Induced Earthquakes

(To check out the image, go to:  http://www.livescience.com/54212-oklahoma-is-now-earthquake-hotspot.html)

Man-Made Earthquake Hotspot Revealed: Oklahoma
by Laura Geggel, Staff Writer

The chances of a damaging earthquake occurring in parts of Oklahoma and some neighboring states are just as likely as they are in temblor-heavy California, according to a report by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

The culprit? Man-made activities related to oil and gas production are creating the shaky conditions in a region of the central and eastern U.S., the USGS seismologists say.

USGS scientists just released their first map that includes earthquake risks from both natural and human-induced causes for the coming year. Until now, the government agency included only temblor risks linked to natural causes.

The report, which is part of a 50-year forecast examining earthquake hazards, reveals that about 7 million people live and work in areas at risk of human-induced seismicity. Areas in the central and eastern U.S. (CEUS) are at risk of experiencing a quake of the same magnitude as those that occur naturally in California, the USGS said. [Image Gallery: This Millennium’s Destructive Earthquakes]

“By including human-induced events, our assessment of earthquake hazards has significantly increased in parts of the U.S.,” Mark Petersen, chief of the USGS National Seismic Hazard Mapping Project, said in a statement. “This research also shows that much more of the nation faces a significant chance of having damaging earthquakes over the next year, whether natural or human-induced.”

The CEUS’ induced earthquakes are often the product of wastewater disposal, the USGS said. This wastewater comes from oil and gas production, when it is pumped into underground wells deep in the Earth. This is different from hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, in which water, sand and chemicals get pumped into the Earth to break up rock and extract oil and gas. The actual fracking is probably a more infrequent cause of felt earthquakes, the USGS said. (Wastewater from fracking is generally pumped back into wastewater injection wells.)

Still, wastewater injection practices have put six states on the earthquake map. Oklahoma has the highest risk, followed by Kansas, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico and Arkansas, the USGS reported. Oklahoma and Texas have the largest populations living near induced-earthquake hotspots.

“In the past five years, the USGS has documented high shaking and damage in areas of these six states, mostly from induced earthquakes,” Petersen said. “Furthermore, the USGS Did You Feel It? website has archived tens of thousands of reports from the public who experienced shaking in those states, including about 1,500 reports of strong shaking or damage.”

For instance, from 1973 to 2008, an average of 24 earthquakes with a magnitude of 3.0 or higher shook the central United States in each of those years. But, from 2009 to 2015, that number increased to an average of 318 earthquakes of that magnitude per year. 2015 saw the greatest number, with 1,010 earthquakes of a magnitude 3.0 or greater. [Video: Watch 2,500+ Earthquakes in Oklahoma Linked to Humans]

And through mid-March of this year, 226 earthquakes of a magnitude 3.0 or higher have already hit the central United States, the USGS said. The largest earthquake to occur near a wastewater injection site was a magnitude-5.6 temblor near Prague, Oklahoma, in 2011.

Overall, USGS researchers found 21 areas with increased rates of human-induced seismicity. Some areas — such as regions within Alabama and Ohio — experienced human-induced earthquakes in the past, but have relatively little risk in the coming year because the activities that caused these quakes have decreased.

But other areas of Alabama and some parts of Mississippi have shown an increase in these activities. But researchers are still determining whether earthquakes in these areas happened naturally or were human-induced, the USGS said.

The scientists found the greatest risk of a human-induced earthquake in north central Oklahoma and the southernmost part of Kansas. They calculated that there is a 10 to 12 percent risk that an earthquake with strong shaking will occur in those areas this year. Such an earthquake, they estimated, would register a 6 or greater on the Modified Mercalli Intensity scale, meaning it would easily be felt but would likely cause just slight damage. This translates into about a 5.0 on the Richter scale.

Though scientists disagree about whether wastewater injection leads to larger or smaller earthquakes compared with natural ones, in the CEUS region, when a large temblor does strike, thousands of faults could rupture, according to the USGS. What’s more, human-induced quakes tend to come in swarms of smaller events at shallower depths, whereas shaking is more likely to be felt and cause damage.

The new earthquake report will help architects determine how to safely design buildings within areas of high risk. People who live in earthquake territory can read about safety measures at FEMA’s Ready Campaign.

 

from:    http://www.livescience.com/54212-oklahoma-is-now-earthquake-hotspot.html

Earthquake Drills in OK, TX, etc

U.S. earthquake fears spur more drills: ‘Drop, cover, hold on’

Reuters

By Carey Gillam

(Reuters) – Three months ago when an earthquake rattled Mickey Hart’s office, the Crescent, Oklahoma public school superintendent didn’t know what to do.

“I froze,” said Hart, who leads the school district of 650 students in the small community north of Oklahoma City. Several of the district’s buildings were damaged in the July quake as ceiling tiles shattered and walls cracked.

School district officials are now planning their first earthquake drills, Hart said. They are not alone.

On Thursday the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)and other government agencies are organizing the “Great ShakeOut” earthquake drill, a series of events across the United States aimed at preparing people to survive damaging seismic activity.

About 3 million people are signed up to participate across 14 central states that include Oklahoma, Missouri, Indiana, Illinois and for the first time, Texas, up from 2.76 million a year ago, organizers said. Nationwide, nearly 19 million people are registered for the drills, FEMA said.

While common in California and other states where quakes are frequent, such drills are still relatively new in the central United States. But they are gaining in popularity as earthquake activity surges in both frequency and intensity.

“In Oklahoma when you have a natural disaster like a tornado you are trained to get underground,” Hart said. “In an earthquake you don’t want to get underground. What do you do?”

