Bribery follows line of least resistance

Like brine injected in deep wells, corporate bribery of public officials follows the line of least resistance in Texas, where local ordinances against fracking were banned at the state level. It's easier to round 'em up and pay 'em off once you got 'em corralled up in the State House instead of spread out all over the countryside in them damn little municipalities.
And in Oklahoma, if Badlands were a betting organization we would say the half life of careers of professors who follow the well defined geological research path of noting relationships between injection wells and earthquakes will be short as oil-and-gas tycoons threaten academic administrators with the horrors of withdrawn funds. The coup de grace will probably be delivered by the football coach. -- blj

But this is not a fundamentally new discovery. For nearly a century, industry and academic researchers have recognized that human activities can and do sometimes trigger earthquakes.
Indeed, entire books – including many standard texts used in advanced petroleum geology, geomechanics, and petroleum engineering classes – are dedicated to understanding fault reactivation, rock mechanics, and the ways humans can facilitate these processes for the betterment of humanity.
 
Additionally, multiple studies and reports, including hundreds of peer-reviewed scientific studies – and independent studies conducted by the National Research Council of the United States National Academy of Science and Engineering – confirmthat the injection or removal of fluids can and indeed do trigger earthquakes.-- "Fracking Science: Why oil and gas extraction is causing earthquakes," RawStory, May 11, 2015

 
4-22-15
burntorangereport.com
Anti-Fracking Ban Passes As SMU links Fracking & Earthquakes
By Joe Deshotel 
http://www.burntorangereport.com/diary/30006/anti-fracking-ban-passes-as...
A week after Texas House passed HB 40, aka the “fracking ban ban,” or the “Denton fracking bill,” a team of seismologists led by SMU concluded that “gas field fluid injection and removal is most likely cause of 2013-14 earthquakes” in the Barnett Shale region.
Opposing HB 40 fits nicely into what had essentially become a local control platform adopted by progressive activists and many Democratic elected officials after a slew of GOP bills targeted municipal ordinances on a variety of issues like plastic bag bans, LGBT protections, and of course — oil and gas activity.
Many environmentalists and liberals presumed the Democrats would be in lockstep against the measure to limit local control, but were let down after it passed overwhelmingly with bipartisan support.
The initial bill’s detractors included the environmental community and the Texas Municipal League. TML’s concerns hinged on property values for homeowners, preemption of voter approved ordinances, and limits placed on cities’ ability to protect the health and safety of their residents.
TML represents over 1,100 Texas municipalities and noted it was not just large blue cities like Dallas, and ‘college towns’ like Denton that have passed regulations on oil and gas, but that 67 cities in just the Barnett Shale region have buffer zones up to 1,500 between residences and oil wells.
Ultimately, after a deal was struck that would insert language outlining what local jurisdictions could regulate (emergency response, light and noise pollution, traffic, surface drilling), TML stood down. When the bill came to the floor they took the position that any amendments would likely make it worse.
If there is a silver lining it is that the concept of local control is still very strong. The lone GOP vote against HB40 came from their Caucus Chair, Tan Parker. He represents Flower Mound which has its own ordinance, “My perspective is, personally, I support greater local control,” he said according to the Texas Tribune. “And that’s the reason why I supported Flower Mound and voted against the bill.”
The oil and gas industry reps behind the bill say it struck a “balance,” establishing the role of state regulators and enshrining municipal authority, but the true test will be if citizens are satisfied with the outcome and if the growing tensions between residents and industry subside.
Chris Watts, the Mayor of Denton who supported the process that led to a ban on fracking, also saw a bright spot, “In some ways, that’s a positive thing,” Watts said. “Otherwise, we’d be floundering around figuring out where we go from here.” He is hopeful that the Senate will accept the House’s improved version, but believes it will still have an impact on the Denton ban and possibly prompt more litigation.
The industry may have bought better legal standing, but the public relations challenge will persist as long as the canaries in the coal mine are dropping like flies.
While HB40 was improved to affirm a city’s ability to regulate things like light and noise pollution, the deafening silence over the earthquake problem could be a powerful political dynamic lurking beneath the surface. Tremors have been felt all the way in downtown Dallas, creating the potential for earthquakes to become an insurance nightmare.
Texas saw 57 earthquakes ranging from a 2.0 to 4.3 magnitude in 2013, up from 40 in 2012. And, prior to 2008, when SMU began studying earthquakes after one was felt at the DFW airport, a quake had not been felt in the region since 1950. As long as the drilling continues near densely populated areas and cities sprawl into traditional drilling territory the phenomenon is likely to grow as a concern.
So far, that hasn’t prompted Texans to start buying earthquake insurance, which can be expensive and hard to find, Mark Hanna told the San Antonio Express News. The story is different Oklahoma where recent tremors have caused one insurance agent to see a spike in earthquake insurance go from 1% in 2011 to 40% of the homes he insures in 2014. The same Time Magazine article on Oklahoma’s booming earthquake insurance industry reported that on Nov. 6th the largest magnitude earthquake in Oklahoma history hit destroying 14 homes and injuring 2 people. It concluded that attributing damage to any one seismic event is as hard as attributing to a single weather event to climate change, but that because the oil and gas industry showed no signs of slowing down, that neither would the budding industry to give reprieve to homeowners against its effects.
Amberlee Darold, a seismologist with the Oklahoma Geological Survey, told Time, “It’s known that fracking can cause earthquakes and has caused earthquakes,” but Texas’ official seismologist has “no plans for immediate action” regarding the SMU report. Unfortunately, the state doesn’t have a great track record of rigorously holding industry accountable. After one man’s well water had been so contaminated with methane that he could set it on fire, the Texas Railroad Commission rejected his claim that it was a result of oil and gas activity and closed their own investigation. A few months later the LA Times reported on a study that linked well contamination and drilling activity with a headline that read, “natural gas production contaminated drinking water in Texas.”
Those elected to protect the public trust now have more evidence than they need to strike a real balance between our increased energy production and our quality of life. Someone has to, and it doesn’t seem like the Texas Railroad Commission is prepared to do that anymore than their name would suggest.
 

