Experts tell us that the spike in seismic activity in the US is mainly caused
by the oil and gas industry injecting wastewater deep underground, which can activate dormant faults.
A few instances stem from hydraulic fracturing, in which large volumes of
water, sand and toxic chemicals are pumped into rock formations in order to
free oil or gas. Quakes could continue even if injections were stopped because
pressure changes already induced in deep rock can migrate for years, possibly
encountering faults.
PetroTal Drilling the Week Prior to Earthquake
During the same month of this rare earthquake, PetroTal
reported that it began drilling operations on May 7th, for a second oil production well in the
Brittany field in Block 95, in Loreto, which was producing at least 2,250
barrels of crude oil per day. Keep in mind that the deep drilling operation started
on May 7 and can take up to 10 days … Within
2 weeks later, the 8.0 magnitude earthquake struck, in the same region …
PetroTal is projected to produce 39.8 million barrels of reserves with a
production peak of up to 10,000 barrels per day, in the next 3 years. It should
be noted that Petrotal Peru SRL (formerly Gran Tierra Energy Peru SRL) is the
owner of 100% of the License Contract for the exploration and exploitation of
hydrocarbons in Block 95.
This oil and gas project will then be painted with a false pretense of animal
conversation efforts and employment opportunities, in order to convince the
public that they care about human health and environment.
And as if this isn’t enough already, communities living in Loreto have already
been dealing with contaminated waters and oil spills. The Regional Emergency
Operations Center (COER) Loreto reported to date there are 331 people affected
by the recent outcrop of hydrocarbons from an abandoned oil well in the
Miraflores town center, located on the banks of the Tigre River, province and
department of Loreto. This is only one example of the many communities that are
suffering, especially for remote indigenous communities who rely on the
environment for their survival.
The apu Edison Flores said that the oil spill was an untenable situation and
that humanitarian aid is an obligation of the Peruvian state to serve the
communities that have been victims of oil exploitation for more than 40 years.
A study conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey finds the largest earthquake
ever recorded in Kansas was linked to wastewater injection into deep
underground wells — a process known as fracking. The November 12, 2014
earthquake, occurred 40 miles southwest of Wichita near the town of Milan. It
registered almost 5 on the Richter scale and was felt as far away as Memphis.
According to the USGS, the epicenter of the quake was located in an area were
seismic activity is extremely rare but was adjacent to known fracking
operations
How Fracking Caused Oklahoma's
Biggest Earthquake Ever
Oklahoma has experienced a major increase in earthquakes in recent years,
including a 5.7-magnitude temblor that injured residents and damaged 200
buildings in November 2011. Swarms of quakes have continued in 2015.
A new study in the journal Geology is the latest to tie a string of unusual
earthquakes, in this case, in central Oklahoma, to the injection of wastewater deep
underground. Researchers now say that the magnitude 5.7 earthquake near Prague,
Okla., on Nov. 6, 2011, may also be the largest ever linked to wastewater
injection. Felt as far away as Milwaukee, more than 800 miles away, the
quake—the biggest ever recorded in Oklahoma--destroyed 14 homes, buckled a
federal highway and left two people injured. Small earthquakes continue to be
recorded in the area.
The sudden and violent increase in earthquakes in Oklahoma since 2008 has been
well documented: in 2009, the state recorded 50 earthquakes; in 2015, that
number exploded to 6,479. Historically, Oklahoma is not a state known for its
seismic activity. From 1975 to 2008, Oklahoma averaged only one to three 3.0
magnitude (or greater) earthquakes annually, but from 2009 to mid-2013, this
annual average grew to about 40.
Oklahoma is now the most seismically active state in the continental United
States – more than California. That’s not a record Oklahomans should be happy
to claim. And now, Oklahoma is breaking new ground: an earthquake in the state
on September 3 was the strongest ever recorded there, with a magnitude of 5.8.
