Texas: For The Last Time Fracking Doesn’t Cause Earthquakes

11.04.2015 | Surge Wire |

Texas commissioners unanimously agreed in a recent hearing that fracking processes didn’t cause several small earthquakes last year.

Scientists and lawmakers are, once again, countering myths promoted by environmentalists that hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is causing earthquakes around America.

Before the hearing, Texas state seismologist Craig Pearson said that he didn’t see any “substantial proof” that the small earthquake northwest of Fort Worth, Texas were linked to oil and gas activity.

Pearson’s conclusion concurs with the assessment of United States Geological Survey (USGS) that “hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as ‘fracking’, does not appear to be linked to the increased rate of magnitude 3 and larger earthquakes.”

The commissioners concluded that a study by Southern Methodist University which demonstrated a weak correlation between wastewater injection and seismic activities too small, however, to imply a causal relationship without further corroborating evidence.

“We’re not talking at all about fracking. In fact, it’s been driving us crazy, frankly, that people keep using it in the press.” said Doctor Matthew Hornback, a professor of geophysics at Southern Methodist University, when asked if fracking causes significant earthquakes by lawmakers.

The hearing determined that two Texas wastewater injection wells, an industrial practice that disposes of wastewater from fracking, will remain in operation.

The “controversial method of hydraulic fracturing or fracking, even though that may be used in the drilling, is not physically causing the shakes” USGS researcher William Ellsworth told the Associated Press.

The scientific consensus has long been that fracking doesn’t cause magnitude 3 and larger earthquakes … but media and environmental groups don’t like that particular scientific consensus and have roundly decided to ignore it. Fracking earthquakes and other myths from environmentalists are so widespread that the USGS actually maintains a “Myths and Misconceptions” section of its website to debunk them.

Despite the scientific consensus, environmental groups have tried to blame fracking for just about everything, including droughts, drinking water contamination, flaming tap-water, poverty, income inequality, and even low sperm counts.

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