Magnitude 5.8 Earthquake (9/2/16)

Several new earthquakes rattle Oklahoma

Recent Quakes Could Signal Larger Event(s)

From an Article of the Associated Press, September 8, 2016

Oklahoma City, OK (AP) — Two earthquakes this year in Oklahoma greater than magnitude 5.0 — including a record-setting quake last weekend that damaged more than a dozen buildings — are expected to increase the likelihood of a more violent quake in the future, a top earthquake researcher said Wednesday.

The earthquake centered in northeast Oklahoma on Saturday was upgraded to magnitude 5.8 by the U.S. Geological Survey on Wednesday, making it the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in the state. It was the second earthquake exceeding magnitude 5.0 recorded in Oklahoma this year, which likely will increase the chances of a more powerful quake to come, said USGS geophysicist Daniel McNamara.

“You’ve had two 5s this year, which means a lot more energy,” McNamara said during a break in a seismicity workshop in Norman that attracted some of the top earthquake researchers from across the country.

A 5.1-magnitude quake was reported in February near the town of Fairview in northwest Oklahoma. 

The previous strongest recorded quake in Oklahoma was a 5.6-magnitude temblor in 2011, which also was upgraded Wednesday to a 5.7-magnitude quake. The revisions were based on further analysis of recordings of seismic activity, the USGS said in a statement.

One man suffered a minor head injury in Saturday’s quake when part of a fireplace fell on him, and emergency management officials said there have been reports of damage to more than a dozen buildings.

The uptick in earthquakes in Oklahoma over the last five years has been linked to the high-pressure injection of oil and gas wastewater deep underground, although researchers say it’s too early to tell what may have caused Saturday’s quake, which was located much further east than most of the previous quakes in Oklahoma.

“I’m a little surprised to see a really large earthquake really on the fringes of our earthquake area of interest,” said Jeremy Boak, the director of the Oklahoma Geological Survey. “It could be a natural earthquake. It could be some (injection) wells nearby. It could be the regional pattern of injection.”

Another possibility, Boak said, is that a pulse of high water pressure deep underground has slowly moved eastward, until it hit a natural “fault that was cued up and ready and had enough seismic energy that once triggered, it really let go of the big one.”

As a result of the increase in seismic activity in Oklahoma, state oil and gas regulators have ordered hundreds of disposal wells to either shut down or reduce the amount of wastewater they are injecting. About 54 wells in a 725-square-mile area near Saturday’s quake were ordered shut down by state and federal regulators. 

In early 2015, state regulators said the amount of disposed wastewater was decreased by about 800,000 barrels a day, a roughly 25 percent decrease from 2014 levels. Boak said the reduction in wastewater disposal appears to be producing the desired effect, dropping the number of quakes 3.0 and larger from 907 in 2015 to 472 this year through September 4th.

Still, both Boak and McNamara said the possibility exists that a quake as large as 6.0 could rattle Oklahoma sometime in the future.

“That’s what we worry about,” McNamara said. “There are definitely faults in Oklahoma big enough to produce that size of a rupture.”

See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net

Investors pressure oil companies to disclose climate change risk

From an Article by David Katz, Preserve the Beartooth Front, April 21, 2015

The request was made in a 10-page letter to Mary Jo White, head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and signed by 62 institutional investors from the United States and Europe. The letter cites a lack of disclosure of “carbon asset risks” in SEC filings by oil and gas companies. The signers contend that these risks constitute “known trends,” which are required to be reported according to SEC rules.

The group argues that carbon assets could become “uneconomic” if climate-related trends permanently undercut prices and demand for fossil fuels.

From the letter:

The economics of the oil and gas industry are changing rapidly as exploration and production costs increase. As conventional oil and gas reserves decline, companies have been forced to increase investments in high cost, carbon intensive “unconventional” exploration projects.

Since 2005, annual upstream investment for oil has increased by 100%, from $220 billion in 2005 to $440 billion in 2012, while crude oil supply has only increased 3%. In 2014 the global oil industry spent $650 billion on exploration and development of new reserves, which is producing diminishing marginal returns in terms of new reserves being added.

