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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."
As a favorite author liked to say, "there ain't no such thing as a free lunch." Unfortunately we are very poor at evaluating externalized costs. The pollution put out by coal plants that are "far enough" away from cities, the fish that are killed by hydroelectric damns, the excess carbon produced by all fossil fuels, and now the potential for damaging earthquakes from large scale oil and gas operations.
Of course the first ones to ignore externalized costs are the business offloading those costs on everyone else. And if a magnitude 7 quake gets triggered and people get hurt or killed (potentially dozens or hundreds of people in the US and possibly many more in less developed areas) the corporations responsible ought to be liable for millions or billions of dollars. But if necessary they'll lawyer up for a fraction of the cost and drag the issue out in court for years until everyone forgets. After all, how do you prove that this particular quake wouldn't have happened without drilling? And how do you prove which company's actions triggered the quake?
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And here come the psuedo-skeptics to attack anyone who even dares suggest what is in the interests of commercial entities may not entirely be in the interests of the wider society. I mean, God would never allow a universe to exist where humans could fuck themselves over. God wants unconstrained industries doing whatever the fuck they want, and we should just go and fucking kill anyone who ever even hints that maybe unconstrained resource extraction might possibly kind of potentially cause problems. Environmentalists are the only evil, and God loves money, CEOs, Koch brothers and AC's who post on Internet sites to condemn any concerns.
Oh, and Al Gore rapes bunnies!!!!!
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Yes because Oklahoma is such a hot bed for earthquakes.
"There were more earthquakes of magnitude 3 or higher in Oklahoma last year than in California. Several were of a magnitude greater than 5 and caused considerable damage."
We are talking about areas that until recently have been considered geologically stable. Don't you think that the USGS have taken that into account?
Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
Good luck getting a penny in compensation out of the corporations responsible if this happens.
They are already smart enough to use shell corporations to do the drilling
But not bp or exxon corporations?
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
You don't think the oil and gas industry hasn't spent millions of dollars to try to say that fracking is perfectly safe and couldn't possibly cause any harm?
Basically they've done what the tobacco industry did .. delay, obfuscate, and claim that it's up to someone else to prove it's dangerous while they assume it's safe without evidence.
You don't think a massive lobbying, PR, and fake science campaign isn't an actual conspiracy?
Because, really, what they're doing is lying to the public, reaping billions in profits, and then claiming that everything they're doing is perfectly safe.
Which, of course, is increasingly proven to be bullshit.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
The oil and gas industry are merely trying to relieve "earth tension". The planet Earth is tense... and needs a good massage. We'll thank them later.
They're not shell corporations; they're legitimately owned and operated by other parties, who gladly take the profit.
That could cost oil companies and farmers more money. It is likely the waste will have to purified like sewage into clean water and toxic solid waste.