 
 
 
5-16-15
alternnet.org
Oklahoma Oil Billionaire Demanded University Fire Scientists Studying Dangers of Fracking
Continental Resources CEO Harold Hamm approached a dean at the school.
By Tom Boggioni / Raw Story
·    http://www.alternet.org/fracking/oklahoma-oil-billionaire-demanded-unive...
 
A billionaire oil tycoon, who is a major donor to the University of Oklahoma, approached a dean at the school demanding that the university fire scientists who were studying the link between fracking and the increase of earthquakes in the oil-rich state.
According to Bloomberg Business, Continental Resources CEO Harold Hamm met with Larry Grillot, dean of the university’s Mewbourne College of Earth and Energy, in 2014 and expressed his dismay with work being done on the school’s Oklahoma Geological Survey.
“Mr. Hamm is very upset at some of the earthquake reporting to the point that he would like to see select OGS staff dismissed,” Grillot wrote to Dammy Hilliard, University Vice President for External Relations and Planning.
In the email, Grillot noted that Hamm had made a veiled threat to the university, telling the dean, “he would be visiting with Governor [Mary] Fallin on the topic of moving the OGS out of the University of Oklahoma.”
In a later email to Grillot, Hamm expressed an interest in volunteering to serve on the search committee seeking new members of the OGS, saying the committee should include a member from the oil and gas industry.
Asked about the series of emails by Energy wire, Hamm dismissed the notion he was putting pressure on the university, saying, “I’m very approachable, and don’t think I’m intimidating. I don’t try to push anybody around.”
Hamm’s meeting with Grillot resulted in no apparent changes with the OGS, with the dean stating that the university politely declined his offer of help in overseeing the scientists working on the survey.
In 2012 Hamm served as an adviser on energy policy on Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign.