3.4 MG earthquake in Irving area of Barnett Shale

by TXsharon on September 29, 2012

in earthquakes

According to the preliminary report, the quake area is marked with a gray circle on the map below.

Event Page

Industry will say fracking doesn’t cause earthquakes but that’s bull. See the FAQ section for more information on drilling induced earthquakes and note the Schlumberger study: Seismicity in the Oil Field.

I’m in Port Aransas and will drive home tomorrow through the Eagle Ford Shale Hell on earth.

Update: 2 Quakes tonight. One was 3.4M and one 3.1M

From my FAQ section on Earthquakes.

Does natural gas drilling cause earthquakes?

If you want to read more about drilling, fracking and earthquakes I have lots of posts under the Earthquake category.

You should take pictures of your foundation and walls and document the condition on a regular basis.

{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }

WCGasette September 30, 2012 at 12:33 am

Liveblogging the Saturday Night North TX earthquake:

Texas Stormchasers Liveblog

[...]
One Account:

Felt it at MacArthur and 161. Sounded like a big boom and the whole apartment shook. I ran outside and lots of neighbors were running out their front doors. I thought it was an explosion at the airport because of the sound! Freaked me out. We had a small aftershock a few minutes later.
[...]

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GhostBlogger September 30, 2012 at 1:47 am

At a depth of 3.1 miles, that’s within range of an disposal injection well triggering it.

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Alberta Neighbor September 30, 2012 at 2:21 am

US, Canada, UK, fracking doesn’t seem to discriminate, and to think they’re only just getting started.

In Canada, British Columbia officials recently reported 272 earthquakes from fracking since 2009. “The report said no quakes were recorded in the area prior to April 2009. It said all of the events began after fracking took place. The quakes happened within five kilometres of fracking operations and within 300 metres of the depth at which the rock was being fractured.” 38 of them registered between 2.2 and 3.8 on the Richter scale. I wonder what that does to well integrity, and an inch of cement?

In the UK “… In April last year, around Cuadrilla’s main Blackpool site, there was a tremor measuring magnitude 2.3 and in May one measuring magnitude 1.5. These tremors are enough to be felt but do not in themselves cause serious damage.

The report, titled Preese Hall Shale Gas Fracturing: Review and Recommendations for Induced Seismic Mitigation, concluded that both earthquakes were related to the drilling. The report also revealed another concern – instruments showed the second tremor had caused ‘deformation’ to the structure of the well.

This is of concern because if the integrity of a well is compromised, it could cause future problems with leakage and contamination, and raises longer term concerns about the design and viability of such wells, according to Mike Hill, an industry expert. He is worried that the monitoring of the cement casings for the fracking wells is inadequate, as officials have been unable to provide detailed information on their monitoring.”

I haven’t seen any publicly available info on any monitoring of the cement casings for all the BC quakes, if they’re even monitoring. Do you guys get public info on that in the US? Do you think anyone’s even monitoring?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/09/06/bc-fracking-earthquakes.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/apr/17/gas-fracking-gets-green-light?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487

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TXsharon September 30, 2012 at 8:06 am

Thank you for that information.

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Fish Creek Neighbor September 30, 2012 at 8:11 am

During a June 5, 2012 Arlington, TX City Council Meeting where Chesapeake was requesting another gas well permit in a residential neighborhood next door to a child care facility, an upstanding citizen of the community expressed her concerns about the tremors she has been feeling. You can listen to her speech here: http://westchestergasette.blogspot.com/2012/09/tremors.html

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TXsharon September 30, 2012 at 8:54 pm

People all over the different gas patches mention tremors. Today in the Eagle Ford Shale I spoke with a family who feels their home shake when they are fracking anywhere in the area. Now they have sinkholes forming all over their yard.

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alicia September 30, 2012 at 3:18 pm

we were asleep, and did not know it happened till this morning on fb, we are at 161 and
walnut Hill Ln.

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TXsharon September 30, 2012 at 8:55 pm

Have you checked your foundation and all your walls and ceiling? Let us know if you find any damage.

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Vickie December 13, 2012 at 12:04 pm

I felt an explosion under our house in October at about 4:30ish am and a small earthquake 1/2 sec. just a couple of weeks ago. Live in South Arlington(Eden Rd) and we have severe damage to our house and foundation. It has been gradual and insurance will not cover the foundation repair. How can we get help for this? Can the Drilling Company pay for the repairs.

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TXsharon December 13, 2012 at 12:13 pm

You would have to prove the damage was related to drilling. That is why I keep urging people to document the condition of their walls and foundation with dated pictures and video. If you can prove their caused the damage, you might have some recourse but it’s tough to prove. See this post http://www.texassharon.com/2012/12/08/experts-say-vibrations-from-fracking-cause-of-home-damage/

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Helen September 30, 2012 at 3:56 pm

We live a couple of hours’ drive away from Cuadrilla’s drilling activities in Lancashire, UK. The April quake that was caused by Cuadrilla’s drilling was felt & heard here, a weird unnatural shudder it was too. Subsequent reports confirmed that the drilling caused it. It’s ludicrous for one country to claim one thing whilst another states the opposite! What an unholy global mess.

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TXsharon September 30, 2012 at 8:56 pm

What’s even more ludicrous is for industry to write studies about earthquakes caused by fracking then deny fracking causes earthquakes.

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Anonymous September 30, 2012 at 5:19 pm

In Tx homeowner’s insurance doesn’t pay for damages caused by “earth movements”. Tis true!

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