on top of the numerous traffic deaths caused
by fracking operations, New Study Reinforces the Obvious: Fracking caused
earthquakes in existing faults in Ohio, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and elsewhere. The frackers of course continue to either
deny or still debate the obvious.
January 5, 2015 11:20 PM
We believe that the worst has yet to come, as far as earthquakes are concerned. The injection of massive amounts of incompressible fluids and frac sand into the subsurface will most certainly cause a sizable movement of the subsurface geologic formations. Few fracturing/injection activities may not show a link, but thousands of these fracturings and injections will cause movement of the formations. It is only a matter of time: continue with these reckless and uncontrolled operations and you will see the result soon enough.
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By Don Hopey / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A scientific study has linked hydraulic fracturing to 77
minor earthquakes last March around Poland, Ohio, just across the
Pennsylvania-Ohio line.
The sequence of seismic events, including a rare “felt”
quake of a magnitude 3.0 on the Richter scale, was caused by active “fracking”
on two nearby Hilcorp Energy Co. well pads, according to the research published
online today in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America.
The study found that although it is rare for fracking
associated with shale gas extraction to cause earthquakes large enough to be
felt on the surface by humans, seismic monitoring advances have found the
number of “felt and unfelt” earthquakes associated with fracking have increased
over the past 10 years.
Bethany McCorkle, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department
of Natural Resources, said the study findings are consistent with a
determination of a “probable” link between fracking and seismic events that the
department made shortly after the earthquakes occurred. That determination resulted
in the suspension of additional fracking in six wells on one Hilcorp pad and
one well on another well pad, and new, tighter, regulations governing the
siting of new wells in areas where known geological faults exist or seismic
activity has occurred.
A spokesman for Hilcorp said the company would have no
comment until it reviewed the study findings.
"Induced seismic events are extremely rare and more
often attributed to geothermal heating, dam impoundments and mining
operations," said Shawn Bennett, Ohio Oil and Gas Association executive
vice president. "However, the Ohio Oil and Gas Association and the broader
oil and gas industry takes these events very seriously and is looking at
induced seismicity across the nation."
He said the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission
has brought together a work group consisting of regulators, including Ohio’s
Oil and Gas Division chief, industry and experts in this field, to address the
issue.
The researchers, Robert Skoumal, Michael Brudzinski and
Brian Currie, used a technique called “template matching” to link fracking
activity on certain dates to seismic data recorded by the Earthscope
Transportable Array, a network of seismic stations.
“These earthquakes near Poland Township occurred in the
Precambrian basement, a very old layer of rock where there are likely to be
many pre-existing faults,” said Mr. Skoumal of Miami University of Ohio. “This
activity did not create a new fault, rather it activated one that we didn’t
know about prior to the seismic activity.”
The study identified 77 deep earthquakes, with
magnitudes from 1.0 to 3.0, linked to the fracking done around Poland, just
across the Pennsylvania-Ohio line and 15 miles west of New Castle. According to
the U.S. Geological Survey, a magnitude 3.0 earthquake produces vibrations
similar to those produced by a passing truck.
During the fracking process, millions of gallons of
water along with sand and chemicals are pumped down a well and injected under
high pressure into a shale formation to crack the rock and release the gas it
contains. Those shale formation fractures and water could cause existing faults
to slip.
“We just don’t know where all the faults are located,”
Mr. Skoumal said in the study news release. “It makes sense to have close
cooperation among government, industry and the scientific community as
hydraulic fracturing operations expand in areas where there’s the potential for
unknown pre-existing faults.”
The peer-reviewed study strengthens the geological links
between small and medium-sized seismic events and both fracking and deep
wastewater injection disposal wells.
A study published in October 2014 in the journal
Seismological Research Letters linked 400 small, deep earthquakes around
Canton, Ohio, to fracking in September and October 2013 at three Utica Shale
gas wells.
Another study published in March 2014 found that a
magnitude 5.0 earthquake in Oklahoma in November 2011 was induced by a nearby
wastewater injection well, and that set off additional temblors along the fault
that culminated with a magnitude 5.7 quake. Such a quake can rattle and break
dishes and windows, and noticeably rock standing vehicles.
Fracking or deep wastewater injection wells have also
been linked anecdotally to small seismic events in several other states,
including Texas, New Mexico, Arkansas, Kansas and Colorado.