From 2009 to 2014, as earthquake activity increased drastically, wastewater
injection volumes grew by about 43 percent.
Oil
Drilling Could Be to Blame for Devastating 1933 California Quake and Others
Research published in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America
suggests that several earthquakes in the Los Angeles area between 1920 and 1933
may be attributable to oil and gas drilling in the region, reports Annie Sneed
for Scientific American.
They found that oil and gas drilling occurred near the
epicenters of four major quakes in the LA area, and could have played a role in
setting off the temblors. In all cases, the drilling extended down at least
3,000 feet, which was particularly deep for that day and age.
And the quakes were not minor. Sneed points out that the 1933
Long Beach earthquake was 6.4 magnitude, killing 120 people and causing $50
million in damage. The other quakes in the study include the 1920 Inglewood
quake, 1929 incident in Whittier and 1930 Santa Monica earthquake.
Texas
Sinkholes: One Example out of Many
Several cases throughout the 20th century have demonstrated
how withdrawal of oil, gas and associated water from underground reservoirs
could lower the land elevation, and cause earthquakes, and activate faults. In 1980,
residents of the West Texas town of Wink awoke one morning to find a 370-foot
wide, 110-foot deep sinkhole a couple of miles north of downtown. Geologists
suspect the sinkhole formed as a result of oil extraction in the area whereby
extractors pumped saltwater out from underneath the surface and left a large void
that the above layer of earth eventually collapsed into. A second, even bigger
sinkhole opened up nearby in 2002.
No matter which way you look at it, extracting water or oil from underground
reserves will alter the porosity of rock formations, the underlying pressure,
and cause chunks of land to become displaced, collapse, or activate faults,
resulting in temblors and larger-sized earthquakes over time. It is a dangerous
practice. This, along with injecting rock-dissolving chemicals and water at
high pressure, will cause rock formations to fracture, creating new faults, or
igniting already present faults. And when all this added pressure does release,
it causes temblors and earthquakes.
Offshore Oil Drilling near Tectonic
Plates and Earthquakes
Can you guess what happens when you start drilling for oil out in the ocean,
near seismicially active subduction zones and ocean trenches? You guessed it
... more earthquakes.
Since the start of offshore oil drilling just around the
early 1900s up until now, there have been more than 10,000 “strong”
earthquakes—with magnitudes of 6 or greater—around the world, according to the
U.S. Geological Survey.
Between 2004 and 2014, 18 earthquakes with magnitudes of 8.0
or more rattled subduction zones around the globe. That's an increase of 265
percent over the average rate of the previous century, which saw 71 great
quakes, according to a report to the annual meeting of the Geological Society
of America this week in Vancouver, British Columbia.
When you look at the charts, you see earthquake frequency increasing,
along with oil production and offshore drilling – imagine how much disturbance
and pressure changes we are causing in oceans and deep underground, as we suck
out all those reserves of oil, and inject the ground with wastewater and
rock-dissolving toxic chemicals. The whole tectonically-active coast of Peru
and Chile has been getting drilled for oil and gas offshore, especially in the
recent 10 years. What makes this worse is that many oil and gas reserves are
located close to faults, and that is where much of the oil and gas extraction is taking place –
setting off more earthquakes … And it’s
only getting worse folks …
The whole coast of Peru, Equator, and Chile is has been zoned for oil and gas
extraction, right along active tectonic plate boundaries and it is full of
active oceanic faults. This western coast of South America is full of offshore
drilling sites, which have been increasing activity over the past 10 years. You
can just guess what that means for earthquakes …
Keep in mind that no drilling site is never fully leak-proof, and there will
always be unknown incidents of ocean contamination, killing off marine life. If
we look around the world and see how many fish, whales, and other sea-life are
washing up ashore DEAD in the thousands, it makes you question offshore
drilling. These toxic chemicals that are being released from deep underground
should stay underground. They are wrecking havoc on land and in our oceans. Can
you imagine what our beautiful beaches and oceans will become in the next 30
years?
