Texas regulators seeking connection between fracking and earthquake
Texas regulators are scrutinizing some of the biggest U.S. energy producers in the wake of several earthquakes that have rocked the Dallas-Fort Worth area this year. An Exxon Mobil Corp. subsidiary and EOG Resources Inc., one of the biggest shale-oil and gas pumpers, are facing questions about their use of injection wells to dispose of wastewater from hydraulic fracturing operations. The state’s oil-and-gas regulator on Wednesday begins a series of hearings in Austin to assess some oil companies’ role in causing the temblors.
A growing body of scientific research from federal, state and academic researchers suggests that disposal wells, often used to get rid of the dirty water leftover from fracking and brine from oil-and-gas production, may be linked to increased seismic activity.
Some in the energy industry are trying to discount those studies.. But Ryan Lance, chief executive of ConocoPhillips, which is one of the biggest American shale drillers, concedes there is a link. “We’ve followed all the data and the evidence and it does appear that in some areas water disposal is creating seismic events,” Mr. Lance said last month. “We’re trying to understand how widespread it is.”
One of the latest studies to link oil company activity to the temblors comes from Southern Methodist University in Dallas. It connects a fracking wastewater disposal well operated by XTO Energy Inc., an Exxon subsidiary, and another disposal well owned by EnerVest Operating Co. to a series of earthquakes near Fort Worth between November 2013 and January 2014. Both are scheduled to appear before state regulators between June 10 and June 16.
Researchers at SMU say these quakes, near the Fort Worth suburb of Azle, were probably the result of subsurface pressure changes caused by wastewater injections that occurred at the same time drilling operations were causing large amounts of brine to flow up to the surface and out of wells.
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Until a few years ago, earthquakes in and around Dallas and nearby Fort Worth were rare. Not so today. So far this year, 23 earthquakes with magnitudes of 2.5 or more have hit the densely-populated urban area that is home to 6.5 million people, according to data from the U.S. Geological Survey. One of the latest, a 4.0 magnitude temblor near Venus, 30 miles south of Dallas, prompted regulators to request that four energy companies that operate five nearby wastewater disposal wells shut them down and run tests.
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http://www.wsj.com/articles/exxon-to-face-regulators-questions-over-quakes-1433593802
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But, but, Texas just passed a low prohibiting local communities from banning fracking...
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It's common sense - if an underground pocket of natural gas is destabilized, things are gonna move. There's a lot of pressure keeping it there.
But I guess it's ok to wreck our home because remember - as the nice blonde lady in the suit tells us - the US has enough natural gas to last for 50 years! 
BTW, I live in Texas, and even though that law was passed, the cities currently banning fracking aren't going down without a fight.
