Ohio Quakes

So. I live in a small town, Hubbard, Ohio. Due to the recent fracking, we have had a few earthquakes. Ok, maybe more than a few. I'm pretty sure anyone on this site has heard. Is CP prepared if an earthquake happened?

Your premise is flawed. There is absolutely no evidence that the fracking process used to extract oil and natural gas from our abundant reserves of shale formations induces earthquakes.

As for CP, they would be better served worrying about tornadoes, which have caused real damage at the park.

I'm sure that CP has an Emergency Action Plan for all types of emergencies. EAP's are not usually things companies post for public view but they do exist (unless you are on a cruise ship).

Rapids 77-78 said:
Your premise is flawed. There is absolutely no evidence that the fracking process used to extract oil and natural gas from our abundant reserves of shale formations induces earthquakes.

Not true.

http://www.huliq.com/10304/scientists-confirm-ohio-earthquake-caused-fracking

There's at least a nominal amount of evidence that fracking does indeed cause earthquakes. At a small but significant number of wells, a very high correlation between fracking and quakes has been observed.

But I agree with you that the Point probably has more important things to worry about. At least until somebody starts drilling on the Chaussee.

Ensign Smith said:

Not true.

http://www.huliq.com/10304/scientists-confirm-ohio-earthquake-caused-fracking

There's at least a nominal amount of evidence that fracking does indeed cause earthquakes. At a small but significant number of wells, a very high correlation between fracking and quakes has been observed.

But I agree with you that the Point probably has more important things to worry about. At least until somebody starts drilling on the Chaussee.

Living around a half hour south of globmonster and knowing what we felt about 25 min south of the epicenter of the last bigger quake, I would say the Point should be worried with drilling anywhere close by for potential quakes.

Aside from the ODRN reports and the like, there are several other states that have quake problems from injection wells.

Where would we go if there was a tornado? I know Carowinds for example had bad storms over the summer and used their theater for shelter so would they like put us in disaster transport?

I too live in the Youngstown-Warren region as well. Everytime an earthquake was recorded, it has originated at or near these injection wells.

Anyway, I'm sure CP is well covered in emergency-type situations. Especially for liability purposes, their actions taken during thunderstorms is a good example.

I can't imagine any earthquake short of a 6.0+ would cause any sort of damage at the point. Since living in OK we've had a 4.3, 4.7, 5.6, and 4.7 and there wasn't any real reports of significant damage even near the epicenters.

The actual odds of a significant earthquake in northern ohio are probably much less than winning the lottery, being hit by lightning and a tornado and being in a plane crash in the same day.

The biggest natural cause for concern that Cedar Point has would be lightning and straight line winds from thunderstorms. Those are much more common and have the opportunity to be much more deadly.

The other thing to be concerned about would be heat related issues when temperatures go over 90-95 degrees.

Maverick00 said:
Where would we go if there was a tornado? I know Carowinds for example had bad storms over the summer and used their theater for shelter so would they like put us in disaster transport?

In case of a really bad storm, you'll be ordered to seek shelter in the nearest building. For example if you are caught on the midway you'll be asked to head in the main arcade and so on if you are anywhere else in the park rather it's to the nearest restroom or control room. On May 26 of last year we were order to head over to Midway Market due to a powerful storm that hit Cedar Point.

I'd think (and hope) all Cedar Fair parks have various disaster plans. I was at King's Dominion over the summer when an Earthquake occurred.

What happened is that all ride operation froze, and the park went dead silent. After an hour or so, they announced that the rides would be reopened once they all had an inspection. They announced that all guests could visit guest relations and receive another ticket good for another day at the park if they chose not to wait.

Slowly, the rides reopened one by one throughout the day. Nearly all rides reopened except the tallest like drop tower, Volcano, Anaconda, and I-305.

I think KD handled the situation pretty well overall. There was very quick communication to shut down the rides, and it was nice of the park to issue new return tickets. The only thing is that I wish there was more communication the first hour to guests while the park was shut down.

I was driving into the parking lot when the earthquake hit, and I didn't feel it. It was strange to see a whole quiet park of people standing still and all rides closed. I was unaware of the earthquake, and all the operators just said "We are down for mechanical problems." I had to find out what was going on from guests.

maybe they were inspecting the announcement system during that hour :)

bholcomb said:
I can't imagine any earthquake short of a 6.0+ would cause any sort of damage at the point.

I don't know, with Magnum sinking and all...

That quake on New Years Eve was rough for us around here. Everything was dead silent for an hour. The epicenter was very close to the old Idora.

Thanks everyone for the insite on coasters and quakes.

Bet its a nightmare at SFMM....

Bill02 said:

Ensign Smith said:

Not true.

http://www.huliq.com/10304/scientists-confirm-ohio-earthquake-caused-fracking

There's at least a nominal amount of evidence that fracking does indeed cause earthquakes. At a small but significant number of wells, a very high correlation between fracking and quakes has been observed.

But I agree with you that the Point probably has more important things to worry about. At least until somebody starts drilling on the Chaussee.

Living around a half hour south of globmonster and knowing what we felt about 25 min south of the epicenter of the last bigger quake, I would say the Point should be worried with drilling anywhere close by for potential quakes.

Aside from the ODRN reports and the like, there are several other states that have quake problems from injection wells.

Right. Scary stuff when you think that this area has mass drilling. I think CP should be worried.

I don't think the fracking sites are close enough to Sandusky for Cedar Point to be worried about them. We rarely feel any type of quake in Cleveland and Cedar Point is another hour away.

http://innovationohio.org/fracking-map

This is the largest quake Ohio had last year and Sandusky was pretty much on the outer edge of where it was felt

http://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/2012/01/02/what-we-know-fracking-activity-and-the-ohio-earthquake/

Last I heard, the governor was pushing to allow fracking in the lake. Canada, thankfully, hasn't lost their minds and was strongly opposed to it, so hopefully it's not going to go through anytime soon. Depending on where the locations are that they want to drill, those could potentially be quite a bit closer to the park than the existing sites.

This, I'm opposed to. Leave our Great Lake alone. There's plenty of hydrocarbons stored under dry land.