Fracking Tied to Unusual Rise in Earthquakes in U.S.

[Dari]

This is just one in a long line of bad news for this industry. When the government cracks down on this, gas prices will return to their historical parity with oil.

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Fracking Tied to Unusual Rise in Earthquakes in U.S.

By Mark Drajem - Apr 12, 2012


A spate of earthquakes across the middle of the U.S. is “almost certainly” man-made, and may be caused by wastewater from oil or gas drilling injected into the ground, U.S. government scientists said in a study.

Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey said that for the three decades until 2000, seismic events in the nation’s midsection averaged 21 a year. They jumped to 50 in 2009, 87 in 2010 and 134 in 2011.

Those statistics, included in the abstract of a research paper to be discussed at the Seismological Society of America conference next week in San Diego, will add pressure on an energy industry already confronting more regulation of the process of hydraulic fracturing.

“Our scientists cite a series of examples for which an uptick in seismic activity is observed in areas where the disposal of wastewater through deep-well injection increased significantly,” David Hayes, the deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Interior, said in a blog post yesterday, describing research by scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey.

‘Fairly Small’ Quakes

The earthquakes were “fairly small,” and rarely caused damage, Hayes said.

He said not all wastewater disposal wells induce earthquakes, and there is no way of knowing if a disposal well will cause a temblor.

Last month, Ohio officials concluded that earthquakes there last year probably were caused by wastewater from hydraulic fracturing for natural gas injected into a disposal well.

In hydraulic fracturing -- or fracking -- water, sand and chemicals are injected into deep shale formations to break apart underground rock and free natural gas trapped deep underground. Much of that water comes back up to the surface and must then be disposed of.

There’s “a difference between disposal injection wells and hydraulically fractured wells,” Daniel Whitten, a spokesman for the America’s Natural Gas Alliance, which represents companies such as Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) and Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. (COG), said in an e-mail. “There are over 140,000 disposal wells in America, with only a handful potentially linked to seismic activity.”

‘Committed to Monitoring’

“We are committed to monitoring the issue and working with authorities where there are concerns, but it should be noted that currently there is no scientific data associating hydraulic fracturing with earthquakes that would cause damage,” he said.

An abstract of the federal study, which was led by William Ellsworth, Earthquake Science Center staff director for the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, California, was published online earlier this month. A full version of the study wasn’t immediately available.

The area studied included a swath of the country running from Ohio to Colorado and Oklahoma, the study said.

“A naturally-occurring rate change of this magnitude is unprecedented outside of volcanic settings or in the absence of a main shock, of which there were neither in this region,” Ellsworth and his colleagues wrote.

The Environmental Protection Agency is preparing to release rules on air pollution from gas wells and on the treatment of wastewater. Other state and federal rules could force more disclosure of the chemicals used by the drilling companies.

The Interior Department is considering rules to update well-design standards and require disclosure of the chemicals in fracking on public lands.

 

[Jodell88]

Interesting. :hmm:

 

[rcpratt]

Good.

 

[SillyOReilly]

 

[ImpulsE69]

Awesome! Even higher gas prices here we come. Instead of 20 cent jumps we'll start seeing $1 jumps.

 

[rcpratt]

Awesome! Even higher gas prices here we come. Instead of 20 cent jumps we'll start seeing $1 jumps.

Yeah, uh...not that gas.

 

[lozina]

Frack that

 

[BabaBooey]

I say keep fracking till the fucking rock implodes as long as we can gas up our hummers and suburbans ....:awe:

 

[cronos]

You just need to include the chief or Helo on that picture to make four fracking couples

Btw I was at this academic presentation session (graduate students, small conference room, maybe 10-12 people) a few weeks ago where one of the presentations was about fracking. It was really hard to put on a straight face.

 

[lozina]

You just need to include the chief or Helo on that picture to make four fracking couples

And the image shape is prohibited. It is supposed to have its corners cut

 

[SagaLore]

I predict that in the next 100 years Northern America will split into super islands and float off in opposite directions. :O

 

[lozina]

I predict that in the next 100 years Northern America will split into super islands and float off in opposite directions. :O

Oh please please please don't let me be one of the days I am driving on the L.I.E. and then I get stuck on Long Island when that happens! Noooo!

 

[manimal]

I am really curious from a process perspective how different Hydraulic fracking is from disposal injection welling.

 

[Exterous]

picture

My first thought was "How is sex realted to a rise in earthquakes"

 

[FelixDeCat]

We had earthquakes in Granbury Texas. There had never been a recorded seismic event there. Then there were several of them a few years ago when gas drillers were disposing of well water underground, displacing bedrock. They denied any relation.

After much local concern they quit doing that and the earthquakes stopped and havent occured since. Coincidence? Frack no.

 

[zinfamous]

Awesome! Even higher gas prices here we come. Instead of 20 cent jumps we'll start seeing $1 jumps.

lol no.

 

[Fausto]

lol no.

Even if we were talking about natural gas, the current prices are like a 10-year low. Double comprehension fail.

 

[KeithTalent]

Fracking makes your water tasty and flammable! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ApZkNsXfJE

KT

 

[FelixDeCat]

Even if we were talking about natural gas, the current prices are like a 10-year low. Double comprehension fail.

Not to mention, increased regulation on the out of control frackers will not increase gas prices. NG recently hit $2 per unit which is an all time low ( http://www.valuewalk.com/2012/04/natural-gas-now-at-2-an-analysis-of-oil-gas-pricing/ ) because of overcapacity and stockpiles that will exceed demand well into the future.

The environmental cost was too high IMO for this gas boom that didnt pay off.

 

[busydude]

Why don't you Americans refer to Gas as Gas... and that other gas.. as petrol?

 

[Wreckem]

Why don't you Americans refer to Gas as Gas... and that other gas.. as petrol?

Because there is gas and there is gasoline. Americans shorten gasoline into gas when speaking/writing.

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

1) If the earthquakes are so minor, what's the big deal?
2) How can you prove that correlation equals causation?

Because there is gas and there is gasoline. Americans shorten gasoline into gas when speaking/writing.

Well, actually, it's petrol...produced by fractional distillation of petroleum.

Given that also, you know, petrol is liquid at room temperature...

 

[foghorn67]

Because there is gas and there is gasoline. Americans shorten gasoline into gas when speaking/writing.

Fascinating that the word gas is more specific than petrol.
Gas is short for gasoline.
Petrol, short for petroleum. Which is a lot of products.

 

[OutHouse]

Frack you all!!!

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

Fascinating that the word gas is more specific than petrol.
Gas is short for gasoline.
Petrol, short for petroleum. Which is a lot of products.

Gas is also short for...gas.