Thus, the industry is investing more money to produce less oil and has become less profitable in recent years.

The Carbon Tracker Initiative (CTI) estimates oil and gas  companies are likely to spend approximately $1.1 trillion in capex (capital expenditures) from 2014 – 2025 on high cost, carbon-intensive exploration projects that require at least an $80 break-even price.

Due to recent low oil prices, we have seen oil majors cancel or delay billions of dollars worth of projects, and nearly $1 trillion of projects face the risk of cancellation.

BP shareholders pass legally binding disclosure resolution

The letter came a day after 98% of BP shareholders passed a resolution requiring the company to begin reporting on “ongoing operational emissions management; asset portfolio resilience to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA’s) scenarios; low-carbon energy research and development (R&D) and investment strategies; relevant strategic key performance indicators (KPIs) and executive incentives; and public policy positions relating to climate change.”

What is unusual about the resolution for BP, a UK-based corporation, is that it is legally binding under British law. Shareholders have often asked US corporations to disclose similar information, and several requests are included in resolutions to be considered at annual meetings in the near future. But in the US these resolutions are not binding, and corporations do everything they can to avoid them.

A growing movement

The movement for disclosure is now growing rapidly. Last April we wrote about a group of investors who published a report called Disclosing the Facts: Transparency and Risk in Hydraulic Fracturing Operations that documented the lack of transparency of oil and gas companies with regard to the impact of their operations on the environment.

It’s unclear how the SEC will respond to the letters, or how quickly it might act if it agrees that more disclosure is warranted.” The SEC could act quickly here if it wanted to,” said Jim Coburn of Ceres, an advocacy organization for sustainable environmental leadership. “We would love the SEC to really embrace the concept of climate risk, and to acknowledge that, apart from what happens in Paris [on a climate treaty], there’s a trend toward low-carbon economies that’s picking up speed.”

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Here’s a link to the 2013 report that was published by Richard Liroff’s group at Investors Environmental Health Network……

“Disclosing the Facts: The Transparency and Risks of the Hydraulic Fracturing Operations

http://disclosingthefacts.org/report/DisclosingTheFacts_2013.pdf

Some information and pictures are from the WV Host Farms Program, i.e. pages 15, 22, 25, 26, 27, 30.  Some other photos are from Ed Wade /Wetzel Co. Action Group, EcoWatch, Earthworks, etc.

Newspaper president’s ties to gas industry undermine claims of ‘credibility’

By Michael M. Barrick, Appalachian Chronicle, March 3, 2015

“Good ol’ boys down at the bar
Peanuts and politics
They think they know it all
They don’t know much of nothin’
Even if one of ‘em was to read a newspaper, cover-to-cover
That ain’t what’s going on
Journalism dead and gone”
– “Frail Grasp on the Big Picture” by the Eagles, 2007

CLARKSBURG, W.Va. – Readers of “The Independent Voice of North Central West Virginia” – The Exponent Telegram – Clarksburg’s only newspaper, have only a frail grasp on the big picture, at least when it comes to understanding the implications of the natural gas boom in the region. That is because the newspaper’s president, Brian Jarvis, is also the president of Hydrocarbon Well Services, an oil and gas service company with 15 rigs, according to Jarvis’ LinkedIn site.

Also, according to his LinkedIn site, Jarvis is an attorney representing gas and oil interests, work he continues following a stint with Jackson Kelly PLLC, a leading gas industry law firm with five offices in West Virginia – including Clarksburg – as well as five other states and Washington, D.C. Jarvis worked there for more than three years, from September 2008 – January 2012.

According to his LinkedIn site, Jarvis, as president of Clarksburg Publishing, “Oversee(s) publishing The Exponent Telegram, Bridgeport News, Preston News, Preston Journal, NCWV Real Estate, NCWV Life Magazine, MYNCWV.com, and several other multimedia products.”

