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Official: US Government Confirms That Fracking Is Causing Earthquakes in Oklahoma
21st Century Wire says…
Back in March, 21WIRE reported on the destructive history of Fracking and the disturbing industry practice of pumping radioactive waste back down into the ground – and all the health risks this has posed to successive generations – including the toxic contamination of groundwater resources.
Now the US Geological Survey has been released, which details how the same hydraulic fracturing, or ‘fracking’ process used to extract natural gas and oil from shale rock beds – is responsible for unnaturally inducing earthquakes in places like Oklahoma (see full report below). Regardless of the recent findings, the industry is still in complete denial.
“I don’t think it’s particularly helpful because basically it says, ‘We’ve come to a conclusion, but we don’t have the science to back it up,’” Kim Hatfield, a representative of the Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association, told KFOR-TV, Oklahoma City, Saturday. “Oklahoma has been very geologically active over time, and that’s one of the reasons we have so many oil and gas traps.”
Fracking is both an artificial disaster, as well as an abject failure – on all fronts.
More from the NY Times…
Richard Pérez-Peña
NY Times
The United States Geological Survey on Thursday released its first comprehensive assessment of the link between thousands of earthquakes and oil and gas operations, identifying and mapping 17 regions where quakes have occurred.
The report was the agency’s broadest statement yet on a danger that has grown along with the nation’s energy production.
By far the hardest-hit state, the report said, is Oklahoma, where earthquakes are hundreds of times more common than they were until a few years ago because of the disposal of wastewater left over from extracting fuels and from drilling wells by injecting water into the earth. But the report also mapped parts of eight other states, from Lake Erie to the Rocky Mountains, where that practice has caused quakes, and said most of them were at risk for more significant shaking in the future.
“Oklahoma used to experience one or two earthquakes per year of magnitude 3 or greater, and now they’re experiencing one or two a day,” Mark Petersen, the chief author of the report, said. “Oklahoma now has more earthquakes of that magnitude than California.”
The report came two days after Oklahoma’s state government acknowledged for the first time the scientific consensus that wastewater disposal linked to oil and gas drilling was to blame for the huge surge in earthquakes there. The state introduced an interactive map showing quake locations and places where wastewater is injected into the ground, and the state-run Oklahoma Geological Survey said it “considers it very likely” that the practice is causing most of the shaking.
Hydraulic fracturing, a drilling technique that injects a high-pressure mix of water and chemicals into the ground to break rock formations and release gas, has drawn widespread attention. But injecting water to dispose of waste from drilling or production is a far greater contributor to earthquakes. The federal report excluded human activity, like mining, that can cause quakes but does not involve large-scale fluid injection…
Continue this article at NY Times
READ MORE FRACKING NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Fracking Files
21st Century Wire is an alternative news agency designed to enlighten, inform and educate readers about world events which are not always covered in the mainstream media.
Source: http://21stcenturywire.com/2015/04/25/official-us-government-confirms-that-fracking-causing-earthquakes-in-oklahoma/
