Oklahoma Earthquakes

J

Josiah

Senior Member
Location
50 miles east of Cincinnati, OH
According to a story in the most resent issue of the New Yorker Magazine, Oklahoma has experienced an insane uptick in earthquakes over the past five years. There is now a heap of peer-reviewed research finding that Oklahoma's earthquake "swarm" is directly linked to fracking—not the gas drilling itself, but a follow-up step where brackish wastewater is re-injected into disposal wells deep underground. But even freakier than the earthquakes themselves, according to the story, is the pervasive denial of science coming from state agencies like the Oklahoma Geological Survey, whose job it is to oversee the oil and gas industry. The story goes on to detail super-cozy relationships between top regulators and drilling company executives; the state's ongoing and systemic habit of dismissing or ignoring the rapidly accumulating pile of evidence about the quakes; and a failure by regulators and the state legislature to take any meaningful steps to address the crisis. It's really quite damning.

I will be interested in the observations of our Sooner state members about these strange goings on.
 

There is a good web site which tracks earthquakes....earthquaketrack.com. According to them, there have been 1751 earthquakes in that state in the past year...the vast majority of which were to small to cause any damage. However, the longer these oil companies continue to pump liquids into the layers of shale and rock, and "lubricate" the underground fault lines, the greater the risk of a major quake happening. Oklahoma isn't that far from the New Madrid fault in southern Missouri, and if that fault ever shifts substantially, places like Memphis will sustain major damage. The last time that area had a major quake, it was felt all over the eastern half of the nation.

http://earthquaketrack.com/p/united-states/oklahoma/recent
 
Obviously Oklahoma is in favor of allowing the Oil companies to frack.. Guess you take the good with the bad.
 

I am a life long Texan born and raised in the Lone Star State when there wasn't a republican in four hundred miles of where I lived. Politics were democratic, Conservative, moderate, and liberal democrats. I now live in Oklahoma having moved here four years ago to be near my son and his family in our remaining years. I spent a good many years working in the oil patch as we called it, where exploration, drilling, production and refining oil and gas products was big business as it is and has been here in Oklahoma. Fracking had to do with those oil and gas wells that have once produced many barrels of oil a day or many cubic feet of gas a day and production has about run out. Large producing wells that are no longer productive. These are the wells that are fractured. It used to be an oil based product, mixed with sand, pumped into the wells under extreme pressure, often opening up caverns of oil and gas here toffee blocked off, unable to be pumped up out of the ground until fractured, giving new life to an old well. That what fracturing does. It also leaves large, empty caverns thousands of feet underground. Some think these are the cause of many of our sink holes around the country and the cause of earthquakes in Oklahoma and some of the Midwest states. Oil has been a bedrock industry both in Texas and Oklahoma. Legislators often cozy up to their biggest employers in a State. Phillips Petroleum has been one of the State's biggest and most successful oil employer in past years, although by no means the only oil industry employer. Companies put pressure on legislators to protect their interests. Oil Companies do not want to say or admit fracking causes earthquakes, much as cigarette companies did snot want to admit nicotine causes cancer. I am not an expert in anything. I am an uneducated has been. Oklahoma is a republican state. But if I were a betting man and the betting was not rigged, I'd lay my money on the idea that fracking is the main culprit in Oklahoma earthquakes, Mr. Josiah, because politics, regardless of what we call them, all work the same way when money, power, and influence are involved.
 
Josiah said:
According to a story in the most resent issue of the New Yorker Magazine, Oklahoma has experienced an insane uptick in earthquakes over the past five years................I will be interested in the observations of our Sooner state members about these strange goings on.
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Lobbyists working hard wouldn't you say?
 
Thank you drifter for your informative comments and your opinion. I would imagine that a large majority of Oklahoma citizens are not in the least anxious to see the imposition of stricter regulations which might reduce the underlying earthquake problem. There's no obvious safer industry that can step in and replace oil and gas as a source of revenue in Oklahoma. I'm sure most Sooners admit at least to themselves the fracking/earthquake connection but you can understand their reluctance to kill the chicken that lays the golden eggs. As Quicksilver said you gotta take the good with the bad. Still getting their nickname changed to the earthquake state isn't a promising motto for the future. Oklahoma has considerable promise for carbon less energy production although developers maybe somewhat reluctant to put up $500k wind generators in an area prone to earthquakes.
 
Yes lobbyists generally have their say. There are some investigations going on at the present time.
 
drifter said:
Yes lobbyists generally have their say. There are some investigations going on at the present time.
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I did not know there were investigations going on. I know there have been earthquakes I have felt 3 of them in the last year. You are right about republicans drifter, Oklahoma was the only state in the union where all counties voted republican and I am one. I am also proud of it based on our current whitehouse actions. You are right drifter about money, but you cannot have your cake and eat it too as they say. Tulsa used to be the Oil capital of the world and now all the oil companies have moved to Denver and Houston. But I guess they left a lot of fracking. If it were not for the left or democrats we could have nuclear energy which is cheaper and a lot safer but they will not have it because it might kill a bird. They will be sorry in the long run. Just glad I do not live in California where it might fall in the ocean.
 
drifter said:
Here's one look into what's causing Oklahoma's earthquakes.
http://www.livescience.com/49785-oklahoma-earthquake-risk-hidden-faults.html

Others can be found by Googling "Causes of Oklahoma Earthquakes" or "Investigations into Oklahoma Earthquakes."
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That was interesting thanks for sharing drifter. As a side note there on that link you could go to another link that was Top ten ways to destroy the earth. I found that very interesting also.
 

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