7 million Americans at risk of man-made earthquakes, USGS says

[jpak]

Source: Washington Post

Earthquakes are a natural hazard -- except when they're man-made. The oil and gas industry has aggressively adopted the technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to shatter subsurface shale rock and liberate the oil and gas lurking there. But the process results in tremendous amounts of chemical-laden wastewater, which the industry disposes of by pumping into deep wells.

And the Earth moves.

On Monday, the U.S. Geological Survey published for the first time an earthquake hazard map covering both natural and "induced" quakes. The map and an accompanying report indicate that parts of the central United States now face a ground-shaking hazard equal to the famously unstable terrain of California.

Some 7 million people live in places vulnerable to these induced tremors, the USGS concluded. The list of places at highest risk of man-made earthquakes includes Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Arkansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Ohio and Alabama. There are also states with wastewater-disposal wells but no record of recent natural earthquakes -- suggesting that the practice of injecting wastewater deep into the Earth can be done more safely in some places than in others.

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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2016/03/28/new-seismic-hazard-map-includes-fracking-related-quakes-for-the-first-time/

[Fast Walker 52]

1. our fracking mania is insane-- how can we continue to do these damaging practices?

[chapdrum]

3. Having learned a fair amount about fracking,

it is nothing less than protracted suicide.

That it continues is almost beyond comprehension, except that somewhere in there is the spectre of death wish.

[Fast Walker 52]

21. yeah... another word for it is ecocide

and some how, some way, we need to make it stop.

[AxionExcel]

7. It's basically f*cking the earth

About as dispirit insane as pouring oceans of toxic poisons (herbicides and pesticides) on the land and on food people eat.

[Fast Walker 52]

18. yep...

sigh

[jwirr]

22. We are desperate. We want to continue our lifestyle and we

will do almost anything to do it. And that includes every level of income. There are a lot of alternative sources of energy out there but I do not see the gas stoves disappearing for an alternative.

We have not even begun to think about the fact that we did reach the end of our fossil fuel supply - that is - the end of easily accessed fossil fuels.

I am trying to design a tiny house with all the things I need in it to be self-sufficient. Our area is not a good source of solar in the winter. I do not want to cut down all the trees not to mention that wood burning stoves are huge items. In fact what I have come up with so far is remarkably similar to the home my parents built in the 40s.

We need to get down to the basics - how do we address the problems we are facing now? We need a new mouse trap.

[NCjack]

2. If these man-made earthquakes were being caused by a foreign country, we

would be carpet bombing them. But, our own capitalists have the right to destroy our health and property.

[chapdrum]

5. You said it.

They do, in fact, have that right.

It's perfectly legal.

At least we have NASCAR and the Super Bowl.

[Fast Walker 52]

19. oh yeah, that's been shown over and over, not just with fracking

It's fucking insane...

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.

[Cobalt Violet]

4. who supports all this fracking ?

Surely not someone who cares about the environment.

[Fast Walker 52]

20. OILIGARCHS... and the people who work for them

[AtheistCrusader]

6. All fun and games until we piss off the New Madrid Seismic Zone.

Then it's less fun.

You might even say, not fun at all.

[Cobalt Violet]

23. what will happen then?

[AtheistCrusader]

25. Imagine triple 8.0+ quakes in a part of the country where homes are mostly unreinforced brick

and gets very little in the way of seismic preparedness $$'s because big quakes come every couple hundred years instead of yearly like California.

[riderinthestorm]

8. Hillary supports fracking fyi. Worked tirelessly as SOS to implement it globally

Think wisely about our planet here in its 11th hour when you go to vote this year.

[EndElectoral]

24. Exactly

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

9. This is the dumbest statement in the article.

But the process results in tremendous amounts of chemical-laden wastewater, which the industry disposes of by pumping into deep wells.

Yeah, thankfully that water will never come back up to the surface or infect anyone's water wells!

[DrBulldog]

10. Texas, Arkansas, Ohio and Alabama. Fools.

Every one of these states has already voted for Hillary Clinton, who has never opposed fracking.

[elljay]

16. Oklahoma got it right! nt

[mountain grammy]

11. Oh no, how can this be?

We have lovely commercials on the teevee every hour or so telling Coloradans how beautiful and regulated fracking is. Would they spend so much money to sell us a lie? You're goddam right they would.

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

12. Why are we treating our aquifers like sewers?

[Dont call me Shirley]

14. The mic's water wars.

[Dont call me Shirley]

13. But don't put frack wells in the neighborhoods of the rich executives....

because they might get a owie...

[FreedomRain]

15. USGS one of my favorite agencies

and no doubt just moved up a few slots on the Teabag "wasteful gummint we need to eliminate" list.

[ViseGrip]

26. We all here are aware Bernies wants to BAN FRACKING, right?