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When the U.S. Geological Survey issued a rare earthquake advisory for Oklahoma in May, the debate began: Is fracking to blame?
After all, Oklahoma is a hotbed for fracking, and the number of earthquakes has intensified in recent years – to the point where there were more 3.0 or larger earthquakes in the first five months of this year (140-plus) than there were all of last year. A decade ago, there were fewer than five a year.
Man-made earthquakes are this week’s topic of Off The Grid Radio, and our guest is Art McGarr, a geophysicist at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Earthquake Science Center.
Science shows that a growing number of earthquakes indeed are man-made, McGarr says, and it’s not limited to Oklahoma. It’s also not limited to fracking.
McGarr also tells us:
- How man-made earthquakes occur.
- Whether humans could accidentally trigger the “big one.”
- What other states have experienced man-made quakes.
This is an issue that often divides conservatives and liberals, Republicans and Democrats. It’s also an issue that more and more politicians and Americans will have to confront if the current trend continues.
