"Youngstown, Ohio, Is a City Changed By Fracking"

"Controversial as fracking is, Youngstown, Ohio, embraces it as an economic savior – eager to take risks that have even caused the earth to tremble."

"YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – You might think an earthquake would be enough to make a town turn against fracking, but no, not here, not with a new billion-dollar steel plant open along the river and more new jobs everywhere you look.

This worn-out notch in the Rust Belt, long known for industrial decay and a Bruce Springsteen song about an unemployed steelworker fixing to die, doesn’t seem to mind being shaken up every once in a while if that’s the price to pay for an economic comeback.

Youngstown bore that price most severely on New Year’s Eve 2011, when the earth shook with a tremor that measured 4.0 on the Richter scale and that could be felt in Buffalo, 200 miles away."
 
Jerry Zremski reports for the Buffalo News May 18, 2014. Third of three parts.

SEE ALSO:

Part 2: "As Environmental Debate Rages Over Fracking, People in Western Pennsylvania Express Dread" (Buffalo News)

Part 1: "A Border Tale of Boom And Bust" (Buffalo News)