Oil Industry Triggers California Earthquakes

The oil industry must now admit that its actions could cause earthquakes in California. A study published by the American Geophysical Union this week found that a swarm of earthquakes that occurred in Kern County in 2005 was almost certainly caused by underground injection of wastewater from the state’s oil industry.

Earthquakes have long been linked to the injection of oil industry wastewater underground in other parts of the country–from Oklahoma to Ohio–but this is the first study to establish the connection in the Golden State where so many people already worry about the Big One.

The 2005 earthquake swarm occurred along the White Wolf fault at the southern end of Kern County. The peak of the earthquake activity documented in this study happened on Sept. 22, 2005, when there were three quakes, the biggest registering magnitude 4.6. The scientists calculated the odds of that happening naturally at just 3 percent.

Kern is the largest oil producing county in California. And it recently passed an ordinance that would greenlight decades of oil drilling, fracking, and underground wastewater injection without further environmental review. We’re challenging that ordinance in court because it allows activities we know threaten our water, air, wildlife, and health. Today’s study adds earthquakes to that list, providing further evidence that underground injection is dangerous and requires location-specific consideration.

Kern County, like most of California, is crisscrossed with fault lines. Most of California’s faults have never been mapped. Between 2001 and 2010, the rate of wastewater injection in this part of Kern increased, rising up to 100,000 cubic meters/month–that’s over 26.4 million gallons of water each month or 316.8 million gallons a year being injected underground. That amount is equivalent to the annual water use of 2,171 four-person family homes. Or, it’s enough water to fill 480 Olympic swimming pools. All that water put pressure on the White Wolf fault.

What’s scary is that induced earthquakes of this kind don’t necessarily happen right away or at the location of the well. As the study’s authors (T.H.W. Goebel et al.) explain, fluid injection “can change the local stress field potentially causing earthquakes at several kilometers distance, both immediately and months to years after peak injection.”

We’ve known for some time that underground injection risks contaminating our water. As NRDC Senior Scientist Briana Mordick has blogged about, California has improperly permitted thousands of injection wells to pump wastewater and other fluids into federally protected drinking water aquifers. Indeed, the Tejon Oil Field, where this study took place, contains four improperly permitted wells. One of those four is featured in this paper, and the operator of that injection well is seeking an exemption so it can keep pumping into the aquifer.

Now we know that injecting oil and gas wastewater underground risks earthquakes here too. The United States Geological Survey reports that the average rate of earthquakes in the central and eastern United States has increased from a long-time average of 21 per year to over 100 a year since 2010, with 188 in 2011. That increase is almost certainly linked to a rise in oil and gas activity.

We can’t allow Kern County to give a free pass to industry actions that we now know with near certainty can cause earthquakes in California.

NRDC

11 Comments on "Oil Industry Triggers California Earthquakes"

paulo1 on Sat, 6th Feb 2016 9:50 am 



Injection caused earthquakes are the least of their worries. From the subduction zone of the Cascadia plate butting up against NA in northern Caifornia, transverse faults underly the entire western half of the state. Major quakes are a certainty, anywhere and anytime, (and I’m not talking about plate rattling tremblers). While we left California almost 50 years ago, (I was a little kid), I have never forgotten our stash of earthquake supplies and first aid products. In addition to the ‘duck and cover’ drills, I remember in grade 2 walking home in groups as a civil defense exercise. Of course, that was the year Kennedy was shot.

Good time to sell and leave, imho. A big quake is inevitable, and that includes financial quakes as well as plate tectonics.

ghung on Sat, 6th Feb 2016 10:27 am 



Yikes, paulo, how vulnerable are you to tsunamis in your current location when the Cascadia subduction zone goes critical? Seems you’ve mentioned tidal effects in your river.

