US Government Confirms Link Between Earthquakes and Hydraulic Fracturing

[Bill USA]

http://www.energy-daily.com/reports/US_Government_Confirms_Link_Between_Earthquakes_and_Hydraulic_Fracturing_999.html

On 5 November an earthquake measuring 5.6 rattled Oklahoma and was felt as far away as Illinois. Until two years ago Oklahoma typically had about 50 earthquakes a year, but in 2010, 1,047 quakes shook the state. Why? In Lincoln County, where most of this past weekend's seismic incidents were centered, there are 181 injection wells, according to Matt Skinner, an official from the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, the agency which oversees oil and gas production in the state.

Cause and effect?

The practice of injecting water into deep rock formations causes earthquakes, both the U.S. Army and the U.S. Geological Survey have concluded.

The U.S. natural gas industry pumps a mixture of water and assorted chemicals deep underground to shatter sediment layers containing natural gas, a process called hydraulic fracturing, known more informally as "fracking." While environmental groups have primarily focused on fracking's capacity to pollute underground water, a more ominous byproduct emerges from U.S. government studies - that forcing fluids under high pressure deep underground produces increased regional seismic activity.

(more)

[haikugal]

1. That's a big DUH...

[sakabatou]

2. They should've banned fracking a long time ago.

[enough]

3. It may be a DUH, but these instances of US government confirming the connection

are very interesting.

Thanks for posting this, Bill.

[peacebird]

4. Will this horrible destructive practice be banned?

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. As a race, we're turning up some serious flaws in our dna when the

stooopidest among us keep rising to the level of leadership.

[jwirr]

6. Just curious. I am one of the guilty - I heat with natural gas. How much

gas to we actually have left. Obviously not all that much or we would not be using this dangerous method of extraction.

[saras]

7. With gas even more than oil, it's not how much, it's how good

There's so much inferior gas that we still burn it off in flares. We are just starting to change that, but some of it is too toxic (hydrogen sulfide) to use as normal fuel. The worse the quality, the more expensive making it into acceptable 'natural gas'.

Whether or not we frack, what will happen is that gas will get more expensive, and experiments will be made to get by with lesser quality, in a gradually increasing curve that will drive you to an alternative long before you can't get any more. Fracking will make that process take somewhat longer, at the cost of making other things - fresh water, farming, safe housing - either much more expensive or completely unavailable in some locations.

How fast we get off that curve and onto the decreasing price curve of a new technology depends on how fast things other than gas - alternatives - come to market, so good luck predicting that.

Another problem is that the most PROFIT accrues by pushing the curve as high as possible by extracting and creating demand as fast as possible. As the demand decreases, the industry gets less profitable. War creates huge demand for petroleum. War also leads, in some cases, to increased supplies of petroleum. Draw your own conclusion.

Local cutoffs of gas may happen, though, long before it's too expensive in general, due to the way gas is marketed, just like with electricity.

[jwirr]

8. I live in a duplex and you are right about the cost. The upper apartment

heats with electricity which is $100 cheaper to heat than my apartment. Of course I am including both the gas furnace and the forced air fan in mine. I am dreading another winter.

[felix_numinous]

9. K&R should be on the front page--

they admitted it right here.