Search Results for: earthquake

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New Study Claims Utica Shale Fracking in Ohio Causes Earthquakes

If we’ve heard it once, we’ve heard it a thousand times–the claim that fracking causes earthquakes. We’ve talked about this issue almost from the beginning of writing the MDN blog site in 2009. A quick summary of our own observations is that frack wastewater disposed of via injection wells (not fracking itself) is the culprit…

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State Seismic Network: Only 1 Fracking-Induced “Earthquake” in PA

Do you know how many Marcellus (or Utica) shale wells have been drilled in Pennsylvania since shale drilling began? We’re talking drilled, fracked and now online. That number is now over 9,000. You know how many times fracking has caused an earthquake (or “seismic event” as it’s called in the biz)? Precisely once. Which is…

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Yet Another Fracking-Causes-Earthquakes “Study” – This Time in Utica

Yet another “fracking may cause earthquakes” study has been published in the so-called peer reviewed journal PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences). Researchers from the University of Miami (in Ohio) admit the kind of earthquakes they talk about in their paper, potentially caused by Utica Shale drilling, are “rare.” But, they are also…

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Stanford Researchers Now Able to Detect “Earthquakes” from Fracking

Yes, we must revisit the topic of “fracking causes earthquakes” yet again (sigh). But maybe this time something good will come of our discussion. Researchers at Stanford University (crazy California) have discovered a way to detect thousands of faint, “previously missed earthquakes” triggered by fracking and by injection wells. “The technique can be used to…

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NETL Researchers Find Tiny Earthquakes Help Marcellus Production

We hesitated to use the headline that we did, given the way virulent anti-drillers bastardize the issue of fracking and earthquakes. But we used it to make a point. Quick history: The headline-grabbing “fracking causes swarms of earthquakes” in places like Oklahoma is about frack wastewater that is injected in special saltwater injection wells, deep…

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OH Injection Well that Caused OH Earthquakes Shutting Down Forever

In late December 2011 a 4.0 earthquake hit the Youngstown, OH area. It was the latest in a string of quakes that began in March 2011, shortly after a wasterwater injection well went online–the Northstar #1 well. In March 2012 the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) made a determination that indeed, it was the…

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Overraction by Antis to Unfelt Earthquake in Monroe County, OH

Early Sunday morning there was a low-level earthquake in Monroe County, OH–that literally nobody felt–but was picked up on seismic monitors by the U.S. Geological Survey. There was, according to the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) one fracking operation “near” the earthquake that ODNR shut down within an hour after the event–out of an…

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DEP Says Fracking at PA Utica Wells “Likely” Caused Earthquakes

On Friday, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection held a hastily-called webinar to discuss findings that, frankly, aren’t all that newsworthy or surprising. After 10 months of study, the DEP has concluded that zipper fracking activities by Hilcorp in Lawrence County, PA “likely” caused a series of earthquakes in April 2016 so minor that nobody…

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DEP Concludes Hilcorp Drilling Caused Minor Earthquakes in W PA

In April of last year (2016), MDN brought you the story of earthquakes so minor nobody could feel them in Lawrence County, PA were likely caused by fracking (see PA DEP Investigates Hilcorp Fracking in Earthquake Nobody Felt). However, seismic monitoring equipment could detect them. We have to stress that earthquakes caused by fracking is…

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ODNR Says No ‘Felt’ Earthquakes from Injection Wells Last 5 Yrs

On Dec. 31, 2011, the Youngstown, OH area experienced a 4.0 earthquake that was later determined to be caused by a wastewater injection well (see Youngstown Earthquake and Fracking: Is There a Connection? and ODNR Finds Youngstown Injection Well Caused Earthquakes). The Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) later enacted new regulations to prevent future…

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Study Claims Link Between Fracking & Earthquakes in W Canada

Another week, another so-called research paper that purports to show a link between fracking and earthquakes. Two researchers at the University of Calgary looked at drilling and fracking of shale wells in Canada’s Duvernay Shale (western part of the country), looking for clues that might indicate fracking itself–if done near an underground fault–can lead to…

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WV Wastewater Co Grabs Nat’l Headlines re OK Earthquakes

For a number of years we’ve had our eye on Fairmont Brine Processing, headquartered in Fairmont, WV. We originally started writing about the company in 2010 when it was AOP Clearwater (see AOP Clearwater Plant in WV a Big Success in Treating Marcellus Shale Wastewater). New owners expanded the operation in 2014 (see New Brine…

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Penn State Eats Crow: No Link Between Fracking & Earthquakes

In May MDN highlighted news that Penn State University had set up a seismic monitoring system throughout Pennsylvania to track earthquakes in the Keystone State (see Penn State Claims Link Between Fracking & Earthquakes, Without Research). We pointed out at the time that researchers had jumped the gun by theorizing fracking may be the cause…

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Penn State Claims Link Between Fracking & Earthquakes, Without Research

What has happened to one of the world’s finest research universities? A press release issued yesterday by Penn State touts their participation in helping set up a seismic monitoring system throughout Pennsylvania. In the announcement, Penn State researchers openly admit this about a series of tiny quakes in western PA that couldn’t be felt at…

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PA DEP Investigates Hilcorp Fracking in Earthquake Nobody Felt

You can count on one hand the number of cases where fracking a shale well over top an active underground fault (never a good idea) has caused a detectable earthquake. Can we now add one more case in western PA? Officials from the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection are investigating whether or not fracking by…

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Harrisburg “Reporter” Blames Republicans for Earthquakes in Ohio

Truly amazing. That’s our reaction to the latest anti-drilling article published by the Democrat-controlled Harrisburg Patriot-News from “reporter” (i.e. anti-drilling advocate and propagandist pretending to be a reporter) Candy Woodall. Woodall used the news about a report recently released by the U.S. Geological Survey regarding earthquakes caused by injection wells to blame a series of…