Scientists link increases in midwest quakes to drilling and fraking.

Scientists link quakes to drilling and fraking.

truth-out.org

A U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) team has found that a sharp jump in earthquakes in America’s heartland appears to be linked to oil and natural gas drilling operations.

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
www.shalegas.energy.gov

The article is relativly self explainatory. I do hope, given its an industry led self investigation, that the findings of the review body currently sitting on this issue will be published for all to see....but I doubt it.

I cant help but feel for those living in the areas and do wonder what impact this will have on house prices, insurances etc.. not to mention what will happen in the event of a geological disaster in the region should the drilling continue.

It also concerns me that they they have enough information to know they *are* causing it..but dont know exactly how...yet the drilling will continue for as long as it takes to figure it out.

I found this interesting:
"The committee said that they were indeed aware"

So - they admit to knowing fraking and drilling could endager lives via increases in quakes? Or am I just reading that wrong?

I dont know if this is in the right forum, if it isnt please shift mods, thank you.


Ro


truth-out.org
(visit the link for the full news article)

Well , if the USGS made these observations, then they are far more likely to be published than if they were done by a truely independant body. I for one am impressed that they managed to retain enough brass nuts to speak out against the issues that fracking, drilling, and the rest can cause to the geological stability of an area.

It is good to see this data comming out, and I hope that the data that the USGS do publish, will be read and understood by as many affected parties as is possible, and that anyone NOT yet affected who may eventually become so, gets to read this information also. It is vital to be able to at least PRETEND to choose ones own fate.

Well of course they give little quakes and of course the quakes bring severe weather. The drilling and removal of the trapped gas can make a big event smaller also. The super heated gasses created by friction of moving rock can make a quake or volcano bigger. These are my ideas, There is no proven evidence out there at our disposal to prove this. I got many clues to this from the insight of others throughout the years. There is just too much to consider to accept all scientific evidence as pertinent. My mind is still open to consequences of this practice. what is the overall result of these actions.

We'll see if Main Stream Media picks up on this. If they don't? Drill baby. Frack baby.

Until there is a disaster keep going.

If fact? Don't even mention the shakes could be manmade for energy demands.

Shhhhhhhh. Keep quiet until something happens.

And then?

SCREAM why didn't we stop it earlier?

Better to be Re active then Pro active.

ive know this since new years www.scientificamerican.com...

Scientists have quickly determined that the likely cause was fracking—although not from drilling into deep shale or cracking it with pressured water and chemicals to retrieve natural gas. Rather, they suspect the disposal of wastewater from those operations, done by pumping it back down into equally deep sandstone.

reply to post by Rosha


I've said this on a few threads on ATS since i joined a while ago now but i dont think anyone here took me seriously and i'm no Scientist!!

I'm curious to see their full report and the methods they used to demonstrate that drilling and fracking increase the number of "earthquakes."

I believe the answer is more likely that they have found increased seismic activity near sites where drilling and fracking are taking place - but nothing on the order of an "earthquake" - and nothing with the potential for Earthquakes.

It's like saying: "having people walk through the room causes the table to shake a little" versus implying that having people walk through the room results in tables and chairs being flung out the windows.

But, you know what... I'm fine with all of this "shut off the oil" plan. I've been anticipating armaggedon. No better way to ensure it happens than shutting down all the oil supply because some idiots think it might cause an earthquake.

It almost sounds contrived and timed. Sorta like aerosol spraying verses 'more planes in our skies now'

How 'bout the noises and booms?

How about that beach that disappeared last week?

If this is from fracking, perhaps it's time they try harnessing free solar power and leave this poor planet alone!!!

Besides, where was this report when 'no one knew' what was causing the Wisconsin booms?

Are they fracking in Hawaii too?

To no ones surprise, I'm not totally buying this.

reply to post by Human_Alien

I've been reading the research evolving on the fracking/earthquake relationship for way over a year now. It is very evident that it does cause earthquakes where there were none previously. These are usually just small quakes that have their own seismic signature. The knowledge of this possibly occurring was probably known beforehand but was not known whether it would really occur

When they took oil out of the ground years ago they knew it increased earthquakes so they started filling the wells with water. There are laws that address that applied to the drilling for oil. That's common knowledge of some of the more curious people working on the rigs. Now they are finding other problems with the practice of putting water into the old wells, I can't remember what is happening, sometimes I forget exactly why I know things.

Evidence doesn't show that it will cause any big quakes at all. Small yes, big no. Just because there is no evidence yet it doesn't mean it won't happen. It's evolving science, we won't know for many years what will happen. I wouldn't worry about it but I think they should stay far away from the Great Lakes so contamination of our countries biggest freshwater supply doesn't occur. It's bad enough having mines around the lakes. They should tighten the regulations on sewage around these lakes too, someday people may need this supply of water after they learn to conserve what they have. Our countries populations could drain these lakes in a year if they kept with their present wasting of water. People need to quit watering lawns and let drouth tolerant weeds and grasses fill their yards. Mow it a little higher. The perfect lawn is the biggest sin aimed towards mankind. Let those edible weeds live, plant perennial rye.

This is known for a long time, in my home town drilling caused an earth quake back in 2006. Drilling and fracking isn't a good idea, but to drill in a region that is known for earth quakes is simply insane.

www.nytimes.com...

Well depending on how much the land costs and how much $ they can make then I see them drilling pretty much anywhere, fault line nearby or not..

I will not go to your link Truth-out.org.
I know what they consist of.

If they have any info that is actually worth while, please post the info here.

ECGS-FKPE Workshop “Induced Seismicity”

Induced seismicity deals with man-made ground shaking due to direct human intervention inside the Earth such as deep mining, water reservoirs etc.

Identification of MHF (massive hydraulic fracturing) fracture planes and flow paths: A correlation of well log data with patterns in locations of induced seismicity

One of the critical steps in developing a hot dry rock geothermal system is the creation of flow paths through the rock between two wellbores. To date, circulation systems have only been created by drilling one wellbore, hydraulically fracturing the well (which induces microearthquakes), locating the microearthquakes and then drilling a second wellbore through the zone of seismicity.

How Does Geothermal Drilling Trigger Earthquakes?

Just a few years ago, a now-infamous geothermal project in Basel, Switzerland, which drilled three miles (4.8 kilometers) into Earth's crust, set off a magnitude 3.4 earthquake, rocking the town and shutting the operation down entirely, The New York Times recalled recently.

Workshop on induced Seismicity due to fluid injection/production from Energy-Related Applications

Induced seismicity is not new - it has occurred as part of many different energy and industrial applications (reservoir impoundment, mining, oil recovery, construction, waste disposal, conventional geothermal). With proper study/research and engineering controls, induced seismicity should eventually allow safe and cost-effective implementation of any of these technologies.

The primary causative factors of induced seismicity are attributable to geothermal energy production and injection wells; waste water disposal from fracking.

FAQs - Earthquakes Induced by Fluid Injection

The above is a thread I posted few months ago based on a then recent entry in the USGS site.

Our seemingly insatiable thirst for more and more are going to cause us more serious problems than it already has if we aren't allowed a way to wean ourselves from the teat of the energy industry as it is currently constructed.