Posted on 02/03/2017 4:11:28 PM PST by Olog-hai
The Environmental Protection Agency has told Oklahoma regulators to do more to protect the state from a surge in earthquake activity that scientists have linked to the underground disposal of oil and gas wastewater.
An EPA administrator sent a letter in November to the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, saying a magnitude 5.0 earthquake happened despite state and federal action to curb wastewater injection. The Frontier first reported the contents of the letter. [ ]
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt is President Donald Trumps pick to head the EPA. His nomination is pending Senate approval.
Environmentalists have criticized Pruitt for not doing more to reduce seismic activity linked to oil and gas production in Oklahoma.
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
Behold, the EPA Rules and Regulations!
ROTFLMAO!! These people should resign from the EPA and start a consulting company, countries around the world would pay big money to them for their expertise in preventing earthquakes.
Is this satire?
Mark Twain
Every State in the Union has their own EPA.
Surely we can survive with 50 EPAs instead of 51.
Defund the entire agency.
I’m no anti-fracking lunatic...but I believe there is a connection.
Now, its important to differentiate between fracking and injection wells. The actual fracking hasn’t caused any earthquakes in Oklahoma...but disposing of fluids in injection wells may have. There has been enough anectdotal evidence to mean that a causal relationship is not out of the question.
But the real question is - are injection wells causing the earthquakes, or merely allowing them to happen. I use the ‘relay’ theory. For example, when you turn the key of a car, you are not physically closing the circuit that makes the starter turn...rather you are closing a much lower amp circuit that energizes a relay...and it is the relay closing that closes the starter circuit and makes it turn. I think injection wells are really just ‘relays’ that allow the much higher energy earthquake to happen - IOW, I don’t think it at all possible that a few hundred trucks pumping fluid in the ground contains enough energy to be felt in an earthquake 400 miles away. Instead, I believe this is the earth’s energy, potential energy from tectonic plates pressing onto each other...that is the energy that once unleashed can be felt 400 miles away. And the injection wells somehow set up a situation to release that energy - maybe its as simple as lubrication, maybe the fluid causes some layer of earth to shrink or swell...who knows.
Now, are these earthquakes necessarily bad? Well, if my ‘relay’ theory is correct...and the wells aren’t introducing appreciable amounts of energy into the earth, but only unleashing existing energy...the answer is a definite NO!, these aren’t bad at all. It would mean that the dozen medium sized earthquakes caused by injection each year in OK would not happen...and that energy would just keep building, and building, until 10-20 years down the road it is unleashed violently after a huge build up of energy.
Looked at that way, I could argue that injection wells are actually beneficial.
Something needs to be done about sand storms, too.
Not to mention those giant sand worms.
The 5+ earthquakes weren’t oilfield related. They were deep seated faults (probably related to the New Madrid Fault located on the Nemaha ridge). To actally view real science go to OK.gov and read Oklahoma Geological Survey’s FAQ 6 myths and Misconceptions and the USGS https:earthquake.usgs.gov>myths. The EPA doesn’t rely on science, but political commentary. I experienced the 5.8 earthquake in September personally. It’s duration was 42 seconds and the depth was 5.6 km. I have felt many, both structural and oilfield related, and the motion was definitely a deep seated, probably fault related. Unfortunately, Erin Brockovich is on the scene to make another fortune.
They never change, do they.
Apparently Trump restriction on regulations is having an effect, otherwise they would have come out with 9,000 more regulations requiring states to curb earthquakes.
More likely the Humbolt Fault Zone...which extends south from Kansas into the heart of Oklahoma... or the faults along the Wichita Uplift in the south along the TX border... there’s a bunch of fault lines in OK that all predate fracking.
If Guam capsizes it may relieve some of the tectonic stress in OK. If not then Algorilla could re-invent the Internet and help the EPA researchers find a solution.
This place is getting slow.
A letter in November? OBT (Overcome By Trump).
AP likes to grab at straws. Even when their man is in the White House.
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