THE GREAT SHAKING STATE OF OKLAHOMA

And it’s not stopping. The quakes in the state have been making news lately, especially within the last few days. 
And now just this morning, New Years day, another shake has hit the state. This one a 4.2..

According the U.S. Geological Survey’s website, the quake happened at 5:39 a.m. in an area 3 miles northeast of Edmond and 16 miles north-northeast of Oklahoma City.

There were no immediate reports of injury or damage.

There used to be a few dozen quakes in the state prior to 2012. After fracking took hold, there have been 800 in 2015. 800..
800..

And surely more in 2016 to go.

Not that fracking would EVER do such things…. (Remember, at one time when those against fracking said earthquakes would be a danger, they were called kooks and loons.) Who’s kooky now.

Updated: 17 Oklahoma earthquakes of 2.6 magnitude or greater recorded since Thursday's 4.7

The USGS recorded 17 Oklahoma earthquakes since the 4.7, including a 4.0 magnitude near Crescent, and the 4.1 magnitude near Medford.

The quakes recorded as low as 2.6 magnitude (two Thursday near Cherokee and Medford), but also include six recorded earlier today:

- 2.7 magnitude 6:07 a.m. about 9 miles south-southwest of Cherokee

- 2.8 magnitude 9:42 a.m. about 15 miles north-northwest of Fairview

- 3.1 magnitude 3:11 p.m. about 15 miles east of Cherokee

- 3.2 magnitude 2:06 a.m. about 18 miles  north-northwest of Fairview

- 3.5 magnitude 12:12 a.m. about 9 miles southwest of Cherokee

- 3.5 magnitude 5:22 a.m. about 9 miles southwest of Cherokee.

Remember the good ole’ days when people who said gas well fracking would cause earthquakes were called loons and conspiracy theorists? Environmentalist wackos and alarmists who didn’t deserve press? I remember those days… Happy to have been one of the few who raised alarms.

And now with this many earthquakes in the state that once had so little, this news:

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission announced Friday plans to shut off four disposal wells within 3 miles of the earthquake activity near Crescent on Thursday. Two quakes were recorded, one of which was a magnitude 4.0.

The plan also called for a 50 percent volume reduction at seven Arbuckle disposal wells. Operators at other nearby wells also were put on notice to be prepared for possible changes in operation.

Updated: 17 Oklahoma earthquakes of 2.6 magnitude or greater recorded since Thursday's 4.7

Scientists look for what's causing Texas earthquakes

Fra…Fra…ck??

Scientists look for what's causing Texas earthquakes

A feeling of vindication..

I am one of those tin foil hat wearing loons who loudly worried years ago that fracking would cause earthquakes. Like many others, I was laughed at.. now studies are concluding that the fears are true: They have caused earthquakes in Ohio..

Vindication is fine. But I just wish I would have remained ‘wrong’ on this one since fracking takes place within my own state.. a state with pristine waters and nuclear facilities..

NBC news reports: A construction boom of pipelines carrying explosive oil and natural gas from “fracking” fields to market — pipes that are bigger and more dangerous than their predecessors -– poses a safety threat in rural areas, where they sometimes run within feet or yards of homes with little or no safety oversight, an NBC News investigation has found.

We’re fracked..

NBC news reports: A construction boom of pipelines carrying explosive oil and natural gas from “fracking” fields to market — pipes that are bigger and more dangerous than their predecessors -– poses a safety threat in rural areas, where they sometimes run within feet or yards of homes with little or no safety oversight, an NBC News investigation has found.

Fracking-Linked Earthquakes May Strike Far from Wells

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Fracking may cause earthquakes much farther from the sites of its wastewater wells than previously thought, researchers said here Friday (May 2) at the annual meeting of the Seismological Society of America. In central Oklahoma, a cluster of four high-volume wastewater injection wells triggered quakes up to 30 miles (about 50 kilometers) away, said lead study author Katie Keranen, a geophysicist at Cornell University in New York. The earthquakes have since spread farther outward, as fluids migrate farther from the massive injection wells, she said. “The pressure is high enough from the injected fluids to trigger earthquakes.”

