Energy Environmental Blog

Another Fail: Smithsonian Article on Earthquakes

Written by Greg Russell | Aug 11, 2012 3:17:45 PM

Smithsonian.com has an article misleadingly entitled, "‘Fracking’ for Natural Gas Is Linked With Earthquakes" - suggesting to the reader that the article will show how earthquakes have been tied to the process of hydraulic fracturing.  Not (as my daughter would say).  Rather, the study discussed in the article looks at the connection between recent, low level earthquakes and waste injection wells.  From the article itself:  "'You can’t prove that any one earthquake was caused by an injection well,' says Cliff Frohlich, the University of Texas geologist who conducted the study, 'but it’s obvious that wells are enhancing the probability that earthquakes will occur.'"  (Emphasis is ours.)

Don't tell the prosecutors in Bones ...