USGS: Oil and Gas Operations Could Trigger Large Earthquakes

sciencehabit writes: The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has taken its first stab at quantifying the hazard from earthquakes associated with oil and gas development. The assessment, released in a preliminary report today, identifies 17 areas in eight states with elevated seismic hazard. And geologists now say that such induced earthquakes could potentially be large, up to magnitude 7, which is big enough to cause buildings to collapse and widespread damage. Update: 04/23 15:56 GMT by T : New submitter truavatar adds: At the same time, the Oklahoma Geological Survey released a statement explicitly calling out deep wastewater injection wells to Oklahoma earthquakes, stating "The OGS considers it very likely that the majority of recent earthquakes, particularly those in central and north-central Oklahoma, are triggered by the injection of produced water in disposal wells."

Comments

Re:Nothing will change

[Anonymous Coward]

Please, AGM, or, Anthropogenic Geological Movement is a lie. There is no way that humans can possibly affect the planet on such a scale. Clearly, this is an attempt by the weak, Marxist, totalitarian, strong-arm dictator to do whatever it takes to destroy Amerika's freedom.

Re:This Warning Brought To You By Saudi Arabia

[GameboyRMH]

Dammit, I came in here to give the 3-2-1 countdown to the launch of the denialist movement for this...beaten :-(