Another day, another “study” that says fracking causes earthquakes–this time in Ohio’s Utica Shale. In typical and now predictable fashion, mainstream media does a “drive-by” with the information–like a drive-by shooting–and then continues on its merry way. Here at MDN we’ll break it down and explain it so you have ALL the facts and not anti-drilling “impressions” of what the data says. First off, an admission that we don’t (yet) have a full copy of the newly published study, which has reportedly been published in the journal Seismological Research Letters (but which we can’t find on their website). We’ve requested a full copy of the paper and are awaiting it and hope to share it with you when we get it. The study is titled, “Characterization of an earthquake sequence triggered by hydraulic fracturing in Harrison County Ohio” and looks at a series of “400 earthquakes” that were so tiny as to be unfelt by anyone–but detectable by finely tuned equipment. The earthquakes happened in Harrison County, OH and are thought (but not proven) to be the result of fracking several Utica wells over top of a previously unknown geologic fault. The author of the study himself says the earthquakes couldn’t even be felt by anyone…