The ShakeOut (http://www.shakeout.org/) drills are targeted at everyone from business owners to first responders such as firemen and paramedics, but most of the drills are being held at public schools.

In Thursday’s drills, the slogan is ‘drop, cover and hold on.” At the first rumblings, people should drop to the floor, take cover under sturdy furniture or against an interior wall, and hold on until the shaking stops, emergency management experts recommend.

“The scientific community can’t predict an earthquake. The only thing we can do is really push preparedness,” said Jim Wilkinson, executive director of the Central United States Earthquake Consortium, which is helping coordinate drills.

People in Oklahoma, which had a magnitude 4.5 quake Saturday near the north-central Oklahoma town of Cushing, are particularly in need of the training, officials said. The Oct. 10 quake rattled homes for hundreds of miles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Some quakes, including some of those in Oklahoma, are thought to be induced by the injection of wastewater associated with oil and gas work into deep disposal wells, while others are considered a natural shifting along fault lines that run deep below the earth’s surface.

Noticeable quakes, above magnitude 3.0, now strike Oklahoma at an average rate of roughly two per day, compared with two or so per year before 2009.

“You don’t know where or when it will happen. Everyone needs to know how to respond,” said Brian Blake, program coordinator for the earthquake consortium.

(Reporting by Carey Gillam in Kansas City, Mo.; Editing by David Bailey and Eric Walsh)

from:    http://news.yahoo.com/u-earthquake-fears-spur-more-drills-drop-cover-110505149.html

North American Craton Movement

6/14/2015 — Whole North American Craton moves in 24 hours time + New Madrid earthquake swarm


 

The whole of the North American Craton was displaced over the past 24 hours (up to 845am CDT June 14, 2015).

The graphic below speaks for itself, showing a 4.0M fracking earthquake along the NW edge of the plate in Alberta Canada, followed by earthquakes further South , 50 miles East of Mount Adams + Mount Rainier Volcanoes in Washington State, and at Clear Lake Volcano in Northern California.

In addition to the earthquakes at multiple volcanoes, we see a new swarm has developed at the Oklahoma fracking operations, and a more rare earthquake swarm developing along the New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ).

craton earthquakes june 14 2015a
Past 24 hours of 2.5M+ earthquakes in North America shows the edge of the craton being displaced from the NW to the South + Southeast. Beginning with a 4.0M earthquake, followed by movement to the South at dormant volcanoes, and then further southeast at fracking operations in Oklahoma, then causing craton movement along the New Madrid Seismic Zone.

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In the most recent earthquake forecast, I fully discussed the activity to expect along the craton edge, and explain how the earthquakes are transferring along the “edge” of the unsubducted plate.

The movement seems to be happening in a pattern extending from the Northwest to the Southeast, producing noteworthy earthquakes along the boundaries between older, and younger plate regions.

See the earthquake forecast here:

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Below is a past example of craton movement caused by West coast earthquake activity.

The screenshots below show earthquakes on the West coast preceded midwest earthquake activity by a few days (or less), and eventually caused a New Madrid Seismic Zone Earthquake following the pressure transfer as it passed EASTWARD.

As the pressure transferred East, it released at “weak points” producing earthquakes at dormant Volcanoes along the West coast, also produced activity at the Fracking operations in Colorado + Oklahoma, finally terminating with a single event along the New Madrid Seismic Zone.

This graphic is from May 1, 2015.

california cluster craton earthquakes may 1 2015

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from:    http://dutchsinse.com/

Zen Gardner on The Beginning

As Always — Do Your Research

The Beginning Is Here

by Zen Gardner

“Is everything a conspiracy?  No, just the important stuff.” – Jeff Wells

by Zen Gardner

Waking up to the realities presented before us and even more importantly what they imply is a very profound and personal experience. Once we become aware we are living in a world that’s been deliberately fabricated in ways we never would have imagined and that even our own true nature is anything but what we’ve been told, there’s no turning back.

It may appear to be a lonely path at first, but we are by no means alone in this awakening. It is happening in all walks of life. Whether a banker or corporate employee wakes up to the scam being perpetrated on humanity and pulls out of the matrix, or a normal taxpaying worker realizes they’re contributing to a military industrial machine hell bent on control and world domination, we’re all the same.

And those are just surface issues compared to the deliberate suppression of man’s innate spiritual nature, whether we call it social liberty or the simple freedom to create and manifest as we truly are. Not the least of which control mechanisms we are faced with is religion which works hand in hand with this suppression of humanity. All part of this repressive, controlling matrix.

Triggers for Awakening

There are many such triggers that wake people up. Once someone realizes, for example, how the world was scammed on 9/11 and that the powers that be are willing to continue to perpetrate such atrocities to promote their agenda, the digging begins. When we realize we seem to be at the complete mercy of parasitic central bankers more than willing to not only implode the world’s economy, but finance both sides of any conflict for personal gain and control, and that our governments are complicit in this scheme, we start to grasp the enormity of what befalls us.

That we have rapidly evolved into an advanced militarized surveillance police state is driving many to ask some hard questions – and the answers can be startling and difficult to swallow, especially when you realize they’re attempting to cut off all avenues of recourse.

Another major issue is that it’s more evident by the day that our very health is under attack, again by complicit government and multinational corporations pushing GMOs, adulterated food, vaccines, pharmaceuticals, atmospheric aerosols, genetic alterations and the like, all of which are clearly extremely hazardous to humanity. Yet they push harder by the day, mandating program after destructive program. Meanwhile, natural and organic farming and foods, as well as supplements, are under intense attack by these very same perpetrators.

