Oil-Drilling Wastewater Seen Causing Earthquake

person

...Brine wastewater dumped into wells comes from drilling operations, including the so-called fracking process to extract gas from underground shale, which has been a source of concern among environmental groups and some property owners. Injection wells have also been suspected of helping to cause earthquakes in Arkansas, Colorado and Oklahoma, Armbruster said...

http://www.npr.org/2012/01/02/144594605/oil-drilling-wastewater-seen-causing-earthquake

vinlyn

This is a major to concern to many of us who live in Colorado.

Lookingformyway

Interesting article, research time.

Dakini

We're gonna leave this planet so trashed if we don't get serious about conservation and developing renewable energy resources!

Kwantum_Kev

I heard that on All Things Considered on NPR yesterday afternoon. You know, for many, many years I have had a theory that eventually, we are going to experience some major quakes or shifts in the earth's crust due to all of the materials - liquids, gasses, solids - that we have taken out of it.

It seems simple logic to me. If there are billions, trillions of gallons of liquid or gas in a cavity in the earth's crust, and they are under pressure, one could assume that the pressure is coming from weight of the crust on top of the cavity, right? Which, to me anyway, would indicate that in some sense, the liquid in the cavity is helping support that weight. If we remove all that liquid from that cavity, wouldn't there be a giant space where once there was that liquid, and might not the wieght of the crust that was once supported by the liquid be enought to cause it to collapse into that cavity?

I have thought for years that it's only a matter of time until we start experiencing earthquakes and other shifts in the earth's crust as a result of the massive amounts of materials we've removed from under the ground. In fact, even though some viewed it as purely hokey, and conspiracy theory rambling, there was even some suggestion that the huge quake and ensuing tsunami back in 2004 (?) could have been related to the vast amount of oil and other resources that have been tapped in the Banda Aceh region. But of course, anyone who even suggests that is lampooned, and made to look like an idiot.

If you do a little research though, it is true that Exxon/Mobil has a huge facility there, has since the 70's, and even hires the/an army to protect it. If you are open to things that may be considered by some to be non-conformist, and a little off the beaten path, you might find this interesting - I know I sure did :

http://pesn.com/2005/01/25/6900062_Exxon_Tripped_Indonesian_Tsunami/

Many Blessings,

KwanKev