{"id":32137,"date":"2018-03-09T14:29:11","date_gmt":"2018-03-09T19:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=32137"},"modified":"2018-03-09T14:29:21","modified_gmt":"2018-03-09T19:29:21","slug":"spooked-by-quakes-oklahoma-toughens-fracking-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=32137","title":{"rendered":"Spooked by Quakes, Oklahoma Toughens Fracking Rules"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"article__header\" data-dev-object-descrip=\"organisms\/article\/article__header\" data-dev-status=\"IN-PROGRESS\">\n<div class=\"container-fluid\">\n<h3 data-bind=\"title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thetyee.ca\/News\/2018\/03\/09\/Oklahoma-Toughens-Fracking-Rules\/\">Spooked by Quakes, Oklahoma Toughens Fracking Rules<\/a><\/h3>\n<p data-bind=\"teaser\"><strong>Canadian regulators stick with less stringent regulations despite growing risks from mega-fracking.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<section class=\"featured-media\" data-dev-object-descrip=\"02-organisms\/article\/featured-media\">\n<div class=\"container-fluid\">\n<figure class=\"figure \" data-dev-object-descrip=\"01-molecules\/blocks\/figure\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"responsive-img\" src=\"https:\/\/thetyee.ca\/News\/2018\/03\/08\/960x640xfracking-earthquakes.jpg.pagespeed.ic.yCkk3KOfLE.jpg\" srcset=\"\/News\/2018\/03\/08\/xfracking-earthquakes.jpg.pagespeed.ic.1pzusdYVjK.jpg 1.5x\" alt=\"fracking-earthquakes.jpg\" width=\"960\" height=\"640\" \/><figcaption class=\"caption\">Across North America, fracking-caused earthquakes have led to public concern and protests. <span class=\"caption__media--credit\">Photo by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/progressohio\/\" target=\"_Blank\">ProgressOhio<\/a>, Creative Commons licensed.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<article class=\"article__body main-col-container\" data-dev-object-descrip=\"organisms\/article\/article__body\" data-dev-status=\"IN-PROGRESS\">\n<div class=\"container-fluid clearfix \">\n<p>After swarms of earthquakes caused by hydraulic fracturing, Oklahoma has introduced tougher regulations than those used by any Canadian energy regulator.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"aside hide-on-narrow-vp\" data-dev-object-descrip=\"01-molecules\/blocks\/aside\" data-dev-status=\"IN-PROGRESS\"><\/aside>\n<p>Last month the Oklahoma Corporation Commission ordered all drillers to deploy seismic arrays to detect ground motion within five kilometres of hydraulic fracturing operations over a 39,000-square-kilometre area in the centre of the state.<\/p>\n<p>The commission, which regulates the industry, also lowered the minimum level of earthquakes at which operators must change practices from the current 2.5 magnitude to 2.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, frackers must suspend their operations immediately for up to six hours after causing a 2.5 magnitude earthquake which can be felt at the surface.<\/p>\n<p>The commission created the new <a href=\"https:\/\/earthquakes.ok.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/02-27-18-PROTOCOL.pdf\" target=\"_Blank\">earthquake protocol<\/a> after hydraulic fracturing operations set off more than 70 earthquakes of at least 2.5 magnitude since 2016.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"aside \" data-dev-object-descrip=\"01-molecules\/blocks\/aside\" data-dev-status=\"IN-PROGRESS\">\n<section class=\"messaging-block messaging-block--ask\" data-dev-object-descrip=\"01-molecules\/blocks\/messaging-block--ask\" data-dev-status=\"IN-PROGRESS\"><\/section>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Canada\u2019s energy regulators only make companies stop operations if they cause a magnitude 4 earthquake.<\/p>\n<p>The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER), for example,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aer.ca\/rules-and-regulations\/bulletins\/bulletin-2015-07\" target=\"_Blank\">doesn\u2019t shut down<\/a> an operation until it causes a magnitude 4 event. Even then the halt is temporary.<\/p>\n<p>British Columbia\u2019s Oil and Gas Commission requires operators \u201cto immediately report\u201d seismic events greater than magnitude 4 or unusual ground motion experienced by people within three kilometres of their operations.<\/p>\n<p>In an attempt to reduce <a href=\"http:\/\/occeweb.com\/News\/2018\/03-05-18EARTHQUAKEACTIONSUMMARY.pdf\" target=\"_Blank\">seismic activity<\/a>, once thought to be solely caused by waste water injection, Oklahoma shut down wells and ordered the reduction of fluid volumes in 700 waste water disposal wells by 800,000 barrels per day between 2014 and 2015.<\/p>\n<p>They also stipulated that if a waste water injection site triggered a 3.5 magnitude quake, it had to shut down operations.<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;click on the above link to read the rest of the article&#8230;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Spooked by Quakes, Oklahoma Toughens Fracking Rules Canadian regulators stick with less stringent regulations despite growing risks from mega-fracking. Across North America, fracking-caused earthquakes have led to public concern and protests. Photo by ProgressOhio, Creative Commons licensed. After swarms of earthquakes caused by hydraulic fracturing, Oklahoma has introduced tougher regulations than those used by any [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[5549,103,331,19191,19192,2826,5499,827],"class_list":["post-32137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-energy-2","category-environment","tag-andrew-nikiforuk","tag-canada","tag-fracking","tag-fracking-rules","tag-mega-fracking","tag-oklahoma","tag-the-tyee","tag-united-states"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32137"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32139,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32137\/revisions\/32139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}