Oklahoma Massive Earthquake Spike Geo-Engineered, Scientists Say

The cause of central Oklahoma’s massive increase in earthquakes has been attributed to geo-engineering, specifically fracking, scientists said this week, as they’ve previously reported the cause of quake spikes in other areas that have prompted cities and even entire states to ban fracking.

Manmade Quake Spike

Leading geological scientists have recently linked the uptick in Oklahoma’s quakes to oil and gas development through hydraulic fracking.

Central Oklahoma had one to three 3.0-magntitude earthquakes per year between 1975 to 2008, the US Geological Survey found. That jumped to a whopping 40 a year average from 2009 to 2013.

The state’s received 150 such quakes this year, and 25 total just this week. That is not as many as the Louisiana sinkhole, but nevertheless of concern to scientists and homeowners watching the value of their homes plummet in areas of dangerous extraction.

Overall, Oklahoma has had 500 earthquakes since Jan. 1. Scientific data suggests geoengineering involved in the fracking boom is mostly to blame for the spike. 

The fracking process involves geo-engineering: injecting water, sand, and various chemicals into layers of rock in hopes of releasing oil and gas deep underground.

Research scientists have shown the strong link between quakes and wastewater injection wells: Poisonous wastewater is stored deep underground, causing friction along fault lines, such as findings last year linking drill sites to a series of quakes in parts of Ohio, as it did in Louisiana’s monster sinkhole disaster area that’s experienced thousands of quakes over the past 18 months.

Oil and gas injection wells are the “most reasonable hypothesis” to explain the earthquake uptick in Oklahoma, Nicholas van der Elst, a post-doctorate research fellow at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, told The Nation.

“The burden of proof is on well operators to prove that the earthquakes are not caused by their wells,” stated van der Elst.

One 2011 study, published in the journal Geology, linked liquid infusion with earthquakes, including the largest ever recorded in Oklahoma. The state has over 4,400 disposal wells, StateImpact reported.

Frac-quakes are nothing new to alternative or new media readers. Last year, Deborah Dupré reported on fossil fuel industry’s manmade quakes, including those at Louisiana’s giant sinkhole:

Drilling wells can cause earthquakes, that is, human-made quakes, according to a new study that says the strongest quakes are associated with deep-injection wastewater disposal wells. Experts also now agree fracking can cause quakes, both of interest regarding the increase in quakes throughout the country.

 

A new study report about man-made earthquakes by drilling and fracking is of special interest regarding the Bayou Corne’s sinkhole disaster area in Assumption Parish, a potential new south Louisiana catastrophe.

 

Human-made activity triggers quakes

 

Environmental modifications (ENMOD) by drilling even simple water wells is directly linked to man-made seismic activity, according to a new study.

 

‘Understanding how human-made activity triggers quakes is important,’ said Cornell University geophysicist Rowena Lohman, referring to what the UN calls environmental modification techniques.

 

“‘Environmental modification techniques’ refers to any technique for changing – through the deliberate manipulation of natural processes – the dynamics, composition or structure of the Earth, including its biota, lithosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere, or of outer space,’ states the Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques. (United Nations, Geneva: 18 May 1977)

 

Humans dump hazardous waste into Class II injection wells to save money for companies that are changing the dynamics, composition and structure of the Earth.

 

Near Louisiana’s Assumption Parish giant and expanding sinkhole, Houston-based Texas Brine company had been authorized by the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources (LDNR) to inject into the company’s leased well in Napoleonville Salt Dome, hazardous waste including radioactive waste from oil and gas industry operations.

 

The well had problems in early 2011, was sealed and abandoned. After two months of locals experiencing seismic activities and observing methane bubbles percolating in nearby bayous, a large sinkhole emerged and has been expanding almost weekly ever since, with chunks of land and swamp trees falling into it. It is now the size of five football fields.

 

Seismometers picked up thousands of earthquakes (being called “tremors”) in the Assumption Parish sinkhole disaster area since June, according to seismologist Dr. Stephen Horton. Earthquakes felt in the parish’s Bayou Corne, Grand Bayou and Pierre Part communities, each of which are over the 1-mile by 2-mile Napoleonville Salt Dome, were stronger than usual last week. The seismic activity was recorded in the vicinity of Texas Brine’s waste cavern, breached in the salt dome that is also collapsing. The outer edge of the salt dome is “gone” after a “frack-out” occurred, according to officials last week.

 

“Seismic issues have most commonly been linked to injection wastewater disposal wells, the accepted disposal method for wastewater generated from fracking,” the Times reports,

 

Strongest earthquakes are associated with deep-injection wastewater disposal wells, with magnitudes in central and eastern United States around magnitude 5 or less, according to David McIntyre, public relations officer for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) this weekend.

 

A deadly quake in Spain in 2011 was linked to area farmers drilling deeper and deeper wells to water crops, the study reports.

 

Nine people died and nearly 300 were injured when a 5.1-magnitude quake hit the city of Lorca in May last year. Scientists found a fault running near a basin was weakened by 50 years of extracting groundwater in the area.

 

In 2011, a 4.0-magnitude earthquake in Youngstown, Ohio was linked to an injection well operated by D&L Energy.

Many new media readers follow Dutchsinse, who explained Okalahoma’s manmade quake spike last year in the YouTube video below.

How To Stop Earthquakes

Seismic action associated with fracking wells is being noticed in state legislatures, towns and cities that are just saying “No” to Big Energy. Some of these are listed below. 

1. Arkansas has banned oil and gas wells in a 1,550-square mile area based on quakes there.
2. Ohio has  banned wells near fault lines. 
3. In Kansas, a task force was assigned by the state government to assess links between quakes and fracking.
4. Vermont has banned fracking, despite negligible prospects for oil or gas production there.
5.  Massachusetts is seriously considering banning fracking.
6. Five Colorado cities have banned fracking, though they face legal challenges from the state – not the industry.
7. Dallas, Texas has banned fracking within 1,500 feet of a home, school, church, and other protected areas, effectively banning the practice within the city.
8. A Texan rural town has demanded regulators act immediately to ban fracking in their area, alleging that what’s caused a spate of recent earthquakes.
9. New York City has banned fracking.

Moreover, a recent study found some of the most drought-ravaged areas in the U.S. are heavily targeted for fracking that exacerbates water usage.

Half of the 97 billion gallons of water used since 2011 for fracking went to wells in Texas, a state amid a severe, years-long drought. Meanwhile, oil and gas production through fracking is on track to double in the state over the next five years, the Guardian reported.

In California, where much of the nation’s produce is grown and needs water, 96 percent of new wells are where there’s high competition for water. A total state drought emergency was declared last month.

How long before other cities and states follow the lead of those that have already banned fracking depends on the American public, We the People.

Sources: The Nation, Russia Today, Dutchsince