Fracking has vastly increased the amount of earthquakes in Oklahoma, USA, it is claimed
by Jon Austin:
Before the fracking industry moved in residents were putting up with two mild magnitude three tremors a year.
But since the Oklahoma fracking boom of 2009, that figure has risen to TWO earthquakes a DAY - and rising.
As the tracking industry activity increases, residents say so do the earthquakes in both strength and frequency.
Latest figures say there have been around 2,100 earthquakes of magnitude 1.5 or greater just in 2015, making it an average of five a day this year.
The latest quake happened on Saturday at 11:40am local time 17 miles south of Ponca City, Oklahoma, when a 3.5 magnitude tremor disturbed residents, but no injuries were reported.
Even to a layman the link between tracking and earthquakes in the US state must seem a no brainer, but the conclusion has scientific backing.
Fracking involves blasting huge amounts of water mixed with sand and chemicals deep underground to break apart shale deposits and extract gas and oil from the rock's pores. This autumn the RSPB warned at least nine of its SSSI bird reserves across the country were at risk from the energy industries scramble to release energy from deep underground across the UK.
So news of a scientific link between tracking and increased seismic activity should boost campaigners against planned Fracking sites across the UK who argue it is unsafe, and do not want to see large areas of land in the north of the country developed for the controversial process.
Sandra and Gary Ladra show where their fireplace was in Prague, Oklahoma, before the earthquake
Large parts of Rochdale have been identified as potential fracking sites by the British Geological Survey, but there is fierce opposition among local residents and politicians.
Meanwhile, Lancashire County Council had to extend a public consultation period on two contentious fracking development applications in the area which are unpopular with locals.
There is widespread belief that the huge amounts of wastewater that has been pumped underground has caused the earthquake swarm, including a 5.6magnitude tremor in November 2011, which damaged several homes and US Route 62.
A joint study by the University of Oklahoma, Columbia University and the U.S. Geological Survey has linked the practice to the 2011 quake - and now affected homeowners are looking to sue.
Energy companies this week attempted to get two lawsuits thrown out.
Sandra Ladra, an Oklahoma resident has brought one with claims the 5.6magnitude quake - the largest ever in the state - which hit Prague in 2011 injured her and it was triggered but tracking.
A fracking site in Oklahoma
In a $75,000 claim against Spess Oil Co, of Cleveland, Oklahoma, Tulsa-based New Dominion LLC and 25 other unnamed parties, she alleges the force of the tremor destroyed her fireplace and caused rocks to land on her legs.
Lawyer Scott E. Poynter, who represents her, said: "“Oklahoma shouldn’t have more earthquakes than anywhere on the planet, but it does.”
"When you look at the actual science and you look at the data, you can’t help but go, ‘It’s the injection wells, stupid.’ It’s just that obvious.”
The energy companies dispute they are responsible.
Steve Spess, a manager of Spess Oil, said in a statement his company "injects water at low pressure" doesn’t believe it is "causing the earthquakes".
The case could set a precedent for further lawsuits if it records for the first time ever that the industry may be causing earthquakes, as campaigners against it have often alleged.
Others are already lining up to bring more claims after watching the outcome, including the Oklahoma chapter of the Sierra Club.
Quake damage in an Oklahoma home
Barbara Vanhanken, chairwoman of the Oklahoma chapter, said: "I am angry and offended that the oil and gas industry has been so slow to protect Oklahoma and its citizens in the face of this earthquake crisis.
“Stopping this ever-strengthening earthquake crisis is critical to the health and well-being of all Oklahomans.
"To ignore the human cost being paid for the earthquake problems tied to oil and gas operations in Oklahoma is cold-blooded and heartless.
"It reinforces the concept that profits matter more than people.”
There are also many geologists who have dismissed claims that the pressure caused by tracking is significant enough to trigger an earthquake, even in a region already prone to them.
In M<ay it emerged there was evidence that chemical used in tracking had made their way into local drinking water supplies in Bradford County in Pennsylvania, USA.
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