The truth about these issues and many, many more including awareness of the massive planet harming programs such as fracking, electrosmog, genetic modification, technologically driven transhumanism and the ongoing geoengineering assault on humanity are driving a major perceptual paradigm shift amongst all walks of life as we delve more deeply into who is doing all this and why.

What exactly is their agenda? Volumes of evidence points to not just control, but literal depopulation motives. Is this shadow force literally that Machiavellian?

There Is No “They” – Or Is There?

This is often the final breakthrough point for many people. As the true picture starts to crystallize, the horrific realization that the “powers that be” are fundamentally a clandestine cabal with puppet-like front men comes into focus. These are powerful minions, more interested in weakening and subjugating humanity via health degradation, dumbed down education, mindless “bread and circus” government controlled media, depraved violence and sex oriented entertainment, and a draconian militarized police crackdown. The ugly truth then comes to the fore.

It can be staggering. If you take just 9/11 and other false flag events and realize they were staged to bring about this Orwellian police state where the citizens are now terrorist suspects, it can be very difficult to swallow.

A quick perusal of history soon follows, where people realize these same false flag/false enemy tactics were used to justify almost every war, leading to such totalitarian states as Stalinist Russia, Communist China and Nazi Germany, each of which descended into horrific pogroms, decimating their own populations of anyone potentially daring to question the new regime. With that perspective, the trees we’re amongst on the edge of the forest become strikingly transparent. America and its allies are indeed exactly the same, only much much worse, being pawned off to a numbed down generation who actually believe this is all a fight for liberty and freedom when in fact it is the exact opposite.

It’s not all black and white. There are of course good people working for bad people, powers and programs, wittingly and unwittingly. Many are trying to change and improve our existing structure. Many good people are performing wonderful services within this overarching societal program thinking it can be changed constructively. What we’re addressing are the deceitful and destructive powers and mechanisms at play that are attempting to bring humanity into a weakened subservient role to some sort of worldwide fascist control state, eliminating personal and national sovereignty to support and obey a very few powerful self-appointed elites.

And it’s coming on fast.

This becomes evident as one pursues almost any avenue we’re discussing here. To realize this massive program is being orchestrated by some form of “they” soon becomes obvious. The reality of the conspiracy that JFK so eloquently pointed out before he was surgically removed from office via assassination hits squarely home. Here’s an excerpt from this landmark speech.

For we are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence–on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation instead of free choice, on guerrillas by night instead of armies by day.

It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific and political operations. Its preparations are concealed, not published. Its mistakes are buried not headlined. Its dissenters are silenced, not praised. No expenditure is questioned, no rumor is printed, no secret is revealed. – John F. Kennedy

We Have to Find Out for Ourselves

An essential element to a true awakening is investigating and learning for ourselves. One of the main control mechanisms has been teaching humanity to only trust what they’ve been told by these same agendized so-called authorities. How many times have you heard, “If 9/11 was an ‘inside job’, surely it would have been on CNN. If something was really wrong surely someone would have said something.”

Well, a lot of people have and continue to speak out. And what’s the response? Anything contrary to the official narrative is “outlandish conspiracy theory”, and results in the subsequent demonization and marginalization of any  form of questioning or healthy criticism.

Waking up from that media and education entrancement is another shocker. Could they do such a thing? Could we really be facing such a totalitarian crackdown and mind and information control? Do they really have such sway on humanity?

When I was young there were over 60 media companies vying for audiences. Real investigative reporting, although it’s always been tampered with or suppressed, was still available. Today 6 mega corporations own all of the media. The very same corporations that own much of the corporate military industrial infrastructure. Conspiracy is not a stretch – of course these power brokers would twist information to suit their intentions. The word conspiracy has been stigmatized for a reason – don’t ask questions or there will be consequences.

All of this will take some serious researching, most likely in places people have never dared to look before. And this is good. Don’t let anyone tell you what the truth is, find out for yourself and be convinced in your own mind and heart. That’s a new phenomenon for most, as odd as that may seem, but stepping outside the propaganda mainstream is a must. And it is oh so refreshing.

The Shock Does Wear Off – But the Indignation Doesn’t

There are so many interconnected “rabbit holes” of similarly repressed, twisted or hidden areas of information that it can be staggering. Once we realize we’ve been lied to about any one of these serious issues, we begin to question everything. And that is extremely healthy. You may not find support for your new found perspective from those around you, but there are millions who are sharing your experience. Thanks to the internet you can find others undergoing the same transformation quite readily and derive a lot of affirmation, encouragement and support.

Battling through the naysaying of close friends and loved ones seems to act like a chrysalis, much like the cocoon a metamorphosing butterfly has to struggle to escape. And as we know, that is exactly what drives the blood into the wings of the birthing creation that will soon bear the beautiful new awakened soul to glorious new heights and vistas.

One thing that won’t wear off is your absolute disdain for what is being perpetrated on our fellow humans. As the expression goes, “If you’re not angry, you’re not paying attention.” If you knew your home was under attack and malevolent forces were coming for you and your children, you would do anything in your power to protect your family. That soon becomes an innate awareness regarding the current toxic social and physical world we’re experiencing and the need for a conscious response.

We are Responding – They Know It and Don’t Like It

Globalist adviser to 5 American presidents including Barak Obama, Zbigniew Brzezinski has clearly laid out the plan for global hegemony at any cost. His book, The Grand Chessboard even alludes to the need for a new Pearl Harbor, later echoed by the oft quoted PNAC report issued before 9/11 literally forecasting the event.

In one of his many addresses to the globalist advisory board called the Council on Foreign Relations, he made some very revealing statements. They are very aware of and afraid of the global awakening, and have surreal plans on how to control it.

