Instead of dealing with these problems, the administration has gone all in on fracking. So I guess we’re going to have to live with it!
Major earthquakes thousands of miles away can trigger reflex quakes in areas where fluids have been injected into the ground from fracking and other industrial operations, according to a study published in the journal Science on Thursday.
Previous studies, covered in a recent Mother Jones feature from Michael Behar, have shown that injecting fluids into the ground can increase the seismicity of a region. This latest study shows that earthquakes can tip off smaller quakes in far-away areas where fluid has been pumped underground.
Fracking waste fluids “kind of act as a pressurized cushion,” said a lead author on the study.The scientists looked at three big quakes: the Tohuku-oki earthquake in Japan in 2011 (magnitude 9), the Maule in Chile in 201 (an 8.8 magnitude), and the Sumatra in Indonesia in 2012 (an 8.6). They found that, as much as 20 months later, those major quakes triggered smaller ones in places in the Midwestern US where fluids have been pumped underground for energy extraction.
“[The fluids] kind of act as a pressurized cushion,” lead author Nicholas van der Elst of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University explained to Mother Jones. “They make it easier for the fault to slide.”
Gee, you’d think msaybe some of our “leaders,” aka suck ups to the PTBs, would at least think twice about what’s happening to our entire damn planet.
Maybe some reps in places clearly affected will think about this?
Ha.
Free market Capitalists care about one thing only: profit. The longer free market Capitalism is at the root of our economic system, the 99% will suffer at the hands of the 1% (Capitalists). Free market Capitalism’s total elimination would bring about the best results.