The risk of triggering earthquakes is perhaps the most valid line of attack by the anti-fracking lobbies (and the media) against natural gas drilling. Yet it is not exactly overwhelming. Sure, fracking could, in theory, cause mild seismic activity. But, as always, context matters.
Last year, a number of very light earth tremors near gas drilling sites in the UK raised a new line of attack for environmental lobbyists.
These groups, while they’re sometimes shy in saying so outright, are in essence opposed to any and all extraction of fossil fuels, for any reason, by any means, ever. Instead, they either want energy technologies built by companies they favour and who keep failing despite being protected by liberal amounts of government, or they want humanity to stop using energy for productive purposes at all so we can all regress to some romanticised fiction of bucolic pre-modern idyll.
In particular, they’re opposed to a method for reaching natural gas reserves stored in deep layers of shale, known as hydraulic fracturing. This process involves drilling very deep wells, way past any water aquifers, which are protected by multiple layers of impermeable well sleeving. Once the gas-bearing shale layer is reached, horizontal shafts are drilled and 'fractured' using liquid under pressure. The gas that escapes from the rock can then be brought to the surface and piped to power stations or gas-to-liquids plants. South Africa has a potentially vast reserve under the Karoo, for which oil and gas companies are eager to explore.
A number of recent quakes in the US states of Ohio and Oklahoma, however, have led to headlines such as this: Fracked-off: Gas extraction 'causes quakes'.
Read more by clicking HERE.
- Daily Maverick
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