Five Things to Know about Induced Seismicity After Pawnee, Oklahoma Earthquake
Friday September 9, 2016
This week’s coverage of the Pawnee, Okla., earthquake was the latest example of a troublesome trend: More often than not, the media continues to get it wrong when it comes to reporting on the issue of induced seismicity.
Whether this frustrating pattern is due to a deliberate mischaracterization of the facts — namely, using of the word “fracking” as a catchall, bogeyman term encompassing all things oil and gas related — or if an honest lack of understanding of the issue is to blame, the unfortunate byproduct in both instances is a misinformed public.
So in an attempt to counter to the countless misleading headlines and media accounts of this past Labor Day weekend’s earthquake in Oklahoma, here are five things everyone needs to know about induced seismicity that many media outlets have failed to convey.
Fact #1: Fracking is not the cause
Contrary to what you might have read in the local paper this week, the hydraulic fracturing process is not the cause of Oklahoma’s earthquakes, or induced seismicity in general. Expert after expert agree with this fact, including:
- The United States Geological Survey: The 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.”
- Former Interior Department Deputy Secretary David Hayes has said: “We also find t...