USGS Confirms Waste-Water Injection Caused Quake

The US Geological Survey issued a press release on Thursday confirming the 5.7 earthquake that struck Prague, Oklahoma in 2011 was induced by human activity. Waste water injections from fracking and conventional oil operations pressured the fault and caused it to slip. According to the journal Geology, the explosion of domestic oil production in the central United States has led to an eleven-fold increase in the number of earthquakes occurring in previously tectonically silent areas including Arkansas, Texas, Ohio, and Colorado. The Prague quake followed waste water injection approximately 650 feet away from the Wilzetta fault zone.  All three tremors exhibited slip-strike motion at three different location along the 124 mile fault. Despite the confirmation of the effect, Oklahoma, a state dominated by the oil business, will continue to allow injections near the Wilzetta fault. Checked your home owners insurance lately?