The money quote:

Because of the recent jump in earthquakes, and their significant size, the USGS plans to estimate the national shaking risk from “induced seismicity” for the first time, Rubinstein said. Induced seismicity refers to any man-made earthquake, including fracking, wastewater injection and geothermal plants

It’s good to see we are finally at a point where people in scientific power are admitting what ‘conspiracy theorists’ have known for years now: Fracking causes earthquakes. Pure and simple.

We need to grips with that premise. Fracking. Earthquakes.

And then evaluate what we are doing.

Is it worth extracting what we are to induce ‘seismicity’? 

The quakes are small now. But that’s not. Who in the gas industry ever predicted years back that fracking would lead to mini quakes? And for all those ‘small quakes,’ look at Oklahoma: A 5.7 hit in 2011 and their current levels of activity in that state are higher than even the shaky west Coast California faults. Human actions are having a direct result on the planet.. 

And is it worth it?

Fracking-Linked Earthquakes May Strike Far from Wells

Series of small earthquakes rock Oklahoma in record seismic activity--second weekend now

We have been watching Oklahoma for a few weeks now, a lot of earthquakes have taken place but apparently finally news media is noticing..

REUTERS reports this:

One earthquake recorded at 3.8 magnitude by the U.S. Geological Survey rocked houses in several communities around central Oklahoma at 7:42 a.m. local time. Another about two hours earlier in the same part of the state, north of Oklahoma City, was recorded at 2.9 magnitude, USGS said.

Those two were preceded by two more, at 2.6 magnitude, and 2.5 magnitude, that also rolled the landscape in central Oklahoma early Saturday morning. A 3.0 magnitude tremor struck late Friday night in that area as well, following a 3.4 magnitude hit Friday afternoon.

Austin Holland, a seismologist with the Oklahoma Geological Survey who tracks earthquake activity for the USGS, said the earthquake activity in the state is soaring.

But ye they keep on fracking in the free world..

Series of small earthquakes rock Oklahoma in record seismic activity--second weekend now

A raw and windy worry

Saturday night was a weird kind of night.. creepy.. rainy.. foreboding. Anyone else feeling like we are on the verge of something ..? There is just something about raw nights like last night, with wind and cold rain. The earth has power, as does nature. We don’t. Sometimes it feels like we are just constant victims to time itself. Each hour could be the last..
But collectively looking at it, I feel a sense of dread about upcoming events and times. And I don’t know why.. I fear the future this Sunday morning..

Here’s some reasons why..


This image is the 3.0 magnitude earthquakes or better across the United States.
We already know about the Southern California shaking, whether they be aftershocks ore foreshocks of a bigger one to come.. But take a glance at the middle of the country: Oklahoma has been getting rattled by quake after quake after quake—mostly in natural gas drilling areas where fracking is taking place. Just last night—last night—there were two moderate earthquakes over that state.. (and at a fracking location)  And it was felt as far as Kansas..

I was also catching up on my boom and noise news .. The Strange Sounds blog ran a post concerning booms in Missouri earlier this month.. I have actually seen some more recent reports from Missouri of the same booming noises taking place. And with all of these booms and obvious mini quakes taking place, it reminded me of something I have read before concerning the days before the last major New Madrid quake in the 1800s:  There were booms heard prior to the 1811 quake..

Speaking of the LA panics: They just keep happening: There is a lot of movement taking place in Southern California, as documented by this quake rundown..

When Oklahoma is crackin' stop your frackin'

Seriously.. anyone getting even a wee bit concerned over what our natural gas extraction may be doing to the planet in the long run? Or even short run? Like a 24-hour short run?

AP reporting this startling information Saturday night:

The U.S. Geological Survey has recorded 14 earthquakes in Oklahoma since about 9:30 p.m. Friday, the largest being a magnitude 4.0.

   The 4.0 magnitude quake was recorded at 10:05 p.m. Friday about seven miles south of Langston. Three other quakes of magnitude 2.9, 3.0 and 3.3 were recorded Saturday afternoon in the Medford area.

   The other quakes ranged from magnitude 2.4 to 2.9.

The energy industry is obviously denying that their fracking and gas extractions have anything to do with the uptick of quakes—but really, what else could they possibly say? Just admit it?

But are we fracked or just fracking? Take a quick gander at the comments section on this local Oklahoma news station’s story about the shaking in Oklahoma..  Some calling the frackster-hucksters ‘tree huggers’ while others are decrying gas companies. Everything is political these days. Even earthquakes.

