[knarf]

Excellent information

[samtheman]

Good article. Thanks.

[BitWielder1]

Regulating to making sure things are done safely is one thing, putting a stop to all oil and gas exploration is another thing.
EPA claims one but aims for the other.

Fracking itself probably does not put enough energy into the ground to trigger an earthquake.

The energy does not come from the injection, the idea is that injecting water would lubricate an existing fault and release the built up energy sooner than it otherwise would have.
Many years ago they had plans to "manage" the San Andreas fault in this way, by triggering mini-quakes and thus avoid the "big one" later.
Wonder what became of that program. Was it ineffective or were they afraid of getting sued?
Since it's CA I suspect the latter.

[mountainlion]

How come fracking water wells gets no bad press? If fracking oil wells is supposed to cause so man problems then why are not water wells contaminated when they are fracked?

[Smokin' Joe]

Fracking is done well below 7,000 feet, and solid rock separates the oil and gas deposits from shallow groundwater aquifers. This rock buffer makes contamination from fracking virtually impossible.

Differently put: The same sealing layers which permitted the oil to accumulate and prevented it from migrating to the surface prevent the frac from contaminating the layers above it. The idea is to break the rock with the oil or gas in it to produce the oil and/or gas, not allow it to escape the natural trap from which it will be recovered.