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Fracking's Latest Scandal? Earthquake Swarms

By ^_^ in Current Events and Hot Social Topics

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5 members have voted

  1. 1. How do you feel about fracking and earthquakes?

    • I do not believe fracking causes earthquakes.
      0
    • I believe fracking does cause earthquakes, but I'm ok with it as long as it helps stabilize or reduce the price of oil. After all, California is a seismic zone and people who live there seem to love it. Beef up those building codes and frack away!
      1
    • I believe fracking does cause earthquakes, but I'm ok with it as long as those earthquakes are caused in places I don't live.
      1
    • I believe fracking does cause earthquakes and that is one reason I oppose fracking.
      1
    • I have no opinion on the link between fracking and earthquakes. I believe we should continue fracking our hearts out until the geologists reach consensus.
      1
    • I have no opinion on the link between fracking and earthquakes. I believe we should hold off on fracking until the geologists reach consensus.
      0
    • Other - I'll write a comment to explain my position.
      1

7 posts in this topic

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^_^ Grand Master

^_^   5,021

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Turns out that when a barely regulated industry injects highly pressurized wastewater into faults, things can go terribly wrong.

...

Between 1972 and 2008, the USGS recorded just a few earthquakes a year in Oklahoma. In 2008, there were more than a dozen; nearly 50 occurred in 2009. In 2010, the number exploded to more than 1,000. These so-called "earthquake swarms" are occurring in other places where the ground is not supposed to move. There have been abrupt upticks in both the size and frequency of quakes in Arkansas, Colorado, Ohio, and Texas. Scientists investigating these anomalies are coming to the same conclusion: The quakes are linked to injection wells. Into most of them goes wastewater from hydraulic fracking, while some, as those in Prague, are filled with leftover fluid from dewatering operations.

The impact of fossil fuels is no secret, but until now the short list of dirty energy's villains never included water. Together, oil and gas extraction and production generate about 878 billion gallons of wastewater annually, roughly what tumbles over Niagara Falls every two weeks. More than a third is injected back into disposal wells. With natural gas production on the rise—it has jumped 26 percent since 2007, chiefly because fracking now makes it economically viable to pursue gas trapped in shale deposits—and unconventional practices such as dewatering ramping up domestic oil development, the wastewater deluge is expected to get worse. Operators are injecting more water than ever into drilling wells, while boring new wells to accommodate the overflow. Yet nobody really knows how all this water will impact faults, or just how big an earthquake it could spawn.

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/03/does-fracking-cause-earthquakes-wastewater-dewatering

I AM NOT THAT GUY Grand Master

I AM NOT THAT GUY   5,715

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[quote name=^_^' timestamp='1364577768' post='6094540]

Question, since I don't really have a firm grasp of this stuff. Is it "no big deal" in California because California has the appropriate level of structural codes to deal with this? Or is it NBD anywhere?

NBD almost anywhere. A large truck driving down the road, or compaction equipment working in the area do significantly more damage than the microquakes. The midwest should be concerned about major earthquakes, like the New Madrid earthquakes of the 19th century.

^_^ Grand Master

^_^   5,021

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I'm comfortable with them contaminating the groundwater in places I will never live - like the Dakotas or Ohio. I'd like to see this stay out of the northeast, though. I hope New York doesn't go down this road. I want the economic benefits of fracking without the disgusting aftereffects.

^_^ Grand Master

^_^   5,021

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Its already in the Northeast isn't it? Like Penn.?

Yeah the closest to me I believe would be the Scranton area. That's far enough. As long as it doesn't get any closer. The Hudson Valley is beautiful and I can see myself living there one day. I prefer they not fukc it up before I get around to it.

 

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