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Experts really could not be clearer: They have said over and over that the fracking process is not the cause of earthquakes in Oklahoma.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) states in the very first sentence of its list of myths and misconceptions regarding induced seismicity that “Fracking is NOT causing most of the induced earthquakes,” further clarifying that “Wastewater disposal is the primary cause of the recent increase in earthquakes in the central United States.”

Stanford geophysicist Mark Zoback explains in a recent YouTube video, quite bluntly, that Oklahoma’s induced seismicity “… is not caused by the hydraulic fracturing process at all.”

Still, the false notion that fracking causes earthquakes prevails — and many media outlets’ coverage of the 5.6-magnitude earthquake near Pawnee, Okla., over Labor Day weekend is the prime example why.

Headlines such as Newsweek’s “Oklahoma’s 5.6 Magnitude Earthquake Sparks Fracking Fears” and the Dallas Morning News’ “Oklahoma shuts down fracking water wells after quake rattles Dallas to Dakotas” stand out. Bloomberg even had three separate articles in which erroneous headlines and claims abound.

To their credit, some reporters such as Mike Soraghan of E&E News, Doug Stanglin of USA Today and View Full Article