Earthquakes

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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 occurrences of earthquakes from either injection wells or fracking itself (see Did ODNR Overreact & Set Earthquake Detect Bar Too Low?). As we pointed out in 2014, the new rules would have shut down the Cleveland Browns stadium–if all of the fans were to begin stomping their feet it would create an “earthquake” greater than the allowed limits set by ODNR. Since the new rules were enacted there have continued to be earthquakes in Ohio, but not “felt” earthquakes from injection wells (see Study Says Series of Unfelt Earthquakes in OH from Utica Fracking). Typically an earthquake must reach 2.5 on the Richter scale to be felt on the surface. Since spring of 2012, there have been no major (above 2.5) earthquakes in Ohio related to injection wells, although there have been a few felt earthquakes supposedly tied to fracking over an active fault (see OH Researchers Confirm Hilcorp Fracking Caused Low-Level Quakes). Now five years later, the ODNR is patting itself on the back, taking credit for the reduced number of earthquakes tied to injection wells, because (they say) of their super-restrictive regulations…
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    Study Claims Link Between Fracking & Earthquakes in W Canada

    fracking-and-earthquakes.jpgAnother 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 low-level earthquakes. The researchers claim they have found such a link–which is the first such study to make a connection between fracking and earthquakes. The researchers have just published “Fault activation by hydraulic fracturing in western Canada” (full copy below), in the journal Science. We have repeatedly reported, based on studies and observable facts, that disposing of high volumes of wastewater in injection wells near underground faults (large cracks in the rock layer) can lead to earthquakes. We’ve also chronicled that fracking directly over a fault can also lead to an earthquake–which has been documented to happen perhaps half a dozen times, ever, out of the hundreds of thousands of times wells have been drilled and fracked. Statistically zero. But this study claims there is a link and the inference is that fracking leads to more earthquakes that you may think. Should we be worried?…
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    WV Wastewater Co Grabs Nat’l Headlines re OK Earthquakes

    earthquake.jpgFor 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 Processing Plant Coming to Panhandle of WV). Earlier this year Fairmont secured a $90 million line of credit to build a new wastewater processing plant in southwest PA (see Fairmont Brine Gets $90M to Build New Wastewater Recycling Plant). Imagine our surprise at seeing the company’s name in a major Bloomberg article about Oklahoma earthquakes! Brian Kalt, CEO of Fairmont Brine, is floating an idea that will settle the man-induced earthquakes in Oklahoma, which come from injecting shale wastewater deep underground: Don’t inject it anymore. Instead, using Fairmont’s recycling technology to separate out the salty minerals and then release purified water into streams and rivers. That Bloomberg article actually made the Drudge Report for a while yesterday! Kudos to Fairmont and Brian Kalt…
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    Penn State Eats Crow: No Link Between Fracking & Earthquakes

    eat crowIn 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 for some of the earthquakes. At the time they said: “We have not done enough analysis of the data to make any conclusions yet, but there is a correlation spatially and temporally between the fracking and the earthquakes.” In other words, “We haven’t actually done the research, but we’re going to say there’s a connection between fracking and earthquakes–because we feel like it.” Now that they’ve done some of the research, those same Penn State researchers have changed their tune. What they say in a recently issued report is this: “The report found no correlation between the seismic events during that period and Marcellus Shale fracking or gas injection wells.” Sounds to us like they’re eating crow…
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    Penn State Claims Link Between Fracking & Earthquakes, Without Research

    Penn StateWhat 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 the surface: “We have not done enough analysis of the data to make any conclusions yet, but there is a correlation spatially and temporally between the fracking and the earthquakes.” In other words–“We haven’t actually done the research, but we’re going to say there’s a connection between fracking and earthquakes–because we feel like it.” That’s not science–that’s politics. Real scientists observe first, then conclude. Penn State is reversing that order–they already have their conclusions, now it’s just a matter of warping the observations to fit their conclusions. Sad…
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    PA DEP Investigates Hilcorp Fracking in Earthquake Nobody Felt

    earthquake.jpgYou 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 Hilcorp in well in Lawrence County, PA caused two 1.9 earthquakes in the area on Monday. Just so you know, you can’t feel a 1.9 earthquake on the surface. The only way you know of such an earthquake is through special monitors maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). A football stadium full of fans stomping their feet at the same time can (and has) caused earthquakes greater than 1.0 (see ODNR Temporarily Shuts Down Injection Wells After Low-Level Quake). You don’t even feel earthquakes on the surface until they hit around magnitude 4.0 and above. Still, with so little drilling happening in the state these days, chasing fracking earthquakes gives DEP investigators something to do, we suppose…
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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 earthquakes in Ohio on the previous Republican governor Tom Corbett. Yep. Corbett and his hated (for Democrats) Secretary of the Dept. of Environmental Protection at that time, Mike Krancer, are why there was a series of earthquakes near Youngstown, OH, including a 4.0 magnitude quake on Dec. 31, 2011 (see Youngstown Earthquake and Fracking: Is There a Connection?). Those wicked Republicans who just love to destroy everything. Here’s how the propagandist Woodall used a legitimate story and prefaced it with a totally made-up introduction, just so she could hammer Republicans on fracking one more time…
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    Judge Tosses Appeal to Re-Open Trumbull, OH Injection Well