Apneaman on Sat, 6th Feb 2016 1:11 pm 



“Fukushima Class Disaster” – L.A. Gas Leak Spewing Lethal Levels Of Breathable Nuclear Material

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-05/fukushima-class-disaster-la-gas-leak-spewing-lethal-levels-breathable-nuclear-materi

twocats on Sat, 6th Feb 2016 4:17 pm 



hey apnea,

I saw that article and even drilled down on the sources and didn’t like what I saw. I’m not saying its not true, but try to google APRI or whatever the organization making the claims on the radiation…

Apneaman on Sat, 6th Feb 2016 5:32 pm 



twocats, it’s from zerohedge, wadda expect? I’m only surprised that they did not blame it on Keynesian economics and Obama too. Look at their mouth breathing regulars in the comments section. Christ, they make Boat and Planty look like a couple of Rhodes Scholars.

twocats on Sat, 6th Feb 2016 6:26 pm 



I’m only surprised that they did not blame it on Keynesian economics and Obama too… Christ, they make Boat and Planty look like a couple of Rhodes Scholars. [apneaman]

funniest things I’ve heard today, thanks Ap. Yep, their regulars are nearly all broken. Diehard lick-spittle capitalists, disgruntled discarded masses of fascist-bait. This entire financial class is a lost generation and you have to wonder if humanity could recover even if they solved the energy and climate issues (of which there is a 0.00000002% chance of that happening).

Also, gotta wonder how much Koch money is embedded in there.

makati1 on Sat, 6th Feb 2016 9:17 pm 



Earthquakes in Cali are like snow in Alaska. Forever. The “Big One” is long overdue. When it happens the US will never be the same. The food basket will be gone, along with most of the techie society. Hollywood, San Fran, etc. I only wonder how many of the 25 dormant volcanoes it will start up? Now wouldn’t that be a surprise. LOL.

paulo1 on Sat, 6th Feb 2016 9:24 pm 



Hi Ghung,

I am on the east coast of Vancouver Island, about 1/2 way up on Johnstone Strait. The Tsunami, a Tsunami would have to curl around the Island and move about 150 miles from either end to hit us. Meanwhile, its course would be broken up by islands, channels that change direction, and inlets that would also receive some of the flow and rising water. I suppose the water will back up and could increase in height, but I don’t really know. I live on a river that is still tidal where we are, approx 6 km from the beach. The valley is about 2 miles wide at this point. Our house is maybe 20 feet above sea level.

On the other hand, my best friend lives in Uclulet on the west coast. He lives on the 2nd floor of a 2 story condo right above the marina. He would have about 8 minutes warning from when the shaking stops to get to higher ground. I would imagine his building would be under water and wiped out. That is what the models show. The energy moves at about 700 mph, so we would have maybe 20-30 minutes…maybe a bit less. I haven’t seen any modelling for this part of the Island. However, Vancouver and Victoria would be in a world of hurt. Richmond, south of YVR is built on clay which turns to jello in an earthquake and is right at or below sea level depending on the tide. It is protected by dikes. (So was new Orleans, right?)

I am very worried about the big one that is overdue. I just read an awesome book entitled Cascadia’s Fault, and it was very sobering. We used to visit Oregon beaches every spring, but not anymore. What does concern me is the shaking as we have some 150’+ trees right beside our house. I am having a spruce and hemlock taken down by a climber,next week. The cedars are usually well rooted. The last earthquake we had I looked out and they were shaking around like toys. They are 3′ in diameter and could nail us big time.

PO preps are also very good preps for Earthquakes, by the way. I informed my wife yesterday we would make up some earthquake bags, much like bug out kits. This would ensure we have extra clothing as well as survival gear. We do have stores, supplies, and first aid stuff in outbuildings as well as in our house.

regards

GregT on Sun, 7th Feb 2016 1:21 am 



“The last earthquake we had I looked out and they were shaking around like toys.”

Which earthquake would that be paulo? How recent?

Kenz300 on Sun, 7th Feb 2016 10:44 am 



It is time to move away from fossil fuels………

Wind and solar are the future…..fossil fuels are the past……….

Climate Change is real…… utilities need to deal with the cause (fossil fuels)

100% electric transportation and 100% solar by 2030

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBkND76J91k

70 More Earthquakes Hit Oklahoma, Averaging Nearly Three a Day in 2015

http://ecowatch.com/2016/01/11/fracking-earthquakes-oklahoma/?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=1fd6621515-Top_News_1_11_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-1fd6621515-86023917

paulo1 on Sun, 7th Feb 2016 11:53 am 



Hi Greg

I think it was about 2 years ago? Just over 6 something northern Vancouver island. It shook enough I was thinking about getting out of the house, until I looked out and saw the trees. It was about 10:00 pm, because I had just gone to bed…I do remember that. My wife was shook up arh arh arh