Statistics show that in 2013, the US produced so much natural gas that since then it has become the world's largest natural gas producing country. The US has overtaken Russia, Iran, Quatar and Canada.
Supposedly the US was able to leapfrog to the top over the other countries with the help of fracking -- a very controversial technique of extracting gas trapped in underground shale.
Some claim that the recent spate of earthquakes in Oklahoma are all man-made and that the unprecedented increase in their occurrence is due to widespread fracking.
A letter written by Rivka Galken published in the April 13, 2015 issue of The New Yorker says this:
"Until 2008, Oklahoma experienced an average of one to two earthquakes of 3.0 magnitude or greater each year. (Magnitude-3.0 earthquakes tend to be felt, while smaller earthquakes may be noticed only by scientific equipment or by people close to the epicenter.) In 2009, there were twenty. The next year, there were forty-two. In 2014, there were five hundred and eighty-five, nearly triple the rate of California. Including smaller earthquakes in the count, there were more than five thousand. This year, there has been an average of two earthquakes a day of magnitude 3.0 or greater."
Dr. Elizabeth Cochran, a seismologist with the US Geological Survey, directly correlated the Oklahoma earthquakes to their close proximity to injection wells. In an interview published today, May 6, 2015 by Baltimore-based TheRealNews.com Cochran said that lulls in fracking saw less earthquakes.
I live in the state of Hawaii, only about 10,931 square miles in land area (including water) compared to Oklahoma's 69,899 square miles (including water). I shudder to think of what fracking could possibly do to Hawaii if it is done here, especially since Hawaii is a volcanic state with two currently active volcanoes. My wild imagination sees cataclysm with Hawaii drowning in the blue pacific or torn apart by massive earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
We need to strike a balance between, on one hand, what we do to support and provide for the world's growing population and, on the other hand, preventing danger to lives, property and the very integrity of our planet.
So-called development and progress in the way we use technology may make money for a lot of people but of what use is that if ultimately we lose everything?
All over the world, regardless of country, many of us go about our everyday lives not knowing or worse, not caring, about what are going on around us. It is time to pay attention and stop shooting ourselves in the foot.
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Source: google.com
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By ARIEL MURPHY
The earthquakes, the use of water, the water pollution, people with combustible gas coming out of their faucets. What does it take to get people to worry about the problems associated with fracking? Thanks for encouraging us to think about it.
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