One sign for us is the BP oil spill disaster - an oil spill that has been
quietly leaking millions of barrels into the Gulf of Mexico has gone unplugged
for so long that it now verges on becoming one of the worst offshore disasters
in U.S. history. Between 300 and 700 barrels of oil per day have been spewing
from a site 12 miles off the Louisiana coast since 2004.
Another problem is the abandoning of wells. When you break large holes into
areas of pressurized ocean crust, you to deal with the problem of patching it
back up. More than 27,000 abandoned oil and gas wells lurk in the hard rock
beneath the Gulf of Mexico, an environmental minefield that has been ignored
for decades. No one -- not industry, not government -- is checking to see if
they are leaking, an Associated Press investigation shows.
The oldest of these wells were abandoned in the late 1940s,
raising the prospect that many deteriorating sealing jobs are already failing.
There's ample reason for worry about all permanently and temporarily abandoned
wells -- history shows that they often leak. Wells are sealed underwater much
as they are on land. And wells on land and in water face similar risk of
failure. Plus, records reviewed by the AP show that offshore wells have failed.
Deepsea
Mining
Experts predict that removing a sizeable portion of the
seafloor could cause a major disturbance. Deep-sea mining may release toxic
plumes of sediment from mining machinery, degrading or killing the seabed's
filter-feeding organisms vital to the vent food chain. Deep-sea mining can reopen naturally closed vents and
release sulfur and methane compounds toxic to surrounding ecosystems. Some
predict the mining could cause sub
oceanic landslides, while others fear the equipment will produce enough
noise and vibration in the floor-to-surface water column to disrupt the lives
of marine mammals that live there. As conservationist Charles Clover said,
"The potential for conflict between commerce and conservation is huge."
Fracking the Amazon
Look at the oil spilled in the world's 2nd 'Best Place for Wildlife'
Since 2016, more than 20,000 barrels of petroleum have spilled from the
critical Peruvian oil pipeline, and 5,600 barrels have sprung leaks because of corrosion
or operative failures ... this is only reported incidents.
Well over half of the Peruvian Amazon is Leased for Petroleum
Development. “These include American companies Occidental, ConocoPhillips,
Barrett, Harken, Hunt, and Amareda Hess.” In addition, Pluspetrol of Argentina,
Petrobras of Brazil, Repsol of Spain, Petrolifera of Canada, and Sipet and CNPC
of China are all operating multiple concessions. Most new oil concession
contracts establish a seven year exploration phase consisting of seismic
studies and the drilling of several exploratory wells in remote jungle areas.
The hydrocarbon industry's push into the Tropical Andes and Amazon, along with
oil spills and environmental damage, is something that that is rarely mentioned
in the media. Media attention has turned on crop, logging and cattle threats to
the Brazilian Amazon. But recent oil and gas finds are turning the eastern
slopes of the Andes Mountains and the adjacent Amazonian lowlands of Colombia,
Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia into a hydrocarbon hotspot.
In Peru and Ecuador, where biodiversity levels peak and activists say Big Oil
has penetrated public institutions, the problem is especially concerning: Over
half of Peru's pristine rainforests are now being explored for oil and gas, and
they are not alone, as other countries nearby are experiencing the same
problems.
Look at the oil spilled in the world's 2nd 'Best Place for Wildlife'. Decades
of exploration and exploitation has led to severe contamination in the Pacaya
Samiria National Reserve in Peru’s Amazon. “Pacaya-Samiria”, as it’s dubbed,
extends for just over two million hectares and is the second largest of Peru’s
170 “protected natural areas.” “Located near the Amazon headwaters in Peru,”
“the reserve is home to some of the biggest wildlife populations in the
Amazon.” Pacaya-Samiria is “by far the largest fisheries reproduction area in
western Amazonia”.
However, don’t be misled by Pacaya-Samiria’s “protected natural area” status.
