural-gas drilling boom spurred more permits for disposal wells there during the past two years than during the previous decade combined. The volume injected into them was on a near-record pace last year, according to the Department of Natural Resources, and more than half was from out of state. That included 92.6 percent of the water sent to a Youngstown well closed last year after 11 nearby earthquakes.

'We have become in Ohio the dumping ground for contaminated brine,' state Representative Armond Budish, the House Democratic leader, said at a Jan. 26 forum in Columbus. 'We didn't prepare adequately for the potential for earthquakes and other environmental problems.'"

Mark Niquette reports for Bloomberg News February 2, 2012. [2]