Fracking Causes Earthquakes?

by JASmius



It doesn't, of course.  Just more of the greenstremist arrogance that risibly overestimates human technological capabilities as if the energy industry was operating Project Destini or something,

However, the Oklahoma Supreme Court, in an ominous indication of the Sooner State's political direction, disagrees:

Oklahoma’s Supreme Court said New Dominion LLC can be sued for damage caused by an earthquake that a woman blames on disposal wells tied to fracking, in what may be the first such case to head to a jury trial.

Run by kangaroos, no doubt.

Sandra Ladra sued New Dominion and Spess Oil Co. for injuries suffered to her knees and legs in November 2011, when a 5.0 magnitude earthquake struck near her home in central Oklahoma. She said the tremor caused the rock facing on her two-story fireplace and chimney to fall into the living room, where she was watching television with her family.

Oklahoma, a region not known for seismic activity, has experienced a rash of earthquakes since 2009, the same year area oil companies began using hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to shatter deep rock layers to extract oil and gas. Fracked wells produce large quantities of wastewater, which drilling companies inject into ultra-deep disposal wells, which critics blame for causing earthquakes.

A rash of micro-earthquakes that nobody on the surface would even feel or notice.  And while Oklahoma may not be known for seismic activity like California is, that doesn't mean it never happens, but rather that it doesn't happen as severely and as often.  And hydraulic fracturing can do little to contribute to it:

To produce natural gas from shale formations, it is necessary to increase the interconnectedness of the pore space (permeability) of the shale so that the gas can flow through the rock mass and be extracted through production wells. This is usually done by hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”). Fracking causes extremely small earthquakes, but they are almost always too small to be a safety concern.

And, even more to the point, there is no way to conclusively determine whether the quake that caused the damage to the Ladras' and their home was caused by nearby energy exploration employing hydraulic fracturing.

In short, this is a fishing expedition at best on the purported merits.  But this case won't be about the merits, but about inflicting as high a cost on New Dominion and Spess Oil Company as possible in order to, at minimum, bully them out of further energy exploration, and ultimately drive them out of business altogether.  The latter wouldn't happen from this case alone, but the more success the Ladras's have, the more likely that their lawsuit will be the pebble in advance of the avalanche, all designed to shut down fracking for good.

This is the connection that Jazz Shaw is refusing to make.  He's conceding way too much to the plaintiffs, who are only looking to score a big payday, and suggests that New Dominion & Spess preemptively settle, but also says that anti-energy zealots "shouldn't" see this as a reason to shut down all drilling.  But why wouldn't they?  That's the whole point of this suit.

And now the Oklahoma Supremes have given them the green light to loot and pillage.

Cue the kangaroos.