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

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

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..

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