As usual, as I do, follow DUTCH SINSE if you want some of the best up to the minute news and analysis on earthquakes around the planet.. And yes, he is pretty sure it has something to do with fracking, too.. Read more on there here..

Frack me..

Lots of earthquakes are rattling earth just in time for the anniversary of the big Japan quake.. in just the past day a strong 6.9 hit Northern California, a 5.8 rattled Southern Mexico

..and this: Three earthquakes shook Ohio and were felt in Pennsylvania Monday.. ..  Some in Ohio called 911 fearing that the earthquake was actually an intruder in their homes..  Marcellus Shale territory .. One result of the earthquakes: Ohio has halted gas drilling near Youngstown. Not that there’s any connection…………….

FRACKED: What’s Causing the Huge Spike in Earthquakes in Oklahoma? | The Nation

Many scientists say that disposal wells used during hydraulic fracturing and other methods of oil and gas extraction are the culprit.

Looks like more pizza may be in order for affected customers in the future..

FRACKED: What’s Causing the Huge Spike in Earthquakes in Oklahoma? | The Nation

Shale gas fracking linked to earthquakes in Youngstown, Ohio

Frack away Meryl. Frack away.

Shale gas fracking linked to earthquakes in Youngstown, Ohio

Natural gas found in drinking water near fracked wells

This is a must must must must read for anyone in Pennsylvania, or anyone who thinks drilling in the Marcellus Shale is without its share of dangers..

Natural gas found in drinking water near fracked wells

I missed this from a week or so ago,  but watched it now. David Letterman got political again .. this time on the topic of fracking. He said we are screwed. Can you argue with that?

Just when you thought you were getting ahead of the game. . . comes this study

Sure, my pudding expires December 21 2012 and lots of other people think people in general will, too. But we can’t lose hope. Fukushima may have blasted the planet with extreme radiation.. others worry about our online rights being suddenly stripped with the next bill that has too long of an acronym to even understand anymore. And the weather is crazy, isn’t it? Slightly maddening cows hopefully didn’t get into our meat supply, even though South Korea banned our imports. We will still eat them. Beef, it’s what for dinner. 20 years later you may go mad, too.

But all that aside, life isn’t that bad, right?

Enter this study: The planet Earth is ready to face a century of disasters.

That’s right.. not just a few weeks, or a month.. or a year or two. No, this report goes all the way: A whole century. But the time humans make it to the 22nd, if we should be so lucky as a species, generations may look back on us in 2012 and say ‘these poor schmucks didn’t know what was about to hit them!’

The Royal Society seems to know. They say world population needs to be ‘stabalised’ (British spelling) in order to take awayeth from the rich nations and giveth to the poor nations.  Yes, indeed. Agenda 21 anyone? Perhaps conspiracy theories of population control are right after all?

What surprised me was that this report didn’t talk much about the most pressing issue set to face our world in the next 20 or so years: Water. Just peruse your local video rental store…..oh wait they are all shut down… Go to Netflix, you won’t find these in the local RedBox: 5 documentaries that you must see to understand the water crisis that we face—in our lifetime.. 

But instead of worrying about clean water and air… let’s frack. Seriously.. Fracking make it all go away.

But it does seem to cause an increase in manmade earthquakes, doesn’t it? If you care. Most of the fracking in rural areas anyway. And what person REALLY cares about the rural area anyway. 

Besides the Obama administration, which wants to limit what farmhands can do. 

Little House on the Prairie. Now regulated!?

Get me Bill Gates! I need a vaccine.

My rambling Thursday morning whatever. Over and out.

-33-
xxx 

FRACKING AND CRACKING

Race against the clock in Pennsylvania as work continues to stop fracking fluid from leaking at the site of a gas well spill.. Waste water spewed from the well and now officials are watching for fracking fluid in fresh streams and eventually rivers..

Gas drilling protesters chant during Governor Corbett's inaugural speech

Gas drilling protesters chant during Governor Corbett's inaugural speech

Gas attack: Pennsylvania allows dumping of tainted waters from gas boom

Gas attack: Pennsylvania allows dumping of tainted waters from gas boom