Earthquake rattles Oklahoma

[Smokin Joe]

Lol....same here.  Oddly enough...I have also always been deathly afraid of volcanos.  Never been near one in this life....but they scare the hell out of me, nevertheless.

Hurricanes?  No problem.  Been through probably dozen (or more).  Tornados?  Much more likely to be a victim of one than of earthquakes and volcanos, yet I'm not that terrified of them....even though a couple have touched down not that far from my house.   There's no logical explanation.

I have stood on the top of a couple of volcanoes--one in Virginia, long extinct, and Yellowstone (it seems folks don't think about that one). I try to stay away from the active ones, though.

[Smokin Joe]

The point to make is all of the earth is in movement, which means an earthquake can occur anywhere, anytime, with varying degrees of probability.  Most people are not aware(although you certainly are)

That's plenty true. It is a question of location.

[mountaineer]

We had earthquakes in Oklahoma  and  Missouri when I lived there as a kid 5 decades or more before fracking started.  The plains Indians have stories about the earth shaking.

I lived in St. Louis, Mo., from 1972-91, except for the four years I attended college in Tulsa, Okla. I recall maybe one tremblor in STL, but the whole time I heard that "the big one" was going to strike the New Madrid fault at any time. In fact, sometime around 1990, people were in a panic in St. Louis because someone predicted exactly when it was going to hit. They stocked up on essentials, packed the car, and waited. Nothing happened. The thing is, gas wells or not, there's a fault running along the Mississippi Valley, and maybe someday it will shift and a major earthquake will result.

Now I live in a big natural gas fracking area (the upper Ohio Valley). The anti-drillers (read, Obama supporters, EPA, et al.) insist that fracking will cause a major earthquake, but I believe I'm safer here than I was in St. Louis (and not just because of the crime statistics). 

[Sanguine]

September 5, 2016
Fracking Didn't Cause Oklahoma Earthquake
By Daniel John Sobieski

The earth moved for environmental extremists Saturday when a 5.6 magnitude earthquake struck Oklahoma. As soon as the first aftershock, the greenies were in full voice blaming fracking, the technology that has fueled America’s oil and natural gas boom.

Oklahoma state regulators ordered 37 disposal wells used by frackers shut down and Green Party presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein tweeted:

    Fracking causes polluted drinking water + earthquakes. The #GreenNewDeal comes with none of these side effects, Oklahoma. #BanFracking

Hydraulic fracturing, the technical term, does not cause earthquakes nor has there ever been evidence that it contaminates drinking water. Fracking has been used in oil and gas production in Oklahoma since 1949 and now, more than six decades later, the chicken littles of the left are claiming it now causes major destructive earthquakes? As Investor’s Business Daily editorialized:

    So desperate have the greenies become to stop the oil and natural gas boom produced by the use of fracking that they resorted to claims that fracking can cause earthquakes. A recent report by the National Research Council dispelled that notion. U.S. Geological Survey seismologist William Ellsworth says he agrees with the research council that "hydraulic fracturing does not seem to pose much risk for earthquake activity."...

http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2016/09/fracking_didnt_cause_oklahoma_earthquake.html

Some good information.

[Smokin Joe]

Some good information.

Good article, thanks!

[Variant]

http://jackidaily.com/2015/05/18/earthquakes-and-fracing/

[ConstitutionRose]

Since hydraulic fracturing began in the 1940's, you are a real senior.  I salute you centennials.

https://energywithjr.quora.com/The-History-of-Fracking-A-Timeline

My cousins who are in the oil business pointed out at a family thing that there was very little if any fracking in that area of Missouri or Oklahoma during the time I was growing up there five plus decades ago.  The earthquakes, as many have already pointed out, are associated with faults and possibly disposal wells.   

[GtHawk]

I have stood on the top of a couple of volcanoes--one in Virginia, long extinct, and Yellowstone (it seems folks don't think about that one). I try to stay away from the active ones, though.

Oh, people think about Yellowstone a lot, and then they move on to the next scare the bejeezus catastrophe on the list and cycle thru whatever they think will scare the gullible public.

[rangerrebew]

EPA orders 17 fracking wells shut down in Oklahoma
Listen | Print
By Karen Graham     3 mins ago in Environment

The Environmental Protection Agency shut down 17 wastewater wells in the Osage Nation of northeastern Oklahoma on Tuesday following the 5.6 magnitude earthquake that shook Oklahoma and nearby states on September 3, 2016.