Clearly, these business interests of Jarvis call into question the newspaper’s independence when covering the gas industry. Indeed, in late January, approximately 10 environmental leaders met with an official with the newspaper to challenge the newspaper to provide more comprehensive coverage of the gas industry. Ironically, on the day of the visit, a gas line explosion that had occurred the day before in Brooke County, W.Va. got no mention in the newspaper.

This is not surprising though, as the newspaper closed out 2014 with a tribute to the gas industry. In its December 30, 2014 issue, the front page declared, “Marcellus Shale authors statewide success story.” In the article, the newspaper proclaimed, “The Exponent Telegram’sEditorial Board has named the Marcellus Shale development as the Success Story of the Year.” Additionally, in its lead editorial in the same edition, the newspaper uncritically adopted the energy industry’s assertions of its benefits, despite the overwhelming scientific evidence that the harm to public health and safety, as well as the environment, far outweighs any perceived benefit.

Nowhere in the article or the editorial did the newspaper disclose interests held by Jarvis in the gas and oil business. Of course, the newspaper also enjoys significant advertising revenues from gas industry giants such as Dominion Resources, Inc.

The newspaper has not remotely attempted to cast a critical eye on the gas industry, despite growing opposition to it within its sphere of influence. In fact, it barely disguises its glee at defeats experienced by those fighting the industry. In a February 10 headline over an AP story about landowners in Virginia battling Dominion over landowner rights, the headline declared, triumphantly, “Foes of proposed pipeline lose fight.”

In addition to not informing readers that its president also has holdings in the gas industry, the newspaper’s Assistant Managing Editor, Matt Harvey, used the February 9 editorial page to – ironically – talk about the newspaper’s credibility. He wrote, “But what never changes about journalism is what’s been the same dating back to the days of Ben Franklin’s ‘Poor Richard’s Almanack,’ and beyond: Credibility.”

He continued, “And if it not only gets facts wrongs (sic) but also twists them to fit its presentation, well, chances are it won’t last long.” He added, “Credibility also means being willing to examine all sides of an issue and dig deep to discover some of the hidden issues.”

One would presume that Harvey is referring to issues such as the hazards associated with the gas industry, such as site development and well pad activity, traffic congestion, water use and contamination, air pollution, waste disposal, public health issues, quality of life issues, misuse of eminent domain in pipeline development, climate change, potential earthquakes, and questionable claims of economic revitalization.

The newspaper has simply not covered those issues at all, let alone dug deep into them. Harvey concluded his editorial with a bit of a lecture, writing, “But anyone who thinks the Internet has put paid (sic) the old-fashioned basics of journalism should think again. Without who, what, when, where, how and why – and without watchdogs willing to follow the money trail – the freedoms Americans enjoy would be headed for an endangered species list.”

There could not be a more ironic statement from a representative of The Exponent Telegram. Because they are not being the watchdogs they claim to be, West Virginians are headed for the endangered species list.

The reading public deserves better. Jarvis should divest himself of all interests in – and income from – the gas industry. Until and if he does, the newspaper lacks all credibility, despite Harvey’s claims. The Eagles were right. Journalism is dead and gone – at least in print, in Clarksburg.

Source: Appalachian Preservation Project, LLC, 2015. The Appalachian Chronicle is a publication of the Appalachian Preservation Project. The Appalachian Preservation Project is a social enterprise committed to preserving and protecting Appalachia.

MONTANA: www.preservethebeartoothfront.com

Part 3. Reasons for resistance:  If citizens don’t do it, it won’t get done.

Original Article by S. Tom Bond, Retired Chemistry Professor and Resident Farmer, Lewis County, WV

Bear Tooth Front is a remarkably beautiful, pristine, low population density area in Montana, which has become among the first targets in that state.  Like so many other states Montana is gloriously independent, with officials ignorant of what is going on all over the nation, and soddenly unwilling to do the research to find out.  Like so many before, they simply listen to the nice fellow from the industry talking about all the money they will be making when the fracking fluid goes under ground.

