Posted on 04/21/2015 6:52:59 PM PDT by Theoria
Abandoning years of official skepticism, Oklahoma’s government on Tuesday embraced a scientific consensus that earthquakes rocking the state are largely caused by the underground disposal of billions of barrels of wastewater from oil and gas wells.
The state’s energy and environment cabinet introduced a website detailing the evidence behind that conclusion Tuesday, including links to expert studies of Oklahoma’s quakes. The site includes an interactive map that plots not only earthquake locations, but also the sites of more than 3,000 active wastewater-injection wells.
The website coincided with a statement by the state-run Oklahoma Geological Survey that it “considers it very likely” that wastewater wells are causing the majority of the state’s earthquakes.
The statement noted that the most intense seismic activity “is occurring over a large area, about 15 percent of the area of Oklahoma, that has experienced significant increase in wastewater disposal volumes over the last several years.”
The statement and the website’s acknowledgment amount to a turnabout for a state government that has long played down the connection between earthquakes and an oil and gas industry that is Oklahoma’s economic linchpin.
As recently as last fall, Gov. Mary Fallin, a Republican, indicated that suggestions of a relationship between oil and gas activity and seismicity were speculation, and that more study was needed.
In a news release issued Tuesday, Ms. Fallin called the Geological Survey’s endorsement of that relationship significant, and said the state was dealing with the problem.
“Oklahoma state agencies already are taking action to address this issue and protect homeowners,” she said in a statement.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
the shifting....of HUGE,,,,tectonic plates.... okay sure....
I can see it now.. America, no drilling, no mining, no bbqing, no hunting, no farming,Oh yeah.. I can see it .. a lot closer than many do..
There is no such thing in Science utilizing THE scientific method!!!
It's not scientific to politicize sophomoric speculation and try to call it "science!"
no High Flow Toilets.in most locales...no SUGARY DRINKS larger than a thimble no Incandescant Bulbs...no FIREPLACES in many locales..darned little liberty compared to MY Youth!!!
Its scientific consensus that a water pump can move a tectonic plate.
I guess I did some series mis-spelling in that last reply!!!
consensus reality is a bear!
Yeah, the basipes are stealin the languige!!!
Ms. Fallin is turnin into a Repellican!!!
Here is the key .... “scientific consensus”
I believe that’s how we got “global warming” ..?????
As well as “climate change”.
But, what some people never understand is that the original data used by the UK SCIENTISTS .. was FAKED .. and they have been totally discredited. However, the liberals refuse to let go of it.
So, all you have to do is read your Bible to find out that Earthquakes are an integral part of the “last days”. I don’t believe that has anything to do with drilling.
OKC should be a ghost town in about 6 months. The Guv, Mary Fallin, (sp?) will shoot herself.
Oklahoma goes from two 3.0 quakes a year to two a day
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3281748/posts?page=1
In November of 2011, a magnitude 5.7 earthquake ripped through the small Oklahoma town of Prague, damaging more than a dozen homes and toppling a turret on a St. Gregory’s University building in nearby Shawnee.
It was the worst of three large quakes to strike the area over several days, and it still as ranks as the worst Oklahoma has ever experienced. Since then, hundreds more have rattled the state, racking up millions of dollars in damages and unleashing a political and financial maelstrom.
Until 2008, Oklahoma typically had one or two earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or greater per year, according to the U.S. Geological Survey; since the start of 2015, the state has averaged 2 of this strength or greater per day.
“We have a good record going all the way back to the 1970s of magnitude 3 or larger earthquakes. They increased throughout the central U.S. in 2009, but primarily in just a few states like southern Colorado, Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma,” says Bill Leith, senior science adviser for Earthquake and Geologic Hazards at USGS. “Oklahoma is the most striking case, where the number of earthquakes is now at record levels.”
And a growing body of scientific research increasingly connects this upsurge in seismic activity with the recent boom in oil and gas production.
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It’s SUPER DRAMATIC if you’ve lived here during that time when the earthquakes were barely detectable by people here, hardly any happening ... to having it pick up into the HUNDREDS per year and damaging buildings. I’ve personally put in several USGS report after having the house “rock and roll” ... something you hardly ever saw before. Now we’re getting to be like California with the frequency in earthquakes! This jumped up SKY HIGH in the number of quakes in only a few years. It’s unbelievable!
Nope....nowhere in either Daniel or Revelation is drilling for oil...mentioned... if I remember correctly
the consensus reality people wouldnt dare blame the earthquakes on GOD as they dont think he exists
This problem could be fixed tomorrow without stopping the drilling of one well.
It’s not drilling that causes earthquakes, it’s the injection of frac’ing fluid back into the ground that does it.
Why does the industry inject the fluid?
Because it’s an EPA regulation that they do so.
Change the regulation, end the earthquakes.
Could that not be regulatory capture, and that it is simply more cost efficient and useful to divert the fluid back into the ground instead of hauling it away at more of a expense or another expensive process.
Have no problem with that as attending a gay wedding and approving of the same are different matters. Not sure why this is an issue though... I wouldn’t but that is up the the individual...
“Because it’s an EPA regulation that they do so.”
Please provide that regulation.
Has anyone considered the possibility that those little earthquakes are a good thing? The energy is already there; fracking fluid does not create the energy. The energy will eventually be released - plates cannot store increasing amounts of energy forever. Releasing that energy in small doses has to be far better than releasing it all at once. Maybe we should start fracking in earthquake zones, once a quake rolls through, to prevent enough energy for large quakes from building up.
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