The fracking process results in produce water so toxic it cannot be cleaned to put back into the water cycle. The practice of injecting it underground is a bad solution because it is proved to cause earthquakes and also scientists do not know the long-range consequences of possible harm the toxic water may do in the future.
At the moment there seems to be little risk of fracking in the Santa Fe River basin, but as long as there are oil drillers the possibility remains, as fracking has occurred in Florida.
Ten per cent is a small amount but a little progress is better than nothing.
Read the original article here at BNN Bloomburg.
Comments by OSFR historian Jim Tatum.
jim.tatum@oursantaferiver.org
– A river is like a life: once taken,
it cannot be brought back © Jim Tatum
Earthquakes in Texas Oil Country Are On the Decline After Crackdown on Shale Drillers
Bloomberg News
,(Bloomberg) — The frequency of earthquakes in West Texas declined in 2023 for the first time in at least half a decade after regulators cracked down on the practice of burying toxic wastewater from oil drilling.
The Texas section of the Permian Basin oil field recorded 194 quakes last year, a 10% drop from 2022’s record high, according to the Texas Seismological Network. The figures didn’t account for seismic activity in the New Mexico area of the Permian.
For decades, oil drillers have dealt with the huge quantities of wastewater that spew out of wells alongside crude by injecting it back into the ground. But as the shale sector expanded operations in the Permian region, so-called wastewater-injection sites multiplied, increasing stress along subterranean fault lines.
Texas regulators took the rare step of asking drillers to restrict oilfield activities in late 2021 by limiting the amount of wastewater disposed of underground.
Read More: Fracking Boom Turns Texas Into the Earthquake Capital of the U.S.
The Texas Seismological Network’s data tracked temblors with a magnitude of at least 3. Despite the declining frequency, a near-record quake shook the region in the early hours of Nov. 8. Shale drillers have sought to boost wastewater recycling as well as inject it in more-isolated locations.
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