Not lauding this awakening, but decrying it, Brzezinski chillingly said: [Emphasis mine]

For the first time in human history almost all of humanity is politically activated, politically conscious and politically interactive… The resulting global political activism is generating a surge in the quest for personal dignity, cultural respect and economic opportunity in a world painfully scarred by memories of centuries-long alien colonial or imperial domination… The worldwide yearning for human dignity is the central challenge inherent in the phenomenon of global political awakening… That awakening is socially massive and politically radicalizing… The nearly universal access to radio, television and increasingly the Internet is creating a community of shared perceptions and envy that can be galvanized and channeled by demagogic political or religious passions. These energies transcend sovereign borders and pose a challenge both to existing states as well as to the existing global hierarchy, on top of which America still perches…

The youth of the Third World are particularly restless and resentful. The demographic revolution they embody is thus a political time-bomb, as well… Their potential revolutionary spearhead is likely to emerge from among the scores of millions of students concentrated in the often intellectually dubious “tertiary level” educational institutions of developing countries. Depending on the definition of the tertiary educational level, there are currently worldwide between 80 and 130 million “college” students. Typically originating from the socially insecure lower middle class and inflamed by a sense of social outrage, these millions of students are revolutionaries-in-waiting, already semi-mobilized in large congregations, connected by the Internet and pre-positioned for a replay on a larger scale of what transpired years earlier in Mexico City or in Tiananmen Square. Their physical energy and emotional frustration is just waiting to be triggered by a cause, or a faith, or a hatred…

[The] major world powers, new and old, also face a novel reality: while the lethality of their military might is greater than ever, their capacity to impose control over the politically awakened masses of the world is at a historic low. To put it bluntly: in earlier times, it was easier to control one million people than to physically kill one million people; today, it is infinitely easier to kill one million people than to control one million people.

Zbigniew Brzezinski

The Conscious Awakening

This dark yet ultimately empowering information goes hand in hand with anyone experiencing this paradigm shift. If things here are so massively manipulated, what lies beyond all of this? What are we being kept from? Why do we sense we are so much more?

These are very important questions to pursue. There must be meaning in all of this. “Certainly all of humanity is not as wicked as these psychopathic control freaks.” Yes, that’s true. Unfortunately, the aggressor usually rules the day in this hierarchy of control our world has adopted for millennia. History bears this out.

The beauty of gaining a greater new found spiritual perspective is that it puts these influences in their place. We discover new ways to perceive our true indomitable nature which gives tremendous peace and confidence in spite of what we’re currently faced with. This sense of profound conscious awareness and spirituality only grows as our pursuit for truth, in love, gains momentum.

Awake, But Never Alone

A sense of isolation following the initial awakening is natural. It’s foreign to everything we’ve been taught, with implications that can be mind-boggling as well as heart breaking. However, we are very much connected and sharing a profound common experience. Knowing we are not alone is very important to keep in mind.

Building community also becomes a priority, where we can contribute to the healing of the planet at every level possible. Whether it’s activist or spiritual associations these are very important. It may only be on-line at first, that’s fine. Find kindred spirits and empowering and informative websites and blogs and even attend meet up events in your area on some of these subjects of concern.

This awakening of empowered consciousness is upon us, and is transpiring at an accelerating pace, and something to be very encouraged about. Once you get past the shock of what you’ve “found out”, it becomes easier, but it will drastically alter your life. For the better.

Enjoy it, be empowered, and take action accordingly.

The beginning is here.

Much love, Zen

from:    ZenGardner.com

Methane Cloud Over Four Corners

NASA Puzzled By Massive Methane Cloud Above Miles of Fracking Wells

YouTuber only needs seconds to help solve methane mystery that has establishment scientists puzzled.By Dutchsinse

News broke early morning April 9, 2015 that a giant cloud of methane has been detected over Southern Colorado / Northern New Mexico near the Four Corners region where Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico meet.

NASA + NOAA , as well as several other organizations are puzzled about the source of the methane.. blaming natural causes, and coal operations?

Maybe they don’t have access to Google Earth, which might explain why they don’t know the “cause” of the giant methane cloud. Watch video below…

from:    http://www.activistpost.com/2015/04/nasa-puzzled-by-massive-methane-cloud.html

Movement of North American Craton

6/04/2014 — North American Craton shows MAJOR movement — Fracking earthquakes + Yellowstone swarming

The pressure on the craton edge is showing at multiple weak points along its perimeter,  Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, and Yellowstone as well….. earthquake swarms occurring at the fracking operations, and dormant volcanic magma chambers.

craton quakes june 4 2014


In the midwest, at the fracking operation in Arkansas, there has been a period of relative “silence” across the whole of the state.

This “silence” came on the heels of a state government MORATORIUM on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) issued after thousands of separate earthquake events which occurred at several Arkansas fracking operations in 2011, 2012, and 2013.

moratorium fracking arkansas

 


Today , June 4 2014, the silence was broken by a borderline 4.0M earthquake at a newer Arkansas fracking operation.  Also at the location, a possible old dormant volcanic core (sugarloaf mountain).

arkansas fracking earthquake june 4 2014

 


Overall, the plate is in a state of flux due to greater Pacific movement.  The Pacific plate is causing unrest to “spill over” normal subduction zones (like the West Coast US) , causing pressure to be placed on the relatively stable unsubducted craton (plate).  The edge of the plate is being moved by the pressure coming from the NW.

Here are the past 7 days of 4.0M+ earthquakes in the West Pacific, clearly heavy unrest taking place , spilling across the edges of the Pacific plate in all adjacent areas.