Their newsletter of June 9, this year, describes the situation citizens find themselves in:

·       A Board of Oil and Gas Conservation that does the bidding of the industry because its voting members have a financial stake in its growth,

·       A tax structure that gives tax breaks to the industry and puts the burden of increased costs on local landowners,

·       A legal code that places mineral rights above surface rights, and allows property to be devalued without any input from landowners,

·       A willingness to allow precious water resources to be put in jeopardy without legal protections for those who use the water.

If not identical to other states these certainly have a resonance.

North Carolina is a state falling into the same frack pit right now. The title of a recent article published by Think Progress is “North Carolina To Lift Fracking Ban and Criminalize The Disclosure Of Fracking Chemicals.” The article goes on “They don’t address air pollution from fracking operations, and they allow the fracking wastewater to be stored in pits…”  and “By rushing to drill here, North Carolina leaders are putting our drinking water at risk and they’re putting our rivers at risk of pollution. What’s even worse, is that they’re doing so without guarantee that we’ll have rules in place that could even mitigate some of these risks.”

The magazine Mother Jones carries an article “North Carolina GOP Pushes Unprecedented Bill to Jail Anyone Who Discloses Fracking Chemicals.”  This is another case of high pressure salesmen-lobbyists meet glad-hand state politicians.  The narrative of shale drilling is passed from party of the first part to party of the second without question or literature research — after all, Pennsylvania and parts of West Virginia had this going on years ago.  Its not a foreign country, Tar Heels, and we don’t speak a foreign language.

Maryland is a shining example.  They alone of any state I know about, actually went to other states and studied shale drilling before writing laws.

At one time there was a question of why the industry was willing to have multiple rules, one for each state, concerning fracking, rather than one national rule.  (There are now 21 states with fracking.)  The reason now obvious beyond question: states lack resources to research what will happen, formulate rules to the best interest of all, and to enforce them.  The companies may have to put out more payola, grease, sweetener, gravy, bait, what ever you want to call it, for state rule, but it was a good investment, considering what they have acquired.

Second, more people are affected yearly.

There are currently 14,497 permitted unconventional gas wells in Pennsylvania located on 4,274 well-pads. Some 12,823 are horizontal wells, 8,231 are reported as active, and 5,080 have reported production values, according to MarcellusGas.org, as of the 23rd of May this year.

For the whole nation “15 million Americans now live within a mile of the hundreds of thousands that have been drilled since 2000.”  A lot of people!

Many people are indirectly affected.  Pipelines are being laid through areas that have no fracking.  Sand comes from Wisconsin and surrounding states.  The result of this is continuous damage for miles as well as silica pollution in the air.  Waste storage wells are often outside the drilled area.  River transportation of the huge amount of waste is controversial.  And they put a huge number of trucks on the road.  One well was drilled in Pennsylvania requiring 2,340 tanker loads of water, add to this all the other supplies, constant traffic of personal pickups, waste being hauled away, and support in the form of drill pad, road and pipeline to take the gas away, and much pipe for the well, all requiring heavy equipment and more trucks. Everything for this well was hauled in with diesel and operated with diesel.  This illustrates the demand for resources to frack.

A paper delivered at the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association’s 2013 AAEA & CAES Joint Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, August 4,  concerned the relations between land owners and the companies which drilled 680 wells on 481 landowners property in West Virginia. Amy Mall’s article on the report found these point most noteworthy:

More than half of the respondents–57.4%–reported problems. Some 73% of respondents with horizontal wells reported problems compared to 46.5% of respondents with only conventional or vertically fractured wells. The biggest overall complaint was damage to the land.

The average number of problems reported by respondents reporting at least one problem was 6! Common problems reported were declines in property values, truck traffic, lack of cooperation by the oil and gas company, inadequate compensation, and road damages. Some 60% of split estate surface owners are dissatisfied. And, 28% of surface/mineral owners are dissatisfied.  The report is here and Mall’s article about it is here.

