Fracking is all the go at the moment - especially in the USA. No problems say the advocates! And look at all the advantages! Dangerous in many and varied ways say the naysayers. Now this.........to support those against fracking.
"Scientists have linked Oklahoma's biggest recorded earthquake to the disposal of wastewater from oil production, adding to evidence that may lead to greater regulation of hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas.
The 5.7-magnitude quake in 2011 followed an 11-fold bump in seismic activity across the central US in recent years as disposal wells are created to handle increases in wastewater from hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
Researchers at the University of Oklahoma, Columbia University and the US Geological Survey, who published their findings Tuesday in the journal Geology, said the results point to the long-term risks the thousands of wells pose and shows a need for better monitoring and government oversight.
"There's not a magic bullet," Heather Savage, assistant research director at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University, said. "But if we have more monitoring capabilities, we can watch these things, and catch all the precursor events."
The earthquake near Prague, Oklahoma, on November 6, 2011, was the state's biggest and may be the largest linked to the injection of water from drilling process, the researchers reported. The state's geological office disagreed, and said it was likely "the result of natural causes." The temblor destroyed 14 homes, damaged other buildings, injured two people and buckled pavement, according to the report."
"Scientists have linked Oklahoma's biggest recorded earthquake to the disposal of wastewater from oil production, adding to evidence that may lead to greater regulation of hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas.
The 5.7-magnitude quake in 2011 followed an 11-fold bump in seismic activity across the central US in recent years as disposal wells are created to handle increases in wastewater from hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
Researchers at the University of Oklahoma, Columbia University and the US Geological Survey, who published their findings Tuesday in the journal Geology, said the results point to the long-term risks the thousands of wells pose and shows a need for better monitoring and government oversight.
"There's not a magic bullet," Heather Savage, assistant research director at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University, said. "But if we have more monitoring capabilities, we can watch these things, and catch all the precursor events."
The earthquake near Prague, Oklahoma, on November 6, 2011, was the state's biggest and may be the largest linked to the injection of water from drilling process, the researchers reported. The state's geological office disagreed, and said it was likely "the result of natural causes." The temblor destroyed 14 homes, damaged other buildings, injured two people and buckled pavement, according to the report."
Comments