Yup, Fracking Causes Earthquakes
If combustible tap water hasn’t already soured you on hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”), now the state of Ohio has determined it triggers seismic activity. The process of injecting high-pressured chemicals into underground rock layers in order to release natural gas or petroleum just suffered another PR nightmare.
In this Thursday, Feb. 23, 2012 file photo, signs opposing the hydraulic fracturing process of drilling for gas, or “fracking” are posted at the front of the yard of Janet McIntyre ‘s Evans City, Pa. McIntyre says state environmental officials refused to do follow-up tests after their lab reported her drinking water contained chemicals that could be from nearby gas drilling.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A dozen earthquakes in northeastern Ohio were almost certainly induced by injection of gas-drilling wastewater into the earth, Ohio oil and gas regulators said Friday as they announced a series of tough new regulations for drillers.
Youngstown, Ohio was hit on Christmas Eve and on New Year’s Eve last year by earthquakes measuring 2.7 and 4.0 on the Richter scale, respectively. No one was injured and only a few cases of minor damage were reported after the Dec. 31 event. Another nine small quakes had been reported throughout 2011, all within a five mile radius of a wastewater injection well run by Northstar Disposal Services.
Northeastern Ohio and large parts of adjacent states sit atop the Marcellus Shale geological formation, which contains vast reserves of natural gas that energy companies are rushing to drill using a process known as hydraulic fracturing.
That process involves freeing the gas by injecting millions of gallons of water, laced with chemicals and sand, into the earth. But that water needs to be disposed of when companies are done with it. Municipal water treatment plants aren’t designed to remove some of the contaminants found in the wastewater, including radioactive elements. A common practice is to re-inject it into the ground, a practice banned in some states.
Scientists believe the fluids from fracking act as a lubricant for undergound rock faces, causing them slip and trigger seismic events.
Clip from “Gasland.”
HOT ON
More Buzz
- Yup, Fracking Causes Earthquakes is starting to get hot on Facebook Share It
- kurisute thinks Yup, Fracking Causes Earthquakes is WTF
- julier6 Yup, Fracking Causes Earthquakes
- H_Badger thinks Yup, Fracking Causes Earthquakes is Fail
- maryivoryo Yup, Fracking Causes Earthquakes
- benr11 + Yup, Fracking Causes Earthquakes and thinks it’s WTF & OMG
- FedandBuzzed Yup, Fracking Causes Earthquakes and thinks it’s WTF & Fail
- brittanys13 thinks Yup, Fracking Causes Earthquakes is Fail
-
- KillJoy thinks Yup, Fracking Causes Earthquakes is Mamma Mia! & OMG
- Yup, Fracking Causes Earthquakes was rebuzzed by travizz
- travizz thinks Yup, Fracking Causes Earthquakes is OMG
- ImWithKanye thinks Yup, Fracking Causes Earthquakes is Fail
- amandal24 thinks Yup, Fracking Causes Earthquakes is Fail
- goreyend Yup, Fracking Causes Earthquakes and thinks it’s LOL
- graysonc thinks Yup, Fracking Causes Earthquakes is OMG
-
- shell52383 thinks Yup, Fracking Causes Earthquakes is Fail
- ElleCreative thinks Yup, Fracking Causes Earthquakes is OMG
-
- The Angry Luddite thinks Yup, Fracking Causes Earthquakes is WTF
-
Brodka a year agoI’m not making a statement either way on fracking, but small seismic events are a GOOD thing. The earth is constantly shifting. There’s nothing we can do about that. Continental plates shift and collide and drift apart. Always have and always will. You want lots of small movements rather than fewer larger ones. Consider that if plate x is going to shift thirty feet against plate y over the next say, hundred years, you’d rather have ten small quakes (one relatively harmless one every ten years) rather than one devastating quake every hundred. I live in Seattle and the more small ones we have, the safer I feel. Again, I am not defending nor condemning fracking. I’m merely pointing out that small quakes are not a bad thing by themselves.
-
-
GroovyMe a year agoMy hometown is outside of Youngstown, and one of the scientists investigating these earthquakes told my dad it would take further investigation to prove that the wells cause these earthquakes. This was during a council meeting when he made this and other statements about what else could possibly be causing them. People repeatedly pointed out that the earthquakes started in March of 2011, right after they started the drilling…and as mentioned above, 11 occurred since then. But they are still “investigating”. It’s so crazy.
-
-
Special Reactions
Your Reaction?
GET STARTED