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Barnett Shale Quakes Likely Caused By Drilling Activity

Check out this post: http://capitolannex.com/2010/03/11/barnett-shale-quakes-likely-caused-by-drilling-activity/) For those following the ongoing saga in the Barnett Shale region of North Texas, you will likely recall some minor earthquakes in the past year or so that a lot of folks thought might be connected to drilling activity in the area. Wonder no more. Via Texas Sharon at Blue Daze, we learn that an SMU study indicates the quakes are likely caused by the drilling activity. From the Star-Telegram:

A team of university researchers has concluded there’s likely a link between a series of small earthquakes at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport and an injection well used to get rid of wastewater from natural gas drilling. Chesapeake Energy, which owns the injection well in question, disputed that conclusion. Researcher Brian Stump of SMU, one of four researchers who published a paper in the magazine Leading Edge, said that the injection well at the airport was a “plausible cause” of the earthquakes. The quakes started seven weeks after the well began operating in 2008 and stopped when the well was closed. The researchers couldn’t draw a conclusion about earthquakes that were felt in Cleburne around the same time; research there is ongoing. Stump said more research is vital: “We need, more broadly, an understanding of these kinds of events.” Chesapeake, however, “maintains that a direct, causal relationship between saltwater disposal wells and seismic activity in the DFW area has not been scientifically proven,” spokesman Brian Murnahan wrote in a statement. He declined to elaborate.

I can’t imagine that Chesapeake would come to any other conclusion. Nevertheless, the fact remains that the study adds more kindling to the political firestorm that has developed in the region over the last few election cycles. Without question, politicians on both sides of the aisle campaigning in the area will be called upon to address drilling issues in the Barnett Shale. Interestingly, this area could be developing into one with large clusters of single-issue voters willing to look at what politicians will—or won’t—do about these problems.