weekly newspaper.
Swimming against a global tide to ban fracking outright, the government has published new proposals to safeguard South Africa’s declining water resources through “controlled” fracking – while simultaneously leaving the door wide open for oil and gas corporations to blast vast quantities of water underground to extract fossil fuels.
The new plans by Water Affairs Minister Lindiwe Sisulu propose a 5km buffer zone to separate fracking operations from strategic water resources, wells and dams, along with a ban on certain toxic fracking fluids.
Fracking – or hydraulic fracturing – is a water-intensive technology pioneered in the United States and Canada to get access to declining reserves of fossil fuels by injecting a high-pressure cocktail of water, sand and chemicals deep underground to smash apart underground rock formations, raising major concerns about the pollution of surface and underground water supplies – and increasing the likelihood of earth
People in eastern Oklahoma felt a whole lot of shaking over the weekend, with the U.S. Geological Survey reporting nearly two dozen earthquakes near Quinton since Friday. Seventeen seismic events, earthquakes in a 24-hour period, said Matt Skinner, spokesperson for the Oklahoma Corporation Commission.Skinner said based on data from the Oklahoma Geological Survey, there have been 22 quakes of a magnitude two or greater in the eastern part of the state since Friday. The largest being slightly over a three in magnitude, and most fell into the two to two-plus range magnitude, he said.Skinner said the recent activity has been very unusual and that one of the main driving factors of induced frequency has been injection disposal into the Arbuckle formation. A great many Arbuckle wells have either been modified in their operation or shut down, he said.According to Skinner, their research team is working with the OGS to determine where the quakes actually occurred and why. That r
1921 Tulsa Race Massacre: Exhumation of mass grave expected to begin in June localnews8.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from localnews8.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Northern Oklahoma Rattled by Small Earthquakes February 7, 2021
A series of small earthquakes believed by seismologists to be caused by the underground injection of wastewater from oil and gas production continued to rattle northern Oklahoma on Feb. 6.
Four quakes occurred Saturday morning, the strongest being magnitude 3.3 about 4 a.m., southeast of Enid in an area about 85 miles-100 miles (137-161 kilometers) north of Oklahoma City.
Nearly two dozen quakes have been recorded in the area since Friday, Feb., 5 by the Oklahoma Geological Survey with the most powerful being magnitude 4.2.
No injuries or damage have been reported and geologists say damage is not likely in earthquakes below magnitude 4.0.
COVINGTON The Oklahoma Corporation Commission’s induced seismicity department directed operators of five saltwater disposal wells near a 4.2-magnitude earthquake that happened Friday near here to cease operating those wells.
The agency also issued a directive requiring operators of 10 additional disposal wells within the general area to reduce their operational volumes, for now.
The shut-in wells are within three miles of the earthquake’s epicenter, which was located south of Covington in southeastern Garfield County.
Wells where operators were required to reduce volumes to no more than 50% of each well’s most recent 30-day volume are located within 10 miles of the temblor’s location.
The 4.