USGS: Petroleum byproduct disposal is #1 cause of central US quakes

earthquake.usgs.gov...

Fact 1: Fracking is not directly causing most of the induced earthquakes. Disposal of waste fluids that are a byproduct of oil production is the primary cause of the recent increase in earthquakes in the central United States.

^what cockamamie sort of FACT is that? saying fracking isn't causing most of the induced quakes, then right after saying 'disposal of waste fluids that are a byproduct of 'oil' production' is

Is USGS a lawyer or what? i mean, first of all, what do entities frack for?

Second of all, what is a byproduct of fracking? hello, waste fluids from fracking for 'oil'! and where does it go?? =l



Its like somethings been proven so many times, that USGS had to find a way to use semantics to argue it hasn't, deflecting addressing the problem.

Why does us even use these vague/misleading terms anyways like 'gas' for petrol or 'oil' for not vegetable oils but petroleum. why does usgs avoid saying petroleum altogether?!

I think fracking is for natural gas

It is a direct side effect of Fracking. They must properly dispose of that fracking water, so using it the way they are doing it is important so it will not contaminate everything. I suppose they are trying to get it so they can just dump the crap on the ground instead of going through the expense of putting it back into the wells.

Can't any of those people be even remotely honest, is deception the only thing they know?

a reply to: letni

Imagine a world where the environment was put before profit! That would be something to see.

These sorts of things are the reason why people should roll their eyes anytime they hear climate change mentioned.

The Obama government never put a stop to this and the Trump government certainly won't. It's exactly the same over here in Europe, with governments banging the 'we need to protect the environment' drum but at the same time allowing things like this to carry on.

a reply to: letni

Dude, fracking is for natural gas. Wastewater from the fracking process is not petroleum byproduct.

originally posted by: rickymouse
It is a direct side effect of Fracking. They must properly dispose of that fracking water, so using it the way they are doing it is important so it will not contaminate everything. I suppose they are trying to get it so they can just dump the crap on the ground instead of going through the expense of putting it back into the wells.

Can't any of those people be even remotely honest, is deception the only thing they know?

There is no such thing as disposing of fracking water.

The water goes down and doesn't come back up until the well production is low enough that it is capped.

Oil and condensates float on water, after all.

Now the byproducts of oil wells are production water (highly saline and already there in an aquifer) condensate (lighter oils) and natural gas.

None of these cause earthquakes.

Neither does fracking, but that's a a whole other story.

originally posted by: KansasGirl
a reply to: letni

Dude, fracking is for natural gas. Wastewater from the fracking process is not petroleum byproduct.

Fracking is also for oil now.

Oil companies use fracking and horizontal drilling now for oil extraction.

That's why our oil production is going through the roof.

We found a way to break oil out of shale.

It's called the shale revolution in the Bakken.

That's why our oil production is going through the roof.

We found a way to break oil out of shale.

It's called the shale revolution in the Bakken.
a reply to: Lumenari

What ever happened to peak oil scare. I thought we were destined to run out of oil?

a reply to: PhilbertDezineck

Yea, about 220 years after global warming kills us in 12.

As we get better with bioplastics, use natural gas for more energy production and solar gets better, we will transition quite nicely.

Until then, why not use oil (it's natural, non-GMO and organic!) to get us there without whining about it so much.

a reply to: Lumenari Iv'e read of the theory that it's not dead animals and vegitagion but a natural dynamic of the planet.

a reply to: PhilbertDezineck

I'm... unsure.

I work in the oilfield and do a certain function there so I know about fracking and responded to the OP.

However, the people that have done this stuff for 30-40 years of their lives have told me that you can take certain wells that died 20 years ago and recheck them and they produce again.

Now whether that is just the deposit seeping back to the well tip or regeneration, I don't know.

The engineers that I have talked to are split on the two theories.

~shrug~

a reply to: letni

One word... money.

Governments love taxes and revenue, we all know that, some issues-enviromental or not-they turn the other cheek and kaching! We are in the money.

Farmers all around the globe are complaining about this, the govs literally taking land from farmers, and as far as I know you can't eat Natural gas.

In my timezone, farmers are struggling through drought and mental health issues, but these bigwigs in the gas industry are like 'awww we are tearing up your property and ruining your livelihood, boo hoo.'

Eff those a holes, farmers are our friends.

This is a side question: How are liberals against American nuclear power production?
Jesus, y’all talk about this search for the holy grail of “clean” energy when we discovered it half a century ago...

And wow y’all are arrogant about humanity’s ability to alter earths processes...
Read about snowball earth (both of them) then get back to me...

And u can get back to me from your [plastic petroleum product] computer which uses fossil fuel power to connect to the internet...

It’s astounding how wholly under-educated the left remains....utterly jaw dropping

-Chris

a reply to: Christosterone

Why don't people trust nuclear power? Chernobyl, that is all.

The left and right will bicker, the truth is that Chernobyl was a clusterf**k that could have been avoided, nuclear power is far more advanced now, the tree hugging hippies don't realise it's safe.

a reply to: Thecakeisalie

Kinda weird that....

Considering that the farmers are not exactly farming 6,000 feet under their property and make a ton of money leasing a 200 foot by 200 foot section of their property for years and get paid for the mineral rights as well.

As far as the utterly ignorant comment about eating natural gas, you are correct.

You can't eat your truck either, but you use it for something else.

In the case of natural gas, we in the modern world use it to make this thing called electricity that seems to have a pretty big fan base.

We also use it for heating...~shocked look~.

People in the real world call it Propane.

But yea.. it's all about the government even though our government doesn't own oil companies.

Although they seem to have no problem collecting billions and billions and billions of dollars a year in taxes from those companies.

You seem to have a pretty myopic viewpoint of the world.

Turn off your power for a month and get back to us... tell us how awesome it is.

Oh!

And throw out everything that has that horrid plastic in it.

Like your router, your computer, your mouse and your phone.

a reply to: Lumenari

Just by studying how fracking works a little, I believe it could lead to minor earthquakes. Mostly under 2.5 I would guess. I do not think they would be dangerous, other than shifting the earth a tad and possibly causing a few gas line leaks in places if it settles the earth where the gas line connects to the meter on the house. Those quakes are no worse than mine blasts, they can crack the old plaster and sometimes drywall. They can shake foundations a bit and if they are in bad shape, it could cause problems.

a reply to: Lumenari
May I ask a question that has bothered me for a while. If all the hydrocarbons here on earth was produced from dead animal and vegetation how is it that hydrocarbons are found with in our solar system?