4.3 Magnitude Earthquake Causes Damage, Power Outage Near Edmond

[deminks]

Source: KWTV-NEWS 9 (local)

EDMOND, Oklahoma -
The U.S. Geological Survey reported a 4.3 magnitude earthquake centered near Edmond, Oklahoma.

This earthquake was recorded at 5:39 a.m. Tuesday, four miles east, northeast of Edmond, and 13 miles south of Guthrie.It was about four miles deep.

The quake was followed by a 3.4 magnitude aftershock, centered in the same area.

Many residents near the epicenter reported property damage. The city of Edmond said about 4,400 customers lost power immediately following the earthquake.

(end snip)

Read more: http://www.news9.com/story/30844917/large-earthquake-causes-damage-in-edmond-area

[Tess49]

1. Fracking. Quakes happen daily here.

[BlueJazz]

2. Questions: Are these quakes the direct result of fracking?.

If they are (as above), shouldn't the companies pay for all the damage that the home-owners go through?
If not, then we taxpayers are partially footing the bill.

[mgmaggiemg]

4. exactly ...very good point blue...

make the fracking companies pay, sue them

[mgmaggiemg]

3. OK now earthquake capital of the US

serves them right for fracking and raping women...boycott oklahoma

[Brother Buzz]

7. Oklahoma earthquakes garner a lot of ink but California is still reigns

Oklahoma had a mire 2,161 earthquakes in the past year while California had 7,116 earthquakes in the same period.

[mgmaggiemg]

8. ok bb I will look it up

does that mean you think that fracking is not causing the earthquakes in OK and that they will decrease?

[Brother Buzz]

9. Shitload of California earthquakes are caused by geothermal injection

Healdsburg, Ca (near the geothermal fields) has had: (M1.5 or greater)

11 earthquakes today
30 earthquakes in the past 7 days
122 earthquakes in the past month
1,571 earthquakes in the past year




According to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Earth Sciences division, seismicity was very low prior to the use of the Geyser steam field for geothermal energy, although this may have been the result of low seismic coverage of the area. Before 1969, there were no earthquakes above magnitude 2 recorded by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) in an approximately 70 square miles (180 km2) area around the Geysers.Studies have shown that injecting water into the Geysers field produces earthquakes from magnitude 0.5 to 3.0, although a 4.6 occurred in 1973 and magnitude four events increased thereafter. Even with increasing injection rates over time, the rate of magnitude 3 earthquakes has remained relatively unchanged since the 1980s, although the amount of earthquakes has increased significantly. A magnitude 4.5 earthquake struck near the Geysers on January 12, 2014. Despite the increases in the number of earthquakes and the fears of local residents, it is unlikely that a large earthquake will occur at the Geysers since there is no large earthquake fault or fracture nearby.

[Runningdawg]

10. Do you remember

the oil fields burning during the first gulf war? It was a scene straight from hell. There weren't many people living among those wells but here in OK the Cushing oil field is less than 100 miles from both of OKs most populous cities - OKC and Tulsa. 3 major universities OU, OSU and TU are located in that radius, as well as Keystone damn. Oklahoma's infrastructure was not built to withstand earthquakes.
It just a matter of time before OK burns.

[EV_Ares]

5. Confidence In Oil Hub Security Shaken By Oklahoma Earthquakes

The ground is shaking near Cushing, Okla., home to the largest commercial crude oil storage center in North America.

This little patch of prairie in northwestern Oklahoma is one of the most important places in the U.S. energy market.

Oklahoma is on track to have a record year of earthquakes — more than 5,000 have already been recorded. And those quakes appear to endanger the very industry that created them.

"We're in amongst about 18 tanks here. Anywhere from 350,000 barrels to 575,000 barrels," says Mike Moeller, senior director of midcontinent assets for Enbridge Energy.

He walks through the tank farm and worries about all the industry-linked earthquakes. These tanks were built to national standards that account for some shaking, but they weren't constructed with serious earthquakes in mind.

NPR Link to entire article: http://n.pr/1mLiXGn

[yuiyoshida]

6. It seems so weird not seeing earthquake news

that's not in California. Yes we have little ones everyday here..but there has been nothing major in a long time, and I am happy for that..but to see it in the middle west where it used to be rare, now you know, or at least assume it has to do with Fracking.

[lark]

11. Was this due to fracking?

[Mrs. Ted Nancy]

12. Disposal wells are the issue

This is from an article two days ago

As quakes keep rattling, Oklahoma regulators ramp up response in 2015
Paul Monies by Paul Monies Published: December 27, 2015

The ground kept shifting under Oklahomans in 2015, with a record number of earthquakes logged by seismologists, and state regulators ramped up their response to the links to oil and gas activity.

Major scientific papers increasingly tied the sharp rise in seismic activity to the injection into disposal wells of large volumes of the super-salty “fossil water” that comes up with oil and gas. That scientific consensus was largely accepted by politicians and regulators, who earlier had been criticized for their slow response to the earthquakes.

Oklahoma recorded more than 840 earthquakes greater than a 3.0 magnitude in 2015, far surpassing the 585 from 2014 and the 109 in that category in 2013.

Not all the tremors can be traced to disposal wells, thousands of which dot the state and have been used by producers for decades. But regulators at the Oklahoma Corporation Commission said they saw enough scientific evidence of induced seismicity to issue a series of voluntary directives to oil and gas companies to curtail injection into disposal wells or shut them in altogether...

[link:http://newsok.com/as-quakes-keep-rattling-oklahoma-regulators-ramp-up-response-in-2015/article/5469002|

SandRidge Energy, the biggest injector of wastewater, has now stated that it won't comply with Corporation Commission directives. The company is on shaky financial ground - they've got debt up to their eyeballs. We're probably heading for another "oil bust". Our legislature and governor have hinged the state economy to the price of a commodity and the residents are paying mightily.

I live in Oklahoma City and it really shook the house - the cracks in the walls of my house are getting bigger. The quakes this morning have done quite a bit of damage.

[lark]

14. As someone who lived in CA for 18 years prior to 1989,

I can appreciate where you're coming from. We had cracks in our house from all the quakes leading up to the big one when we sold it and moved back home to FL. 2 weeks afterwards, the big one came and the balcony fell off and the house split apart where the crack were. Of course, these were "natural", not man-made quakes, so your situation is a lot more aggravating and hopefully can be prevented from getting worse. I just remember the house rocking, the loud roaring and my 1-1/2 year old son screaming in fear. I hope if you have children, they aren't as terrified as my son was. It was kind of funny, he always thought elephants were stampeeding because he associated that earthquake grinding noise with the sound he'd heard when he watched a show with a herd of panicked elephants.

[KatyaR]

13. Yep, felt this one well and good.

I slept in the living room chair last night because I was too lazy to go to bed. It woke me up, shook the entire apartment building. I wasn't sure it was going to stop for a second, it seemed to be really long. I live at least 20 miles from the epicenter; I can't imagine what it felt like if you were right on top of it.