Category: Earthquakes

Fracking has been linked to an increased number and increased severity of earthquakes throughout the world, both because of fracking itself, and the use of injection wells.

How dangerous is the Fukushima nuke plant today?

ABC News: How dangerous is the Fukushima nuke plant today? The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant still looks like a bombed-out factory a decade after it was wrecked by a massive earthquake and tsunami.

A decade ago, a massive tsunami crashed into the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Three of its reactors melted down, leaving it looking like a bombed-out factory. Emergency workers risked their lives trying to keep one of history’s worst nuclear crises from spiraling out of control.

Proper equipment has now replaced ragged plastic hoses held together with tape and an outdoor power switchboard infested by rats, which caused blackouts. Radiation levels have declined, allowing workers and visitors to wear regular clothes and surgical masks in most areas.

But deep inside the plant, danger still lurks. Officials don’t know exactly how long the cleanup will take, whether it will be successful and what might become of the land where the plant sits.

Small earthquake rumbles through Louisa and surrounding areas

This Free Lance-Star article discusses a small earthquake that hit Louisa and surrounding areas.

Why is this important? It is only about 12 miles away from Dominion Energy’s Lake Anna Nuclear Power plant, which was damaged and knocked off-line for about 2 months in the May 2011 earthquake in the same area.

A minor earthquake rumbled early Monday morning near Mineral in Louisa County, the same general area where a much larger and damaging quake struck in 2011. The temblor happened just after 5 a.m. and was measured at 2.7 magnitude, which is considered “a very minor earthquake,” said Don Blakeman, a geophysicist with the USGS’s National Earthquake Information Center. The quake’s epicenter was near Interstate 64, 6.7 miles south of Mineral. Blakeman said it takes at least a magnitude 3.5 earthquake for shaking to occur, and it usually takes at least a 5.0 magnitude quake to cause damage. Monday’s earthquake pales in comparison to the one that struck in 2011. Each level on the Richter scale is 10 times stronger than the previous one, and the 2011 earthquake was a magnitude 5.8.

Report: America After Climate Change, Mapped

This City Lab article maps what America will look like after Climate Change. With “The 2100 Project: An Atlas for A Green New Deal,” the McHarg Center tries to visualize how the warming world will reshape the United States.

In 100 years, what will a United States transformed by climate change look like? At this point, you don’t have to use much imagination to predict what’s coming: Temperatures will continue to climb; sea levels will continue to rise. And, by the 2060s, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that global migration patterns will bring 100 million new people into the country, who will settle from coast to coast.

Almost everything else about the climate of tomorrow and the nation’s ability to survive it is less inevitable, however, says Billy Fleming, the director of the University of Pennsylvania’s McHarg Center for Urbanism and Ecology. “There are certain general things we’re certain about, but the shape and content of the future is not one of them,” he said. “We get the future we build for ourselves.”

With other researchers from the McHarg Center, he designed a series of maps of the U.S. for an online collection dubbed The 2100 Project: An Atlas for A Green New Deal. The website use a variety of projected and current data sources to sketch out the country’s possible fate, displaying its geography in economic, ecological, agricultural, and ideological terms. Climate models vary, as do timelines and confidence intervals for each map. But collectively, Fleming says the images provide visual evidence that it’s not too late for grand interventions to make a fundamental difference. Ambitious proposals like the Green New Deal—which involves a dramatic overhaul of the nation’s energy and building infrastructure—could be the key, he said.

Cuadrilla packs up in Preston, and UK fracking bites the dust

This article discusses why the company Cuadrilla has packed up in Preston, and UK fracking bites the dust.

The controversial gas extraction process known as fracking is “dead” in the UK, campaigners and local residents groups have claimed.

Cuadrilla, the fracking company most active in England, has begun removing equipment from its only testing area after the work was blamed for minor earthquakes in August.

Opinion: Why natural gas is not the answer to climate change?

This Houston Chronicle opinion piece discusses why natural gas is not the answer to global warming. Don’t believe the hype — producing natural gas is producing enormous problems for Texas.

The huge amount of water required for gas extraction, the frequent and damaging wastewater spills and earthquakes linked to disposal, the family farms and ranches seized for pipelines, and the air pollution, fires and explosions at petrochemical plants all add up to significant damage to our air, water and land. And a growing amount of gas is going to produce plastics, much of which wind up clogging our oceans.

 

Study: Earthquakes near oil fields could persist long after drilling stops

This National Geographic article discusses how earthquakes near oil fields could persist long after drilling stops. The dense, salty water produced as a byproduct of oil and gas operations can stress fault lines even when operations cease, new research shows. Water left over from oil and natural gas production may strengthen the magnitude of earthquakes in states like Oklahoma and Kansas, according to a new study.

And while scientists have long known that wastewater can trigger earthquakes, the new study published in the journal Nature finds that the water may be sinking deeper than previously thought, leading to an increased proportion of higher magnitude earthquakes. Deeper, heavier water increases what’s known as pore pressure, the force that exerts on rock, making the underlying faults less stable.

Alberta Imposes New Fracking Restrictions Near Dam after Quakes

This article discusses new fracking restrictions imposed in Alberta, as a result of earthquakes near a dam. Restrictions come as industry-related tremors have rattled nerves and raised concerns.

In a significant development, the Alberta Energy Regulator has acknowledged that hydraulic fracturing operations can impose high risks to critical infrastructure such as dams, an issue of growing concern at British Columbia’s Site C mega-project on the Peace River.

The regulator’s new regulations follow a wave of tremors set off by Canada’s oil and gas industry, as well as the release of major scientific papers documenting how fracking and other forms of fluid injection have caused devastating earthquakes.

Such industry-triggered events, some as great as magnitude 5.7, have destroyed homes, caused landslides, and left taxpayers with millions of dollars of damage in Oklahoma, Korea and in China, where citizens have been killed.

Last week, the industry-funded regulator issued an order restricting fracking activity near TransAlta’s Brazeau Dam located 55 kilometres southwest of the densely drilled Drayton Valley following a magnitude 4.3 earthquake in the region last March.

Fracking and Earthquakes in England

This article discusses the earthquakes occurring in Great Britain as a result of resumed fracking activities.

Fracking was brought to a halt on Tuesday after seismic activity was detected at a site in Lancashire.

The temporary pause came just over a week after the process began at the Preston New Road site, the first operation to take place in the UK in seven years.

An event measuring 0.4 on the Richter scale was detected, prompting oil and gas company Cuadrilla to call off activity for the day despite being within the limit allowed by UK authorities.

Though the earth tremor was not detectable on the surface, it was the sixth recorded in the area since fracking restarted.

Cuadrilla said it would “adopt extra caution” following the “extremely low level of seismicity” detected at the site, but vowed to start again on Wednesday.

Study: Injection wells can induce earthquakes miles away from the well

This article discusses a study that shows that fracking injection wells can induce earthquakes miles away from the well. Study finds injecting fluid into sedimentary rock can produce bigger, more distant earthquakes than injecting into the underlying basement rock. A study of earthquakes induced by injecting fluids deep underground has revealed surprising patterns, suggesting that current recommendations for hydraulic fracturing, wastewater disposal, and geothermal wells may need to be revised.

Journal Reference: Thomas H. W. Goebel, Emily E. Brodsky. The spatial footprint of injection wells in a global compilation of induced earthquake sequences. Science, 2018; 361 (6405): 899 DOI: 10.1126/science.aat5449