The Largest Manmade Earthquake in History
by Steve Ralls
Communications Director
It’s now official. Seismologists have just announced that Saturday’s earthquake was the strongest ever felt in Oklahoma. The 5.6-magnitude quake struck early Saturday morning, rattling Pawnee, Oklahoma and the surrounding area. If this weekend’s quake is directly linked to fracking in the state – as we believe it will be – it will also go down in the record books as the largest manmade earthquake in history.
This is one of those cases where we hate being right.
Last year, when we filed our first-of-its-kind suit against oil and gas companies engaged in fracking across the state, we said this was coming. Here’s an excerpt from our November letter to those companies:
“the risk is not only that there are more frequent earthquakes; it is also that
those earthquakes have been, and will continue to be, more severe.”
And yet, oil and gas companies were allowed to keep fracking. It shouldn’t be this way.
Following Saturday’s quake, Oklahoma officials shut down 37 injection wells that were engaged in fracking. But that’s not good enough. The point – as our lawsuit makes clear – is to stop earthquakes before they happen, and not to just react after the damage is done. State officials must take decisive action – right now – to curb the seismic activity unleashed by fracking.
And we hope you’ll keep fighting with us. Ask your friends to join you in signing our petition demanding that oil and gas companies act now. And stay tuned for more information as our lawsuit moves forward in court.
With your help, we can protect America’s heartland.
