Drilling-Induced
'Frackquakes' Threatening Millions Across Central US
Monday, March 28, 2016
For the first time, USGS includes human
caused seismicity in predictive map
"Today’s report once again highlights
the dangers the fracking cycle poses to our communities," declared Dan
Chu, director of Sierra Club’s Our Wild America campaign, on Monday.
(Photo: Owen Crowley/cc/flickr)
Oil and gas drilling has made parts of the
central United States as dangerous as the most earthquake-prone regions of
California, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), exposing millions
of people to the risk of human-induced earthquakes, known as
"frackquakes."
According to new maps released on Monday by the USGS,
roughly 7 million people who live and work in parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas,
Colorado, New Mexico, and Arkansas face "potential for damaging shaking
from induced seismicity," which the USGS notes is triggered primarily by
wastewater disposal from oil and gas drilling activities.
"Within a few portions of the [Central
and Eastern U.S.], the chance of damage from all types of earthquakes is
similar to that of natural earthquakes in high-hazard areas of
California," the USGS states, with Oklahoma being the most prone to
induced earthquakes and having the largest at-risk population.
Oklahoma has seen a rapid increase in
earthquakes registering at or above a 3.0 magnitude per year, surging from 109
in 2013 to over 900 in 2015.
Last year, the state's oil and gas industry
regulator said that Oklahoma now experiences more
earthquakes than anywhere else in the world, which scientists and officials
have linked to the proliferation of disposal
wells, which inject the toxic byproduct of oil and gas production deep
underground.
"Today’s report once again highlights
the dangers the fracking cycle poses to our communities," declaredDan Chu, director of Sierra Club’s Our
Wild America campaign, on Monday.
Connecting the rise of
human-induced earthquakes to the other threats posed by the continued use of
fossil fuels, Chu added, "The world is already experiencing deadly storms,
droughts, and erratic climate and weather extremes due to climate change, and
the rapid increase in earthquakes caused by wastewater injections from the oil
and gas industry only raises the threat to communities across the
country."
The USGS' one-year seismic hazard forecast
for the Central and Eastern U.S. is the first predictive map to include
human-induced earthquakes, in addition to natural earthquakes. Last spring, the
government agency released another landmark map which
highlighted the location and frequency of earthquakes thought to be caused by
human activities.
Mark Petersen, chief of the USGS National
Seismic Hazard Mapping Project, said that "by including
human-induced events, our assessment of earthquake hazards has significantly
increased in parts of the U.S.."
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