7 days 3.0m earthquakes june 4 2014

from:    http://dutchsinse.tatoott1009.com/


Fracking – Quakes in Oklahoma 5/09

5/09/2014 — 3.9M (4.0M) “Frack-quake” @ wind farm in Oklahoma + USGS “Frack-quake” Animation

Not much more to add to the description of this article.  The title speaks for itself.

3.9M (4.0M) “Frack-quake” @ wind farm in Oklahoma + USGS “Frack-quake” Animation

10172673_597839710323777_5723894896130407163_n

 

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Here are the USGS statistics on the current 3.9M event:

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usb000qfz9#summary

fracking wind farm earthquake may 9 2014 oklahoma

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Fracking has been confirmed, by the USGS / AGU, to be the cause of these multiple larger earthquake events in Oklahoma.

Here is an animation showing the earthquake swarms:

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http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/ceus/products/newsrelease_05022014.php

“The rate of earthquakes in Oklahoma has increased remarkably since October 2013 – by about 50 percent – significantly increasing the chance for a damaging magnitude 5.5 or greater quake in central Oklahoma.

oklahoma

A new U.S. Geological Survey and Oklahoma Geological Survey analysis found that 145 earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or greater occurred in Oklahoma from January 2014 (through May 2; see accompanying graphic). The previous annual record, set in 2013, was 109 earthquakes, while the long-term average earthquake rate, from 1978 to 2008, was just two magnitude 3.0 or larger earthquakes per year. Important to people living in central and north-central Oklahoma is that the likelihood of future, damaging earthquakes has increased as a result of the increased number of small and moderate shocks.

Oklahoma’s heightened earthquake activity since 2009 includes 20 magnitude 4.0 to 4.8 quakes, plus the largest earthquake in Oklahoma’s history – a magnitude 5.6 earthquake that occurred near Prague on Nov. 5, 2011. The 2011 Prague earthquake damaged a number of homes and the historic Benedictine Hall at St. Gregory’s University in Shawnee. Prior to the 2011 Prague earthquake, the largest earthquake of Oklahoma’s history was a magnitude 5.5 earthquake that occurred in 1952 near El Reno and damaged state buildings in Oklahoma City.

“While it’s been known for decades that Oklahoma is ‘earthquake country’, we hope that this new advisory of increased hazard will become a crucial consideration in earthquake preparedness for residents, schools and businesses in the area,” said Dr. Bill Leith, Senior Science Advisor for Earthquakes and Geologic Hazards at USGS. “Building owners and government officials should have a special concern for older, unreinforced brick structures, which are vulnerable to serious damage during sufficient shaking.”

USGS statistically analyzed the recent earthquake rate changes and found that they do not seem to be due to typical, random fluctuations in natural seismicity rates. Significant changes in both the background rate of events and earthquake triggers needed to have occurred in order to explain the increases in seismicity, which is not typically observed when modeling natural earthquakes.

The analysis suggests that a likely contributing factor to the increase in earthquakes is triggering by wastewater injected into deep geologic formations. This phenomenon is known as injection-induced seismicity, which has been documented for nearly half a century, with new cases identified recently in Arkansas, Ohio, Texas and Colorado. A recent publication by the USGS suggests that a magnitude 5.0 foreshock to the 2011 Prague, Okla., earthquake was human-induced by fluid injection; that earthquake may have then triggered the mainshock and its aftershocks. OGS studies also indicate that some of the earthquakes in Oklahoma are due to fluid injection. The OGS and USGS continue to study the Prague earthquake sequence in relation to nearby injection activities.

Collaborative USGS and OGS research to understand earthquake rate increase in the central Oklahoma area includes quantifying the changes in earthquake rate, assessing the implications of the increased small and moderate earthquake activity for large earthquake hazards, and evaluating possible links between these earthquakes and wastewater disposal from oil and gas production activities. The OGS is also focused on seismicity in north-central Oklahoma.

To more accurately determine the locations and magnitudes of earthquakes in Oklahoma, the OGS has increased the number of monitoring stations and now operates a seismograph network of 15 permanent stations and 17 temporary stations, many of which are on loan from the USGS. There are also three permanent seismic stations operated by the USGS and the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology. Data from this network are shared in real-time with the USGS National Earthquake Information Center, which provides 24×7 reporting on earthquakes worldwide.”

from:    http://dutchsinse.tatoott1009.com/

San Juan County New Mexico Pollution & Activism

Aztec woman says her ‘Toxic Tour of Hell’ points out San Juan County sites that pollute the air

San Juan County officials say air quality is improving, complaints about pollution are few
by James Fenton The Daily Times

 

Environmental activist Shirley "Sug" McNall stands in front of an XTO Energy well on March 19 on Martinez Lane in Aztec. McNall added the well,

Environmental activist Shirley “Sug” McNall stands in front of an XTO Energy well on March 19 on Martinez Lane in Aztec. McNall added the well, which is near McCoy Elementary School, to her “Toxic Tour of Hell,” which includes sites in San Juan County she says are polluting the air. A spokeswoman for XTO Energy says a leak did not occur at the well site. (Megan Farmer — The Daily Times)

AZTEC — Shirley “Sug” McNall says the San Juan Basin can be an outdoors paradise for visitors. But for those who live here and breathe the air, she says, it’s just plain hell.

McNall, 69, is a member of an ad hoc environmentalist group — with friends Tweeti Blancett, Jan Rees and Kris Dixon — called the Four Grans.

“Tweeti’s family, like mine, were homesteaders and ranchers, with a long feuding history of dealing with the oil companies,” McNall said. “… Jan is our group’s expert on wildlife and the environment, and Kris is our statistician and organizer.”

The four Aztec grandmothers, who met at a clean-air conference more than a decade ago, work toward improving San Juan County’s air quality.

