By: Alexandria Addesso
The more man finds new corners to cut in terms of the environment, the more planet Earth seems to strike back with ecological karma. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction according to Newton, and we must be able to face the ramifications of our actions. For over a 150 years people have been drilling for oil, and new evidence has been uncovered concerning how it has affect the planet.
A recent study published in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (BSSA) followed the correlation between 20th century oil extraction and earthquakes. The study focused on drilling done in the 1920s and 1930s in the County of Los Angeles that are linked to several devastating earthquakes. These earthquakes include the 1920 Inglewood earthquake, the 1929 Whittier earthquake, the 1930 earthquake in Santa Monica, and the most devastating 1933 Long Beach earthquake which had a 6.4 magnitude on the richter scale and killed 120 people.
"If you take our four-the 1920, 1929, 1930 and 1933 earthquakes out of the calculations as induced or potentially induced, it does call into question what the rate of natural earthquakes in the L.A. Basin really is," said U.S. Geological Surveyor Susan Hough. "Maybe the L.A. Basin as a geological unit is more seismically stable than we've estimated."
The U.S. Geological Survey team studied 22 earthquakes that took place during the 20th century and found that 13 of them were most likely connected to nearby “oil production activities”. The study attributed these earthquakes to “industry practices that are no longer employed (i.e., production without water reinjection), and do not necessarily imply a high likelihood of induced earthquakes at the present time." Yet, another study released last year by U.S. Geological Surveyors suggested that mid-20th century earthquakes in Oklahoma were caused by injecting wastewater into the earth to extract oil, unlike the oil production methods of the 1920s and 1930s but very similar to the fracking method used to extract oil today.
Fracking is a very controversial method of oil extraction because it can very easily taint the water supply of the surrounding area. In the past year, after much urging by environmental and civil rights groups , the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a 1,000 page document confirming "specific instances" when fracking "led to impacts on drinking water resources, including contamination of drinking water wells." With this information as well as the oil extraction connections to earthquakes, it would appear that more concern would be raised about halting such projects. Yet, neither of the U.S. Geological Surveys mentioned any concerns with the current fracking method.
The more man finds new corners to cut in terms of the environment, the more planet Earth seems to strike back with ecological karma. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction according to Newton, and we must be able to face the ramifications of our actions. For over a 150 years people have been drilling for oil, and new evidence has been uncovered concerning how it has affect the planet.
A recent study published in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (BSSA) followed the correlation between 20th century oil extraction and earthquakes. The study focused on drilling done in the 1920s and 1930s in the County of Los Angeles that are linked to several devastating earthquakes. These earthquakes include the 1920 Inglewood earthquake, the 1929 Whittier earthquake, the 1930 earthquake in Santa Monica, and the most devastating 1933 Long Beach earthquake which had a 6.4 magnitude on the richter scale and killed 120 people.
"If you take our four-the 1920, 1929, 1930 and 1933 earthquakes out of the calculations as induced or potentially induced, it does call into question what the rate of natural earthquakes in the L.A. Basin really is," said U.S. Geological Surveyor Susan Hough. "Maybe the L.A. Basin as a geological unit is more seismically stable than we've estimated."
The U.S. Geological Survey team studied 22 earthquakes that took place during the 20th century and found that 13 of them were most likely connected to nearby “oil production activities”. The study attributed these earthquakes to “industry practices that are no longer employed (i.e., production without water reinjection), and do not necessarily imply a high likelihood of induced earthquakes at the present time." Yet, another study released last year by U.S. Geological Surveyors suggested that mid-20th century earthquakes in Oklahoma were caused by injecting wastewater into the earth to extract oil, unlike the oil production methods of the 1920s and 1930s but very similar to the fracking method used to extract oil today.
Fracking is a very controversial method of oil extraction because it can very easily taint the water supply of the surrounding area. In the past year, after much urging by environmental and civil rights groups , the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a 1,000 page document confirming "specific instances" when fracking "led to impacts on drinking water resources, including contamination of drinking water wells." With this information as well as the oil extraction connections to earthquakes, it would appear that more concern would be raised about halting such projects. Yet, neither of the U.S. Geological Surveys mentioned any concerns with the current fracking method.
