WRT the East Coast EARTHQUAKE and aftershocks--is anyone using the "F" word yet?

[MADem]

I can't help but wonder if the practice of "fracking" to recover oil and natural gas deposits has anything to do with this quake and its severity. I know they frack in VA, WV, PA and several other states in the general region--could that have helped the situation along?

[ohheckyeah]

1. I certainly used a different F word. :-)

[MADem]

7. Well, yeah, that too--and who could blame you? nt

[gateley]

2. Someone (at least one) on DU has mentioned it of course, but

people here get it more than the general masses, I think. See? You brought it up, too. I haven't heard it elsewhere, though -- wonder if we ever will.

Although truthfully, I'm not sure if that could be a cause -- could it? I defer to your expertise.

[Firebrand Gary]

3. I admit it, it was me. I posted that earlier.

[MADem]

6. I don't have any expertise in the process, but it sounds pretty invasive to me, from what I have

read about it. You've got to figure if they're injecting crap into tiny little rock formations, extracting the oil or gas, and then sucking back up the crap they washed down there, that something's gotta be happening under the surface.

If it did cause this earthquake, and has potential to cause others, we'll have to make some hard choices--are we willing to spend even more for energy and stop the practice, will we finally get off our asses and pump up the transition to other sources, or will we continue to pretend there's no real problem here and tolerate the occasional bump-n-grind on our once-tranquil east coast?

[shireen]

4. i thought it was global warming. nt

[WheelWalker]

5. I used it at the office around 14:00 PDT today.

[FarLeftFist]

8. Feeling aftershocks right now in NYC. Very slight but noticeable.

Sometimes I wonder if depleting the earth of it's resources, most notably oil, can cause earthquakes and other natural disasters.

[LLStarks]

9. I don't know about my fellow NY DUers, but I support fracking.

Upstate NY doesn't get to reap the benefits of NYC's prosperance and they get screwed in state support.

This will be their chance to spur industry there.

[MADem]

13. You aren't concerned about the contamination potential to groundwater?

The possibility of contaminated farmland?

Does upstate NY have any wind farm assets, like Maine has, and like MA is slowly lumbering towards?

[LLStarks]

16. We're going to regulate the hell out of the operations. Also, see this:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericagies/2011/08/23/game-changing-vacuum-creates-market-opportunity-to-clean-fracking-water/

I do worry about contamination though. It would suck if NY lost it's legendary drinking water quality.

[MADem]

19. I would be worried, but that's me.

NJ has even said no to it....NJ!!

Did you see that film GASLAND? When that guy lit his faucet on fire, that kind of made me less than enthused about the entire process.

[AndyTiedye]

10. The "F" Word I Was Thinking of was "Fukushima"

since the quake happened so close to the Anna nukes, and it was a 6.0 which is just about the max those nukes were rated for. I hope everything really is OK there. :hide:

[MADem]

11. Salient point. NT

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. They still have roads

so bringing diesel and generators....is easy...

but then there is this little hurricane moving up that way... thankfully this is way inland, but...

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. As I said in the other thread

if this is part of it... the coverup will be stellar.

I mean our friends in the energy industry need to be protected and shit.

:sarcasm:

[denbot]

15. Fracking.. a small amount of hydraulic pressure causing a large earthquake..

Really?!?!?

[MADem]

20. A small amount here, there, and everywhere.

Look up the states that have permitted it (including VA, WVA, PA, etc.). It's not "just" a small amount of pressure in a single location, now, is it?

Haven't you ever bumped a cup and had it crack in half?

Shit like that happens sometimes.

I don't have the answers, I am simply speculating. I don't dismiss the possibility out-of-hand, that's for sure.

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. Yes

http://kavips.wordpress.com/2011/08/23/could-the-august-23rd-quake-have-been-man-made/

[MADem]

21. Woah....ain't THAT special!!

A quick satellite look at the epicenter shows an area crisscrossed with drilling roads and well sites.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

18. An interesting theory

http://www.jupitersdance.com/

[Confusious]

26. I suppose, if you ignore all the other earthquakes

that happen.

I sat through 2 8's in Alaska during sunspot activity.

do you support every wakadoo theory?

[Fred Engels]

22. Very, very doubtful. Wells have been hydraulic and sand fractured for 60 years

from southern Illinois, Oklahoma, Texas, Wyoming, Ohio and Kansas...there doesn't seem to be any history of quakes that could be related. Also, this is only done in 'soft' (permeable) rock that is very poor at transmitting compressive strains and is at very (comparatively) shallow depths.

[MADem]

23. That's not the case in PA and elsewhere--they are fracturing 'dense' rock a mile below the earth.

http://www.npr.org/2011/08/02/138820966/worries-over-water-as-natural-gas-fracking-expands

[Name removed]

28. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Brickbat]

24. Sometimes an earthquake is just an earthquake.

[MADem]

29. I am not claiming to have authoritative information, here.

I'm simply speculating.

We never had much in the way of earthquakes on the east coast.

We never had any fracking here, once upon a time, either.

Now, we have had some fracking for the last several years....and....


we have just had a BIGASS (for the east coast) earthquake.


I have read about correlations between fracking and earthquakes.


I am simply wondering/asking/indeed.....speculating.

What would cross your mind if you found out there was a correlation between fracking and earthquakes? Would you be irritated, annoyed, concerned...or see it as the cost of doing business?

[ensho]

25. time will tell

nt

[MADem]

30. That's entirely true. I was just wondering if anyone here had read

anything about a relationship between the two, preferably in mainstream or industry periodicals....

I am not an advocate, just a questioner.

[librechik]

27. it has been mentioned on TV but no formal investigation yet

probably never

[MADem]

31. You might be right. I hope that there will be some sort of authoritative research done, though.

Either to settle the issue (and the minds of the citizenry) or to expose a problem that we need to resolve.