    It appears that in Ohio it’s A.O.K. for regulatory bodies to write laws–something the legislature is supposed to do–and not only can they write laws, they can take their sweet time doing it, denying a legally permitted business the right to conduct operations in the meantime. And if the legally permitted business seeks justice in the court system? Yeah, even the judge sides with the all-powerful state to prevent that business from operating. That about sums up the situation in Ohio for American Water Management Services (AWMS). AWMS owns a wastewater injection well in Trumbull County that supposedly caused a low-level earthquake (that nobody could feel) in 2014. Two wells located at the site, both operated by AWMS, were “temporarily” shut down by the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources following the quake (see ODNR Temporarily Shuts Down Injection Wells After Low-Level Quake). One of the two injection wells was allowed to re-open, but not the other (see ODNR Clears Trumbull Co. Injection Well in August Quake). Why was one well allowed to re-open but not the other? Because the ODNR is supposedly crafting new regulations that will govern the offending well that may or may not have caused the low-level quake. When will we see those new regs? Who knows! AWMS appealed ODNR’s decision to keep the second well shut down to the Ohio Oil and Gas Commission, a body that works for (yes) the ODNR. Unsurprisingly the Commission found ODNR is within its right to keep the second well shut down while it takes its time writing new regulations. AWMS appealed the Commission’s decision to a court, and the judge threw out the case because of a filing deadline legal hoop AWMS didn’t jump through properly…
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    Canadian Summertime Earthquake Said to be Tied to Fracking

    This is not strictly a Marcellus/Utica story, but interesting and relevant nonetheless. Last summer a 4.6 magnitude earthquake hit northeast British Columbia (Canada). The BC Oil and Gas Commission has confirmed that the quake was as a result of fracking shale wells in the area. This is perhaps the fifth or sixth time fracking itself–and not a wastewater injection well–has been tied to an earthquake. Ever. Worldwide. Which means fracking causes earthquakes, statistically speaking, 0% of the time. Of course that kind of context won’t get reported as the meme of “Canada confirms fracking caused quake” bounces around the mainstream mediasphere. Which is why we bring you the news here on MDN–to provide context that an instance where fracking actually does cause an earthquake is as rare as hen’s teeth. The truly amazing aspect of the story is this: BC authorities didn’t shut down the fracking operation! They took a very adult, mature approach: Back off a bit on the pressure you’re using to frack the well with, and if another quake then happens, we’ll shut it all down and think through another approach…
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    New Report Finds Less than 1% of Injection Wells Cause Earthquakes

    One of the news stories that is constantly recycled by anti-drillers and a sycophantic media is that “fracking causes earthquakes.” They intentionally perpetuate a knowing lie because, well, because it’s so effective. Who in their right mind would support an activity that causes earthquakes?! Here’s the thing: Fracking itself has been tied to earthquakes in less than five instances worldwide. Statistically zero. However, wastewater from fracking that’s disposed of via a deep injection well (sometimes called a saltwater well) has caused earthquakes. So antis try to link the two together, blurring the lines and claiming fracking itself is the cause. Our friends at the top notch Energy in Depth has just issued a research paper (full copy below) that quantifies just how often earthquakes are tied to injection wells. What they found is that earthquakes have been tied to (caused by) 218 wastewater injection wells. Know how many injection wells there are in the U.S.? Around 40,000. If you do the math, that’s about one-half of one percent of injection wells cause earthquake problems…
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    Is Tuesday’s Harrison County, OH Earthquake Tied to Fracking?

    snoozingA small earthquake that nobody felt (2.1 on the Richter scale) hit Harrison County, OH Tuesday evening. There was immediate speculation about whether or not the earthquake is tied to Utica Shale drilling in the area. Aubrey McClendon’s Ascent Resources is drilling near where the quake originated. It’s WAY too early to even speculate on whether or not the quake is tied to a fracking operation. IF (a very big IF) fracking did cause this quake, it would be the sixth known time that fracking itself (instead of an injection well) has caused an earthquake–out of millions of wells drilled and fracked. Statistically zero…
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    OH & Other States Release Report on Injection Wells & Earthquakes

