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In reply to the discussion: Fracking is a huge environmental and human threat. Why does Obama support it? [View all]sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)69. Here's an article that addresses earthquakes and fracking:
Does Fracking Cause Earthquakes
It's worth reading the entire article. It seems what they have discovered so far is that the small earthquakes are related to fracking, but are still working on answering the question regarding large earthquakes.
Seismic activity in the Midwest started increasing around 12 years ago but picked up significantly in the past few years, says seismologist Bill Ellsworth, the lead author of a new USGS study examining potential links between fracking and earthquakes in the region. Since 1970, the baseline for earthquakes in the Midwest measuring above a 3.0 hovered at around 21 per year, but beginning in 2001, that number began to rise. There's been a "remarkable increase" in the past few years: The number of 3.0-plus earthquakes rose from 29 in 2008 to 50 in 2009, then to 87 in 2010, and in 2011 to a staggering 134. Something unusual was going on, but what? As Ellsworth and his colleagues at USGS ask in the study, "Is this increase natural or manmade?" And if it's man-made, is frackingwhich has ramped up in the region in the past several yearsto blame?
According to the study, the answer to the first question is "almost certainly." But the second one is a little more complicated. Though fracking does cause tiny tremors, the USGS scientists found no links between the process of fracking itself and the larger earthquakes that have been occurring more frequently. They did, however, notice that earthquakes have clustered around wastewater wells in Oklahoma, Arkansas, and neighboring states. Disposing of wastewater by pumping it deep into the ground is standard practice in many industries, including mining, chemical manufacturing, and oil and gas extraction, and the oil and gas industry alone operates tens of thousands of wastewater disposal wells. But the recent surge of fracking activity, which uses millions of gallons of water to crack rock deep in the ground and release natural gas, has boosted the volume of wastewater being injected into the ground.
According to the study, the answer to the first question is "almost certainly." But the second one is a little more complicated. Though fracking does cause tiny tremors, the USGS scientists found no links between the process of fracking itself and the larger earthquakes that have been occurring more frequently. They did, however, notice that earthquakes have clustered around wastewater wells in Oklahoma, Arkansas, and neighboring states. Disposing of wastewater by pumping it deep into the ground is standard practice in many industries, including mining, chemical manufacturing, and oil and gas extraction, and the oil and gas industry alone operates tens of thousands of wastewater disposal wells. But the recent surge of fracking activity, which uses millions of gallons of water to crack rock deep in the ground and release natural gas, has boosted the volume of wastewater being injected into the ground.
It's worth reading the entire article. It seems what they have discovered so far is that the small earthquakes are related to fracking, but are still working on answering the question regarding large earthquakes.
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Fracking is a huge environmental and human threat. Why does Obama support it? [View all]
cali
Feb 2014
OP
But his former Interior Secretary says it has not “created an environmental problem for anyone”
jsr
Feb 2014
#2
But many experts in the field- as demonstrated in my OP- are quite clear about the dangers
cali
Feb 2014
#9
Only a know it all can afford to go through life without ever "trusting" the experts
treestar
Feb 2014
#11
Anyone who has ever worked in the oil fields knows the main issue with fracking is Chinese steel.
Drahthaardogs
Feb 2014
#18
Supporters would have a lot more credibility if they would ever demand the "easy" answers
TheKentuckian
Feb 2014
#43
For the same reasons he supports mandating everyone to buy corporate insurance
solarhydrocan
Feb 2014
#30
I think it is too. I'm much more concerned about the explosive growth of fracking that Keystone
cali
Feb 2014
#47
what rankles so, is that President Obama says the right things (frequently) about environmental
cali
Feb 2014
#67
He supports it because big money wants it and so what they want is what he does. nt
arthritisR_US
Feb 2014
#70