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- Apr 27, 2013
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The speculation is over, and revealing e-mails disclose that oil and gas millionaire
Harold Hamm has been trying to keep the fact that fracking may be responsible, under wraps.
Is it worth it?
Confirmed: Oklahoma Earthquakes Caused By Fracking
Despite the enormous increase in earthquakes in Oklahoma that started at the same time as heavy fracking began there—with the number of earthquakes over 3.0 magnitude skyrocketing from an average of less than two a year to 585 last year—the state has been in official denial about the cause.
Now the state has not only admitted that the injection into deep underground wells of fluid byproducts from drilling operations is behind the quakes, but it put up a website titledEarthquakes in Oklahoma that is a “one-stop source for information on earthquakes in Oklahoma.” The site includes an interactive map that displays the dramatic change not only in the number of earthquakes but in their distribution. Instead of a scattering around the state, they’re clustered heavily in areas where drilling operations are disposing of fracking wastewater.
The new website says, in a post dated April 21, “The Oklahoma Geological Survey announced today the majority of recent earthquakes in central and north-central Oklahoma are likely triggered by the injection of produced water in disposal wells.”
Confirmed Oklahoma Earthquakes Caused By Fracking EcoWatch
Hillary Clinton’s emails aren’t the only ones making news, at least not in Oklahoma. A trove of emails were released by the Oklahoma Geological Survey (OGS), which regulates the state’s oil and gas industries, in response to public records requests from news outlets such as Bloombergand EnergyWire. They appear to reveal that oil and gas billionaire Harold Hamm, known as the founding father of the U.S. fracking boom, inserted himself into the conversation about whether fracking was causing a dramatic upsurge in earthquakes in the state.
“Holland had been studying possible links between a rise in seismic activity in Oklahoma and the rapid increase in oil and gas production, the state’s largest industry,” wrote Bloomberg reporters Benjamin Elgin and Matthew Phillips. “Hamm requested that Holland be careful when publicly discussing the possible connection between oil and gas operations and a big jump in the number of earthquakes, which geological researchers were increasingly tying to the underground disposal of oil and gas wastewater, a byproduct of the fracking boom that Continental has helped pioneer.”
“It was just a little bit intimidating,” said Holland. When he emailed a colleague that he had been summoned to have “coffee” with Boren and Hamm, she replied, “Gosh, I guess that’s better than having Kool-Aid with them. I guess.”
Oil and Gas Billionaire Pressured Oklahoma Scientist to Ignore Fracking-Earthquake Link EcoWatch
Harold Hamm has been trying to keep the fact that fracking may be responsible, under wraps.
Is it worth it?
Confirmed: Oklahoma Earthquakes Caused By Fracking
Despite the enormous increase in earthquakes in Oklahoma that started at the same time as heavy fracking began there—with the number of earthquakes over 3.0 magnitude skyrocketing from an average of less than two a year to 585 last year—the state has been in official denial about the cause.
Now the state has not only admitted that the injection into deep underground wells of fluid byproducts from drilling operations is behind the quakes, but it put up a website titledEarthquakes in Oklahoma that is a “one-stop source for information on earthquakes in Oklahoma.” The site includes an interactive map that displays the dramatic change not only in the number of earthquakes but in their distribution. Instead of a scattering around the state, they’re clustered heavily in areas where drilling operations are disposing of fracking wastewater.
The new website says, in a post dated April 21, “The Oklahoma Geological Survey announced today the majority of recent earthquakes in central and north-central Oklahoma are likely triggered by the injection of produced water in disposal wells.”
Confirmed Oklahoma Earthquakes Caused By Fracking EcoWatch
Hillary Clinton’s emails aren’t the only ones making news, at least not in Oklahoma. A trove of emails were released by the Oklahoma Geological Survey (OGS), which regulates the state’s oil and gas industries, in response to public records requests from news outlets such as Bloombergand EnergyWire. They appear to reveal that oil and gas billionaire Harold Hamm, known as the founding father of the U.S. fracking boom, inserted himself into the conversation about whether fracking was causing a dramatic upsurge in earthquakes in the state.
“Holland had been studying possible links between a rise in seismic activity in Oklahoma and the rapid increase in oil and gas production, the state’s largest industry,” wrote Bloomberg reporters Benjamin Elgin and Matthew Phillips. “Hamm requested that Holland be careful when publicly discussing the possible connection between oil and gas operations and a big jump in the number of earthquakes, which geological researchers were increasingly tying to the underground disposal of oil and gas wastewater, a byproduct of the fracking boom that Continental has helped pioneer.”
“It was just a little bit intimidating,” said Holland. When he emailed a colleague that he had been summoned to have “coffee” with Boren and Hamm, she replied, “Gosh, I guess that’s better than having Kool-Aid with them. I guess.”
Oil and Gas Billionaire Pressured Oklahoma Scientist to Ignore Fracking-Earthquake Link EcoWatch