Oil companies have been there for decades, and have now actively been fracking.
Major operations are in the north-central part of the reserve which forms part
of a concession called Lot 8, one of the top four most productive oil
concessions in the country. In the 1970s, it was Peru’s own Petroperu working
there, but since 1996 it has been Pluspetrol, initially leading a consortium
but since 2003 partnered by the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). Lot
8 is known to produce more than 5,000 barrels of crude oil per day. 1 barrel of
oil is about 160 L. 5000 barrels is nearly 800,000 L per day. Back in April,
2019, at Lot 8, 200 demonstrators attacked Pluspetrol's oil operation.
Roughly 10 years ago, Lot 164 and 154 on the outskirts of the southern side of
Pacaya Samiria was purchased by Talisman from the government to conduct oil and
gas operations. Currently, Talisman owns Lot 103, to the south west; and Gran
Tierra owns lot 95 to the south east.
Pluspetrol also operates in the Marañón basin, in the
Peruvian Amazon, Lote 1AB in Andoas and Lote 8, where the largest oil
production in Peru is located, which represents a formidable logistical
challenge due to its remote and semi-isolated location. It can only be reached
by plane to Alfredo Bauer Airport, a small regional airport or by barge sailing
the Amazonian rivers
In 2013, following the establishment of a government
Cross-sector Commission the year before, several ministries entered
Pacaya-Samiria to test the water, soil and sediment as part of a wider
investigation of the Maranon basin and other rivers in Peru’s northern Amazon.
The results were released in January 2014 and led to the Environment Ministry
declaring 221,000 hectares of the Maranon basin - including most of the Lot 8
area in Pacaya-Samiria - to be an “environmental emergency” zone.
In November 2015 researchers from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, the
Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies, and the Erasmus
University Rotterdam released a report on contamination in Pacaya-Samiria.
Based on a survey of 73 technical reports by public and private institutions
analysing 420 water samples and 145 soil samples in the reserve, the report
found that concentrations of lead, arsenic, nickel and cadmium in the water
exceed legal limits, and also found evidence of contamination by TPHs and oils,
which are unregulated. In addition, it found levels of TPHs, barium and lead in
the soil exceeding legal limits - with the worst-hit zones near the centre of
oil operations in the reserve, called “Bateria 3”, and along the pipeline
running north to the River Maranon.
The researchers stated that in recent years Pluspetrol began
to “reinject” its toxic production waters into the ground rather than dumping
them into the reserve’s rivers, but claimed that “contamination connected to oil
activities” has continued.
In the North Peruvian province of Loreto is home to both the Peruvian Amazon
and 27 Indigenous tribes that have coexisted with and relied on the rainforest
for centuries. However in the seventies, whilst the world was watching the
Vietnam war, a small company called Apple was founded, and an ambitious new
film series set in a galaxy far away was released, oil extraction moved into
the Peruvian Amazon and grew to produce approximately 30% the Peruvian GDP.
Since then, several oil corporations have been active in the region, companies
such as OXY, Pluspetrol, China National Petroleum Corporation, and Petroperú,
all participating in a relay race of dirty legacies.
Conclusion
We mustn’t tolerate the dangerous and literally earth-shattering
effects of fracking any longer. The oil and gas industry has already shown its
willingness to put profits over the health and safety of the people living in
affected communities. And unless we stop fracking and keep fossil fuels in the
ground right now, cities around the world can count on
more environmental problems, less clean water, and likely worse, earthquakes.
 |
| If this fracking madness doesn't stop, pretty soon we'll be saying goodbye to our clean water reserves. |
“There’s been no doubt in my mind what’s causing these earthquakes,” “Sadly,
it’s really taken a long time for people to come around. Our lives are being
placed at risk. Our homes are being broken. Our forests are being destroyed, our water contaminated, and our land poisoned, all in the name of economy, petrodollars, and the World Bank – to feed oil and gas giants.
Sources:
