>>Fracking is the new global warming for some of these leftist mutts.
That’s probably true; the enviro-nazi’s will grasp onto anything, especially if they can use it to halt oil and gas exploration.
HOWEVER, even if they’re right, and the exploration did CAUSE the quake(s), the oil company should be REWARDED for relieving the earth’s pent-up pressure early, before it did even greater damage naturally on its own.
If it can be proven that fracking causes the earth to release its natural tectonic pressure, we should be doing MUCH MORE of it, not LESS as the enviro-nazi’s would insist.
(Then, quakes would be more often, but smaller, and less damaging)
I actually thought about that myself.
If the quakes aren’t damaging, who cares?
Good point!
I remember back in the early 80s an instance of water injection associated with oil drilling causing small quakes. At that time I made the same conclusion as you, that if there was any way to lubricate the San Andreas fault, particularly if we learned to trigger the quake with an impulse (such as an underground nuke), then we should invest heavily in developing the technology. It would mean that we could batten down the hatches, stock up, locate everybody safely, and let it rip. It would be a huge boon to damage control efforts and would significantly reduce the risk to life and limb.
In 1985 I proposed it to the geology professor at Harvey Mudd College, as he had affiliates at CalTech who might take interest in such an idea. He thought it was crazy as nobody would want the liability for the operation. "Acts of God" that operate randomly and potentially kill thousands of people in precarious situations are so much more preferable you know. So I dropped it.
I hate what lawyers have done to this country.