Agreed. The earthquakes are not linked to the gas, but environmentalists lie.
The Netherlands is citing the measurement of minor tremors in the region where drilling was taking place as a reason to pull the plug.
To be sure, tremors generated by oil and gas extraction – particularly following fracking operations – are a real phenomenon. The extraction of the fuel can leave voids deep under the ground that sometimes collapse, leading to a small tremor. Also, some wells are drilled to dispose of wastewater from the drilling process. The introduction of that water can have a lubricating effect on naturally occurring faults, leading them to slip and create a tremor.
But the reality is that few of the drilling-induced tremors are ever large enough to notice without a sensitive seismometer. The vast majority are lower than magnitude 3. The United States Geological Service notes that a couple of rumblers of this sort have reached above 4.0, but that’s relatively rare and a magnitude 4 tremor is still not likely to do much damage beyond knocking a few glasses off the shelves.
Is that really a reason to shut down one of the richest natural gas reserves in all of Europe? Apparently, it is, at least in the eyes of the European Union. But what are they doing for energy if the Russian supplies are cut off and they refuse to drill for their own supplies? Never fear! They’ve already come up with an answer. They’ve gone back to burning coal.