Over the past several years one of anti-drillers’ favorite issues to misrepresent and demagogue is the old lie that “fracking causes earthquakes.” We’ve written many articles examining and debunking that issue (see MDN’s earthquake articles here). It’s always good to establish that fracking itself has caused, at most, 4 earthquakes–out of the 100,000 or more times horizontal fracking has been used. Statistically it’s zero. However, a byproduct of fracking–leftover water and fluid–sometimes is disposed via a deep injection well. IF you inject fluids in a well that HAPPENS to be located near an active earthquake fault, that fluid can cause rock plates to slip, like greasing two pieces of metal that causes them to become slippery. Now a researcher with the U.S. Geological Survey says research shows that earthquakes caused by injection wells result in far less shaking (and damage) than regular old tectonic plate earthquakes…
Read More “Injection Well Earthquakes 16X Less Potent than Regular Quakes”