    StatesFirst Seismicity PrimerCountless times MDN has told you that in rare cases, injecting fracking wastewater into a deep, underground Class II injection well (for disposal) can cause earthquakes–if the injection well is located over a fault. When you inject fluids under high pressure into rock formations with a fault it can act like a lubricant, allowing the rocks to slip and slide–causing a low-level earthquake. It’s happened in Ohio. It’s happened (a lot) in Oklahoma. It’s happened in Texas. And in other states too. Thirteen oil and gas states joined together with the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC) and Ground Water Protection Council (GWPC) to form the StatesFirst Initiative, a working group to pool their knowledge and try and figure out how, and under what conditions, injection wells cause earthquakes. Co-heading the initiative is Ohio’s Chief for the Division of Oil & Gas Resources Management (Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources), Rick Simmers. Rick and the working group have just released a 150-page Primer (copy below) to help regulatory agencies evaluate and develop good policies to mitigate and prevent earthquakes from injection wells…
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    OH Minority Report: Shut Down Wells Before They Cause Earthquakes

    Minority ReportThe Chief of the Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management for the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (currently Rick Simmers) is a man with a lot of power. He has the power, according to a ruling just handed down on August 12, to make his own decisions about suspending permits to operate in the absence of specific violations of a law or regulation. In September 2014 Simmers suspended permits for two wastewater injection wells in Trumbull County, OH after a very low level earthquake was detected close to those wells (an earthquake that couldn’t be felt at the surface and caused no damage of any kind). American Water Management Services sued saying they hadn’t violated any laws or regulations on the books and their permits could not just be arbitrarily revoked like that. But the Ohio Oil and Gas Commission said nope–Tom Cruise, er, a, Mr. Simmers can arbitrarily do what he wants when there is no specific rule or guideline or law–because he has the best interests of the people at heart…
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    USGS Updates Models for Determining Earthquakes from Injection Wells

    The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) issued an update yesterday into how they evaluate whether or not earthquakes are being caused by deep injection wells–wells that are disposing frack wastewater. USGS says, “Significant strides in science have been made to better understand potential ground shaking from induced earthquakes, which are earthquakes triggered by man-made practices.” And so they’ve issued a report that “outlines a preliminary set of models to forecast how hazardous ground shaking could be in the areas where sharp increases in seismicity have been recorded.” Translation: We’ve updated our best guesses about how this works. The new report is titled “Incorporating Induced Seismicity in the 2014 United States National Seismic Hazard Model–Results of 2014 Workshop and Sensitivity Studies” (full copy below). USGS concludes that it is almost always injection wells–over faults–that are the cause of induced earthquakes, and NOT fracking itself. The USGS says, “Many questions have been raised about whether hydraulic fracturing—commonly referred to as “fracking”—is responsible for the recent increase of earthquakes. USGS’s studies suggest that the actual hydraulic fracturing process is only occasionally the direct cause of felt earthquakes.” The word “occasionally” translates to this: you can count on one hand the number of times fracking (over a fault) has led to an earthquake…
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    USGS Scientists: Earthquakes from Injection Wells Can be Mitigated

    Last week a scientific research paper was published in the magazine Science on the topic of earthquakes related to injection wells. The paper is the result of a series of workshops by the U.S. Geological Survey. Although we don’t have a copy of the full paper, we do have a summary. A summary of the summary is this: fracking shale results in a lot of fluid that gets disposed of via Class II injection wells. Some of those wells are near faults and result in tremors–most of the time unfelt. There is, in the opinion of the USGS scientists, a direct connection between the increase in fluid injection from shale drilling and the rise (and clusters) of low-level earthquakes. The good news? There are strategies for “mitigating the effects of human-induced earthquakes caused by wastewater injection” which are discussed in the paper…
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    EPA Sees Connection Between Some Injection Wells & Earthquakes

    On February 5th the Underground Injection Control National Technical Workgroup, part of the federal Environmental Protection Agency, released their final report on a potential link between wastewater injection wells (called Class II wells) and earthquakes. To which we say, we knew a probable connection existed three plus years ago. That’s the typical lag you get with when the federal government “investigates” something. The report is titled “Minimizing and Managing Potential Impacts of Injection-Induced Seismicity from Class II Disposal Wells: Practical Approaches” (the full 415-page copy is embedded below). The report says, in essence, while they can’t prove there’s connection between injection wells in some locations and earthquakes, the relationship is “undeniable.” MDN’s comment: What everyone acknowledges is that when you inject fluid into the earth over an active fault line, that fluid acts like grease and eventually the rock layers can, in RARE circumstances, slip and slide, causing a LOW LEVEL earthquake–typically so light no one feels it at the surface. The EPA study was based on cases from four states, two of them (OH & WV) in the Marcellus/Utica region…
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