A well, which is owned by XTO Energy, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil, is shown on March 19 on Martinez Lane in Aztec. Shirley "Sug" McNall says the

A well, which is owned by XTO Energy, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil, is shown on March 19 on Martinez Lane in Aztec. Shirley “Sug” McNall says the well site was emitting strong gas fumes last month. An XTO Energy spokeswoman says there was no leak at the site. (Megan Farmer — The Daily Times)

For eight years, McNall has taken people on tours of the area in her small, sky-blue pickup truck, its tailgate plastered with progressive bumper stickers that stand out in Republican-dominated San Juan County. Her tour skips popular stops like Aztec Ruins or Quality Waters in favor of gas pads and waste disposal sites she says are guilty of polluting the air with noxious chemicals.

What McNall calls the “Toxic Tour of Hell,” began in 2005 after she attended a summit on oil and gas industry accountability in Farmington. She started with seven sites around the county she says are polluting.

“The summit brought together scientists, tribes, officials, and they wanted to actually see the sites they were hearing about, and I said I’d show them,” she said.

Over the years, McNall said she’s given the tour to a number of people, including film crews from Japan and South Africa and an official from the Natural Resources Defense Council’s office in Washington, D.C. She can also be seen in the 2010 HBO documentary on hydraulic fracturing — or “fracking” — called “Gasland.”

McNall’s family homesteaded more than 700 acres in the Crouch Mesa area and moved to her home off of Navajo Dam Road near Tiger Park in 1976. In the years she has lived there with her husband, Warren, McNall says she has seen wells pop up around her property.

Shirley "Sug" McNall is pictured on March 6. McNall is a member of the Four Grans, an ad hoc environmentalist group of four Aztec grandmothers

Shirley “Sug” McNall is pictured on March 6. McNall is a member of the Four Grans, an ad hoc environmentalist group of four Aztec grandmothers who say oil companies are polluting San Juan County’s air. (Megan Farmer — The Daily Times)

In 2010, McNall and a group of friends formed the San Juan Bucket Brigade, a local program of Global Community Monitor, a nonprofit human rights organization, to take air quality samples at three oil and gas facilities in the county. McNall said all three came back with elevated levels of carcinogens that are above what the Environmental Protection Agency recommends.

“This county has higher than average rates of asthma, especially among children, and elevated rates of cancer, which is alarming,” said McNall, who says the air pollution has caused her and others eye irritation and trouble breathing. “The problem is that a lot of the oil field workers know what’s going on, but they don’t dare say a word. Of course, the workers get protective gear to wear, but what do us residents get?”

San Juan County Operations Officer Mike Stark argues air quality in the area is cleaner than in the past and is showing signs of improving even more with the planned unit reductions at two major power plants, Four Corners Power Plant and San Juan Generating Station, both near Farmington.

“We should actually see some improved air quality in the Four Corners with these environmentally friendly unit reductions,” Stark said. “And oil and gas drilling has been light the last three years. So, once again, less pollution. Things should be getting better.”

McNall said she understands the need for energy. Born and raised in the area, her grandparents, uncles and first husband worked in the oil patch. Despite that, McNall says she is enraged refineries can get away with emitting carcinogens and chemicals that pollute the air and do so in close proximity to neighborhoods.

The latest addition to her tour, stop No. 8, is a well site near McCoy Elementary School’s playground along Martinez Lane.

McNall added the well site, owned by XTO Energy Inc., a subsidiary of ExxonMobil, early last month when her friend, former City Commissioner Jack Scott, drove by the school and smelled gas fumes.

“Warren and I got a call from Jack telling us that the gas pad was stinkin’ something fierce, despite their car’s windows rolled up when they drove by,” McNall said.

She said she quickly wrote to Aztec Municipal School District Superintendent Kirk Carpenter, Aztec City Manager Josh Ray and Brandon Powell, a field inspector with the Aztec division office of the Environment Department’s Oil Conservation Division.

Emily Snooks, a spokeswoman for XTO Energy, said no leak occurred at the well site.

Inspections of the company’s well sites by an XTO Energy Lease Operator are conducted approximately every other day, Snooks wrote in an email.

“In February, XTO Energy staff responded to a complaint of an odor,” Snooks wrote in an email. “An XTO employee met an inspector from the New Mexico Oil Conservation Division at the well site. No leak was detected and XTO Energy was not fined or sited by the NMOCD.”

Snooks said XTO staff reviewed several days of automated reports at the well and did not find a loss of gas volume or pressure, which would have indicated a leak.

“The XTO employee noticed a manual water dump valve on the separator was not as pliable as a new valve would be so just as a precaution, it was replaced,” Snooks wrote.

San Juan County Commissioner Scott Eckstein, whose district includes Aztec and Bloomfield, said that in his eight years of service he has only received about four or five complaints over air pollution.

“I refer people who have complained to the state’s Air Quality Bureau. They deal with refineries as far as emissions and regulations go,” Eckstein said. “The handful of complaints over the years (have been) over a strong chemical smell from a refinery, for instance, but the state is in charge of that.”

An air quality index report for San Juan County on the Environmental Protection Agency’s website gives the county a “good” rating, with pollution in the air posing no threat to human health.

Despite that, McNall is adamant more should be done to regulate the county’s oil and gas industry to ensure a clean and safe county for its residents, present and future.

“It’s my purpose on the tour to show how people have to live among the wells and refineries and what that means to their pursuit of happiness and well-being,” she said. “In this county, big oil always reins supreme.”

from:    http://www.daily-times.com/farmington-news/ci_25454587/aztec-woman-says-her-toxic-tour-hell-points

 

Ohio Earthquakes & Fracking

Ohio Provides Newest Evidence Linking Fracking to Earthquakes

image source

Kevin Samson
Activist Post

There has been an ongoing battle between researchers and the natural gas and oil industries over whether or not hydraulic fracturing (fracking) is definitively leading to an increase in earthquake activity.