Because the 17 wells are located on tribal lands, the Oklahoma State Corporation Commission has no jurisdiction over any of the gas and oil producing facilities in the region, reports News Channel 10.

The state's Corporation Commissioner Matt Skinner told the Associated Press the EPA had "confirmed on Sunday they were going to put that directive in place, and today they gave us the numbers.”

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/environment/epa-orders-17-fracking-wells-shut-down-in-oklahoma/article/474239#ixzz4JaAhgOUv

[dfwgator]

[Wingnut]

[bob434]

[[EPA orders 17 fracking wells shut down in Oklahoma]]

Why? Have they proven the earthquake was caused by fracking?

[Elderberry]

[[EPA orders 17 fracking wells shut down in Oklahoma]]

Why? Have they proven the earthquake was caused by fracking?

It's anybody's guess.

Earthquakes Induced by Fluid Injection FAQs - 9 Found

Do all wastewater disposal wells induce earthquakes?

No. Of more than 150,000 Class II injection wells in the United States, roughly 40,000 are waste fluid disposal wells for oil and gas operations. Only a small fraction of these disposal wells have induced earthquakes that are large enough to be of concern to the public.

https://www2.usgs.gov/faq/categories/9833/3424

[Suppressed]

[[EPA orders 17 fracking wells shut down in Oklahoma]]

Why? Have they proven the earthquake was caused by fracking?

To be clear, the wells in question aren't where the actual fracking is done...these are wastewater-disposal wells, where the wastewater from fracking is injected into the ground for disposal.

There's a very strong correlation between wastewater-injection and seismicity in many areas.  I suspect there's a causative relationship here, but that's pure speculation without specifics.

[bob434]

[[There's a very strong correlation between wastewater-injection and seismicity in many areas.]]

That's odd because the several of the govenrment's own investigations into the issue found no correlation- while others 'contradict it' so what is the truth>? I'll ask again- have the earthquakes been proven to be caused by fracking (or even injection wells for that matter? Has there been a DIRECT correlation between eartquakes and injection wells in oklahoma?

According to the NRC study how many earthquakes have resulted from those 30,000 injection wells? Eight. Once again, statistically zero.

http://marcellusdrilling.com/2012/06/nrc-study-fracking-does-not-cause-earthquakes/

The NRC says 8- but how can they be certain these quakes did not just happen naturally? Where is the direct indisputable proof that even these 8 cases was caused by fluids?

[IsailedawayfromFR]

So the agency who is charge of environmental matters now says it can take charge during an earthquake?

Earthquakes are environmental?

What could now not be considered environmental? 

[thackney]

We had earthquakes in Oklahoma  and  Missouri when I lived there as a kid 5 decades or more before fracking started.  The plains Indians have stories about the earth shaking.

Hydraulic Fracturing is 67 years old, started in Oklahoma.

http://aoghs.org/technology/hydraulic-fracturing/

You must be older than I would have guessed.

[Smokin Joe]

Oh, people think about Yellowstone a lot, and then they move on to the next scare the bejeezus catastrophe on the list and cycle thru whatever they think will scare the gullible public.

The funny thing is that when they go there, they are most afraid of the bears. Aside from car wrecks, more people have died in Yellowstone from accidents in the thermal areas than anything else. Fall in the wrong pool and your goose is cooked.

[Sanguine]

The funny thing is that when they go there, they are most afraid of the bears. Aside from car wrecks, more people have died in Yellowstone from accidents in the thermal areas than anything else. Fall in the wrong pool and your goose is cooked.

You've probably seen these pics already, but they involve hot pools, a bear and a bison.  Speaking of cooked: 


http://www.montanaoutdoor.com/2013/08/backstory-to-grizzly-chasing-bison-photo-revealed/

Poor creature.

[rangerrebew]

[[EPA orders 17 fracking wells shut down in Oklahoma]]

Why? Have they proven the earthquake was caused by fracking?

You should know by now facts are of no importance to liberals.

[driftdiver]

So the agency who is charge of environmental matters now says it can take charge during an earthquake?

Earthquakes are environmental?

What could now not be considered environmental?

Nothing, even the puddles in your backyard when it rains are controlled by the EPA.