Finally, sensational accidents.  These start with workers putting in excessive hours, far more than 12, sometimes as much as 20 or more. Sometimes they are driving trucks, going to sleep and driving off the road.  Sometimes they go to sleep driving home after work.  Then think about accidents on the drilling pad – mangled, broken, burned by chemicals and sometimes killed by fire.  Sometimes burned so badly there is nothing recognizable left.  Safety is left up to the companies, you know.  No OSHA or MSHA analogue to inspect the work place.  Only critical effects are recognized.  The men move around a lot, so chronic problems are being ignored like silicosis, effects on workers of air pollutants or chemicals that can be absorbed through the skin. If it doesn’t  “knock down” workers it will be ignored. If symptoms develop, the worker has no choice but to change to another job or go on the dole.

Then there are public accidents such as spills of chemicals that get into streams. A sensational train wreck occurred in Canada due to the volatile nature of shale drilled oil.  There are wells that shoot back the drilling compounds “because they hit a pocket of gas.”  Deep disposal wells cause earthquakes, and occasionally transmission pipelines break (or leak) and blow apart houses or start tremendous fires.

So the ante is going up yearly  — more shale drilling, and more opposition.  More money being invested, but more damage being done.  And, finally, some research is being done, too.  The investment community finally is becoming aware there is too much money going into the deep holes, given the huge costs of drilling, environmental damages, the spreading public health impacts, as well as continued over-production that can spoil the game.

The energy that the shale drilling industry provides is great at present, but the costs are greatly discounted, they will rapidly mount as the sweet spots are drained, and resistance is bound to grow.

To paraphrase Shakespeare’s Henry the Fourth, part 2 act 3, scene 1: “Uneasy lies the head that manages shale drilling.”  (King Henry says, in part in the original, “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.”)

See more details at www.preservethebeartoothfront.com

Dr. Steven Moffic: Physicians for Social Responsibility

Doctor: Climate Instability Shakes Mental Health

From the Allegheny Front (Environmental Radio), Pittsburgh, PA, August 1, 2014

For psychiatric doctor Steven Moffic, the health risks from climate instability and other abrupt environmental shifts include post-traumatic stress disorder, drug abuse, autism, and something called “solastalgia.”

“It’s sort of a corollary of nostalgia,” Moffic says.”But it’s this kind of environmental grief where where you live gets changed, against your will, obviously. You can’t leave, and you feel this sadness for what you’ve lost right in front of you…I think we’re seeing that in Appalachia now with the coal mining—mountaintop stripping, the same kind of thing.”

Moffic is a Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine & Family and Community Psychiatry at the Medical College of Wisconsin. He was in Pittsburgh this week to join the Physicians for Social Responsibility in supporting the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed rules for cutting emissions from coal-fired power plants. The EPA’s move is meant to curtail warming global temperatures.

And while many medical professionals have drawn connections between climate change and physical illnesses, research about mental health issues has not been as prominently reported.

“I think it’s because mental health gets short-shrifted in health care generally, so it gets short-shrifted when we talk about climate change, too. You know, we don’t have enough mental health care in the country,” Moffic says. “But I think the mental health risks of continuing climate change are probably even more extensive than health. They potentially affect so many people.”

Here are some of the studies that Moffic cites as “emerging climate change manifestations and their psychiatric implications.”

• Linear increase in violence, especially in warm climates and the inner city
• Increase in alcohol and substance abuse
• Increase in attempted and completed suicides
• Increase in heat strokes from psychiatric medication side effects
• Post-traumatic Stress Disorders and other disorders increase after environmental disasters, more so if those traumas are felt to be manmade
• Climate refugees with added loss and cultural bereavement
• Group conflict and competition for resources
• New syndrome of solastalgia
• Mental problems from mountaintop removal coal mining in central Appalachia

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About The Allegheny Front

The Allegheny Front is an award-winning public radio program covering environmental issues in Western Pennsylvania, airing on WESA in Pittsburgh and on stations throughout the region. The Allegheny Front began in 1991 in Pittsburgh. Named after the major southeast- or east-facing escarpment in the Allegheny Mountains, the program provides environmental news, events and interviews with people active in the local environmental community.