In a recent article entitled “Oklahoma Breaking Records For Earthquake Activity – Fracking?” I presented evidence from the U.S. Army, U.S. Geological Survey, the Oklahoma Geological Survey and the Geological Society of America, which suggests that it is becoming conclusive that fracking causes earthquakes. Furthermore, studies also indicate that even when fracking is halted, earthquake activity can continue and earthquake magnitude can increase over time.

Ohio is already on the map as one of the 6 states where earthquakes are a new feature of reality. According to a new report, Ohio geologists are the latest to express concern over why earthquake activity is on the rise in regions where fracking has been taking place.

As even the Associated Press is now having to report:

Geologists in Ohio have for the first time linked earthquakes in a geologic formation deep under the Appalachians to hydraulic fracturing, leading the state to issue new permit conditions Friday in certain areas that are among the nation’s strictest.

A state investigation of five small tremors last month in the Youngstown area, in the Appalachian foothills, found the injection of sand and water that accompanies hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in the Utica Shale may have increased pressure on a small, unknown fault, said State Oil & Gas Chief Rick Simmers. He called the link “probable.”

While earlier studies had linked earthquakes in the same region to deep-injection wells used for disposal of fracking wastewater, this marks the first time tremors in the region have been tied directly to fracking, Simmers said. The five seismic events in March couldn’t be easily felt by people.

The A.P. goes on, however, to offer a hedge to this troubling information
The oil and gas drilling boom targets widely different rock formations around the nation, so the Ohio findings may not have much relevance to other areas other than perhaps influencing public perception of fracking’s safety. The types of quakes connected to the industry are generally small and not easily felt, but the idea of human activity causing the earth to shake often doesn’t sit well.

[…]

But for the region encompassing Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, where energy companies have drilled thousands of unconventional gas wells in recent years, it’s a first.

[…]

Glenda Besana-Ostman, a former seismologist with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, confirmed the finding is the first in the area to suggest a connection between the quakes and fracking. A deep-injection wastewater well in the same region of Ohio was found to be the likely cause of a series of quakes in 2012. 
(emphasis added)

The “relevance” when one considers similar confirmations anywhere thorough studies are conducted goes beyond merely “influencing public perception” about safety. Furthermore, passing off these quakes as “generally small and not easily felt” should not diminish the concern that these quakes will become more frequent and larger over time as the Geological Society of America has concluded.

Nevertheless, it appears that tentative action is being taken in Ohio:

Ohio has also imposed an indefinite drilling moratorium at the site of the March quakes. The state is allowing oil and gas extraction to continue at five existing wells at the site.

Such events linked to fracking are “extremely rare,” said Shawn Bennett, a spokesman for the industry group Energy In Depth, who described the new rules as safeguards that will prevent similar future quakes in Ohio.

The link between fracking and earthquakes is becoming too strong to ignore, or to shrug off as “extremely rare” when the scientific studies keeping mounting.

In addition to the threat of earthquake activity, the negative environmental and health effects of poisoned water and food is spurring people to take action. The first fracking trial has opened in Dallas which pits Texans Bob and Lisa Parr of Wise County against Aruba Petroleum

for property and personal damages which the couple claims they have suffered as a result of Aruba’s fracking operations. The Parr property was surrounded by natural gas frackers in 2009. The Parrs charge that frackers have so polluted their air and water as to destroy their right to peacefully enjoy their home and property and properly care for their pets and livestock, some of whom have died as a result of the fracking pollution, according to the complaint against Plano, Texas-based Aruba Petroleum. (Source)

These are conditions which echo those reported in Pennsylvania and Louisiana:

…the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture quarantined 28 cattle belonging to Don and Carol Johnson, who farm about 175 miles southwest of (nearby Slope Farm’s owner Ken) Jaffe. The animals had come into wastewater that leaked from a nearby well that showed concentrations of chlorine, barium, magnesium, potassium, and radioactive strontium. In Louisiana, 16 cows that drank fluid from a fracked well began bellowing, foaming and bleeding at the mouth, then dropped dead. Homeowners near fracked sites complain about a host of frightening consequences, from poisoned wells to sickened pets to debilitating illnesses. (Source)

If you would like to see some visual evidence of what people are going through in fracked regions, please see the move Gasland, the short video The Face of Fracking Victims, and see these 5 Videos Showing How Fracking Can Make Water Flammable.

When combined with the mounting evidence of the fracking-earthquake link it is clear that fracking is becoming a menace that can’t be ignored. It is imperative that people become informed and begin raising this issue with local government. The history of oil and gas exploration indicates that a rollback from Big Energy will not be done without overwhelming opposition.

from:    http://www.activistpost.com/2014/04/ohio-provides-newest-evidence-linking.html

Water Contamination from Fracking

 

Some states confirm water pollution from drilling

— Jan. 5, 2014 6:07 PM EST

PITTSBURGH (AP) — In at least four states that have nurtured the nation’s energy boom, hundreds of complaints have been made about well-water contamination from oil or gas drilling, and pollution was confirmed in a number of them, according to a review that casts doubt on industry suggestions that such problems rarely happen.

The Associated Press requested data on drilling-related complaints in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and Texas and found major differences in how the states report such problems. Texas provided the most detail, while the other states provided only general outlines. And while the confirmed problems represent only a tiny portion of the thousands of oil and gas wells drilled each year in the U.S., the lack of detail in some state reports could help fuel public confusion and mistrust.

