26 Earthquakes Later, Fracking’s Smoking Gun Is in Texas

[madfloridian]

26 Earthquakes Later, Fracking’s Smoking Gun Is in Texas

After 11 quakes in the last two days – with one registering at a 3.6 – Irving, Texas’ sudden onset tremor problem might be the fracking industry’s nightmare.

There’s a monster lurking under Texas, beneath the sand and oil and cowboy bones, and it’s getting a little restless after a 15 million year nap. Shaking things up in the city of Irving, just slightly west of Dallas, where no less than ten earthquakes yesterday and today bring the total tremors to 26 since October in that town alone. Over 100 quakes have been registered in the North Texas region since 2008, a staggering uptick from just a single one prior that year.

The Balcones Fault Zone divides the Lone Star State in half, loosely following the route of Interstate 35 and passing under Fort Worth, Waco, Austin, and San Antonio. And it’s not just a huge amount of human populations that sit on top of it. There are also thousands of fracking wells boring down in to the earth’s crust, pumping millions of gallons of water down with the direct intent of breaking apart what lay beneath.

...And it’s not just Texas. Poland Township in Ohio had 77 earthquakes happen last March that researchers have definitively linked to fracking, in a paper published just days ago. And British Columbia has the oil addiction shakes, too.

And catch this important paragraph:

Worth noting: This cluster of quakes is taking place almost directly beneath the Exxon-Mobile world headquarters, which is located in Irving. The company’s CEO, Rex Tillerson, joined a lawsuit last year to prevent a water tower used in the fracking process from being built near his 83-acre horse ranch in a swanky suburban Dallas enclave. Whether these are considered ironic or karmic quakes – that’s up to you. But for the repeatedly shaken up people of North Texas, it’s not very funny anymore.

[mwdem]

1. So glad I moved away from there...

I lived between Dallas and Ft. Worth. The started fracking two years before I moved. We had to sign off on letting them drill under our property. (They would do it whether we agreed or not). The well was less than a mile from our house. I watched the Halliburton tanker trucks coming and going night and day. They supplied the chemicals used in fracking. We sold the house and ended up in Southern California. I'll take the natural earthquakes here anytime!

[madfloridian]

2. I hear that Denton voted not to have fracking. Now a fuel company is suing them.

Sounds like they have no choice either.

[mwdem]

3. I hate to hear that.

This business is too corrupt, and dirty. I know that the company that drilled in my area was Canadian, and the workers were from there. Gives a whole new meaning to more jobs for the state!

[madfloridian]

16. "Gives a whole new meaning to more jobs for the state!"

A lot of that is happening now. And I think more will happen under the trade agreements waiting to happen. As other countries get more bids for big projects here...I would wonder if they would bring in their own workers.

[brett_jv]

11. "Denton, Denton Rah Rah Rah ...

Denton, Denton Eat Me Raw .... YEEEEAAH ... DENTON!"

If anyone on the board can come up with where that's from ... I award you 1000 internets ...

Hints:
"what the hell is a billboard doing in a cemetery anyway?"
"the home of happiness"
"be just and fear not"

[FloriTexan]

17. Rocky Horror Picture Show...

sorry, I'm late to this party!

[madfloridian]

18. I wondered about that.

Thanks for the response.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

4. The fracking operations have devastated what was once a beautiful landscape

in the areas west and south of Ft Worth, which is now dotted with thousands of drilling pads.

[mwdem]

5. I hate to hear that.

I know those areas well. We lived there for 7 years. It's a zing that pure greed can do to ruin not only lives, but our American landscapes.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

6. You can see them on Google Earth if you have that software. It's tragic. nt

[mwdem]

7. I have it...

but afraid to look.😠

[mwdem]

8. Just looked.

We used to take 377 to Granbury and on to Fossil Rim all the time. Wow! I haven't been gone that long, but damn ! It looks like the state has been sold out!

[BrotherIvan]

9. And they're fracking in California!

See you all in Arizona Bay!

[madfloridian]

10. Florida and fracking..permits issued in Collier and Hendry counties...more to come.

Florida Lawmakers Move to Let Fracking Companies Keep Secrets About Toxic Chemicals They'll Pump Into Ground

This is from last January, so probably going on by now.

Bills that throw a cloak of secrecy over fracking operations in Florida passed out of the House Agriculture & Natural Resources Subcommittee on Tuesday. The measures exempt from public disclosure the chemicals, which are rich in toxins, used in the process.

Hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," involves blasting millions of gallons of water and a chemical stew into the ground to fracture rock formations and release oil and gas. No fracking is currently underway in Florida, but it's on the horizon. Drilling applications have been granted for Collier and Hendry counties and applied for in Santa Rosa.

.....This year's measures require disclosure to the state Department of Environmental Protection. But drillers are still permitted to label their chemical mixtures "trade secrets," exempting them from disclosure to the general public under Florida's Open Government and Public Records laws.

[LittleGirl]

12. I have a facebook friend in Irving

and she's not happy about this at all.

[NewDeal_Dem]

13. ironic in so many ways

Worth noting: This cluster of quakes is taking place almost directly beneath the Exxon-Mobile world headquarters, which is located in Irving. The company’s CEO, Rex Tillerson, joined a lawsuit last year to prevent a water tower used in the fracking process from being built near his 83-acre horse ranch in a swanky suburban Dallas enclave. Whether these are considered ironic or karmic quakes – that’s up to you. But for the repeatedly shaken up people of North Texas, it’s not very funny anymore.


Let's hope exxon-mobile HQ sinks into the frack, that tillerson's lawsuit fails, since he made his blood money doing the same thing to others, and that people finally get together to fight the bloodsuckers who claim they can do anything they like to anyone they like.

[ReRe]

14. My mind goes directly to the...

stadium where the Cowboys play. Is it in Arlington, TX? I think that's between Ft Worth and Dallas, isn't it? What's all those little quakes going to do to a structure like that?

Hell, what about our already broken infrastructure?

[Stallion]

15. The Focal Point of All the Epicenters of the Earthquakes is the old Texas Stadium Site

About 40% of the earthquakes are literally on land that was part of the Texas Stadium site-the rest are within a mile or so. Arlington where the Cowboys play and the Site of Monday's College National Championship is about 15 miles West. I haven't heard of any earthquakes in the Arlington area near the new stadium.