[Suppressed]

[[There's a very strong correlation between wastewater-injection and seismicity in many areas.]]

That's odd because the several of the govenrment's own investigations into the issue found no correlation-

Would you please point me to a citation for that?

I think that anyone who looks at the actual data and says there's no correlation is crazy, blind, ignorant, or stupid.  It's pretty impossible to miss.

[Smokin Joe]

You've probably seen these pics already, but they involve hot pools, a bear and a bison.  Speaking of cooked: 


http://www.montanaoutdoor.com/2013/08/backstory-to-grizzly-chasing-bison-photo-revealed/

Poor creature.

Yet it wanted to survive, in spite of its injuries--it got away from the bear.

I read of a bunch of folks who were hot tubbing in the thermal pools off the beaten path. They had a thermometer to check the temperature, but one guy jumped in without checking. He landed in a really hot pool, and it cooked the skin off him in the very short time he was in the water. Ouch. (He didn't last long afterwards) Nasty way to go, and a very real danger there.

[thackney]

Myths and Misconceptions
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/research/induced/myths.php



Fact 1: Fracking is NOT causing most of the induced earthquakes. Wastewater disposal is the primary cause of the recent increase in earthquakes in the central United States.

Wastewater disposal wells typically operate for longer durations and inject much more fluid than hydraulic fracturing, making them more likely to induce earthquakes. Enhanced oil recovery injects fluid into rock layers where oil and gas have already been extracted, while wastewater injection often occurs in never-before-touched rocks. Therefore, wastewater injection can raise pressure levels more than enhanced oil recovery, and thus increases the likelihood of induced earthquakes.

Fact 2: Not all wastewater injection wells induce earthquakes.

Most injection wells are not associated with felt earthquakes. A combination of many factors is necessary for injection to induce felt earthquakes. These include: the injection rate and total volume injected; the presence of faults that are large enough to produce felt earthquakes; stresses that are large enough to produce earthquakes; and the presence of pathways for the fluid pressure to travel from the injection point to faults.

Fact 3: Wastewater is produced at all oil wells, not just hydraulic fracturing sites.

Most wastewater currently disposed of across the nation is generated and produced in the process of oil and gas extraction. As discussed above, saltwater is produced as a byproduct during the extraction process. This wastewater is found at nearly every oil and gas extraction well.

The other main constituent of wastewater is leftover hydraulic fracturing fluid. Once hydraulic fracturing is completed, drilling engineers extract the fluids that are remaining in the well. Some of this recovered hydraulic fracturing fluid is used in subsequent fracking operations, while some of it is disposed of in deep wells.

Fact 4: The content of the wastewater injected in disposal wells is highly variable.

In many locations, wastewater has little or nothing to do with hydraulic fracturing. In Oklahoma, less than 10% of the water injected into wastewater disposal wells is used hydraulic fracturing fluid. Most of the wastewater in Oklahoma is saltwater that comes up along with oil during the extraction process.

In contrast, the fluid disposed of near earthquake sequences that occurred in Youngstown, Ohio, and Guy, Arkansas, consisted largely of spent hydraulic fracturing fluid.

Fact 5: Induced seismicity can occur at significant distances from injection wells and at different depths.

Seismicity can be induced at distances of 10 miles or more away from the injection point and at significantly greater depths than the injection point.

Fact 6: Wells not requiring surface pressure to inject wastewater can still induce earthquakes.

Wells where you can pour fluid down the well without added pressure at the wellhead still increase the fluid pressure within the formation and thus can induce earthquakes.

[thackney]

Do all wastewater disposal wells induce earthquakes?
https://www2.usgs.gov/faq/categories/9833/3424

No. Of more than 150,000 Class II injection wells in the United States, roughly 40,000 are waste fluid disposal wells for oil and gas operations. Only a small fraction of these disposal wells have induced earthquakes that are large enough to be of concern to the public.

- - - - - - - - - -

How does the injection of wastewater at depth cause earthquakes?
https://www2.usgs.gov/faq/categories/9833/3426%20

Earth's crust is pervasively fractured at depth by faults. These faults can sustain high stresses without slipping because natural "tectonic" stress and the weight of the overlying rock pushes the opposing fault blocks together, increasing the frictional resistance to fault slip. The injected wastewater counteracts the frictional forces on faults and, in effect, "pries them apart", thereby facilitating earthquake slip.