The AP found that Pennsylvania received 398 complaints in 2013 alleging that oil or natural gas drilling polluted or otherwise affected private water wells, compared with 499 in 2012. The Pennsylvania complaints can include allegations of short-term diminished water flow, as well as pollution from stray gas or other substances. More than 100 cases of pollution were confirmed over the past five years.

Just hearing the total number of complaints shocked Heather McMicken, an eastern Pennsylvania homeowner who complained about water-well contamination that state officials eventually confirmed.

“Wow, I’m very surprised,” said McMicken, recalling that she and her husband never knew how many other people made similar complaints, since the main source of information “was just through the grapevine.”

The McMickens were one of three families that eventually reached a $1.6 million settlement with a drilling company. Heather McMicken said the state should be forthcoming with details.

Over the past 10 years, hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has led to a boom in oil and natural gas production around the nation. It has reduced imports and led to hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue for companies and landowners, but also created pollution fears.

Extracting fuel from shale formations requires pumping hundreds of thousands of gallons of water, sand and chemicals into the ground to break apart rock and free the gas. Some of that water, along with large quantities of existing underground water, returns to the surface, and it can contain high levels of salt, drilling chemicals, heavy metals and naturally occurring low-level radiation.

But some conventional oil and gas wells are still drilled, so the complaints about water contamination can come from them, too. Experts say the most common type of pollution involves methane, not chemicals from the drilling process.

Some people who rely on well water near drilling operations have complained about pollution, but there’s been considerable confusion over how widespread such problems are. For example, starting in 2011, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection aggressively fought efforts by the AP and other news organizations to obtain information about complaints related to drilling. The department has argued in court filings that it does not count how many contamination “determination letters” it issues or track where they are kept in its files.

Steve Forde, a spokesman for the Marcellus Shale Coalition, the leading industry group in Pennsylvania, said in a statement that “transparency and making data available to the public is critical to getting this historic opportunity right and maintaining the public’s trust.”

When the state Environmental Department determines natural gas development has caused problems, Forde said, “our member companies work collaboratively with the homeowner and regulators to find a speedy resolution.”

Among the findings in the AP’s review:

— Pennsylvania has confirmed at least 106 water-well contamination cases since 2005, out of more than 5,000 new wells. There were five confirmed cases of water-well contamination in the first nine months of 2012, 18 in all of 2011 and 29 in 2010. The Environmental Department said more complete data may be available in several months.

— Ohio had 37 complaints in 2010 and no confirmed contamination of water supplies; 54 complaints in 2011 and two confirmed cases of contamination; 59 complaints in 2012 and two confirmed contaminations; and 40 complaints for the first 11 months of 2013, with two confirmed contaminations and 14 still under investigation, Department of Natural Resources spokesman Mark Bruce said in an email. None of the six confirmed cases of contamination was related to fracking, Bruce said.

— West Virginia has had about 122 complaints that drilling contaminated water wells over the past four years, and in four cases the evidence was strong enough that the driller agreed to take corrective action, officials said.

— A Texas spreadsheet contains more than 2,000 complaints, and 62 of those allege possible well-water contamination from oil and gas activity, said Ramona Nye, a spokeswoman for the Railroad Commission of Texas, which oversees drilling. Texas regulators haven’t confirmed a single case of drilling-related water-well contamination in the past 10 years, she said.

In Pennsylvania, the number of confirmed instances of water pollution in the eastern part of the state “dropped quite substantially” in 2013, compared with previous years, Department of Environmental Protection spokeswoman Lisa Kasianowitz wrote in an email. Two instances of drilling affecting water wells were confirmed there last year, she said, and a final decision hasn’t been made in three other cases. But she couldn’t say how many of the other statewide complaints have been resolved or were found to be from natural causes.

Releasing comprehensive information about gas drilling problems is important because the debate is no longer about just science but trust, said Irina Feygina, a social psychologist who studies environmental policy issues. Losing public trust is “a surefire way to harm” the reputation of any business, Feygina said.

Experts and regulators agree that investigating complaints of water-well contamination is particularly difficult, in part because some regions also have natural methane gas pollution or other problems unrelated to drilling. A 2011 Penn State study found that about 40 percent of water wells tested prior to gas drilling failed at least one federal drinking water standard. Pennsylvania is one of only a few states that don’t have private water-well construction standards.

But other experts say people who are trying to understand the benefits and harms from the drilling boom need comprehensive details about complaints, even if some cases are from natural causes.

In Pennsylvania, the raw number of complaints “doesn’t tell you anything,” said Rob Jackson, a Duke University scientist who has studied gas drilling and water contamination issues. Jackson said he doesn’t think providing more details is asking for too much.

“Right or wrong, many people in the public feel like DEP is stonewalling some of these investigations,” Jackson said of the situation in Pennsylvania.

In contrast with the limited information provided by Pennsylvania, Texas officials supplied a detailed 94-page spreadsheet almost immediately, listing all types of oil and gas related complaints over much of the past two years. The Texas data include the date of the complaint, the landowner, the drilling company and a brief summary of the alleged problems. Many complaints involve other issues, such as odors or abandoned equipment.

Scott Anderson, an expert on oil and gas drilling with the Environmental Defense Fund, a national nonprofit based in Austin, notes that Texas regulators started keeping more data on complaints in the 1980s. New legislation in 2011 and 2013 led to more detailed reports and provided funds for a new information technology system, he said.

Anderson agreed that a lack of transparency fuels mistrust.

“If the industry has nothing to hide, then they should be willing to let the facts speaks for themselves,” he said. “The same goes for regulatory agencies.”

from:    http://bigstory.ap.org/article/some-states-confirm-water-pollution-drilling