By Constitution Staff

As a geologist, and an engineer, it continues to astound, and offend, me when probably uninformed "journalists" with major news media continue to write "stories" where usually unnamed "scientists" are quoted about one subject or another. In most cases, it seems, there has been no attempt to contact "scientists" of an opposite opinion, or if done no quote is forthcoming. A number of such instances come to mind, such as opponents of the Keystone Pipeline crossing Nebraska, drilling off-shore, and the most wrongfully ballyhooed "global warming" now called "climate change," especially as being caused by mankind.

One such case surfaced recently in the daily paper in Tulsa. This one appeared in the issue of February 15 over a by-line by Seth Borenstein of the Associated Press. The headline proclaimed: "Study: Daily small quakes raise risk of "big one.'" The sub-headline stated: "Area just as likely to see serious quake as New Madrid." For those geologically uninformed there is a major fault in basement rocks that closely parallels the route of the Mississippi River. Historical records state that there was a very major earthquake on this fault in the first quarter of the nineteenth century (about 1810-30).

Because the area was sparsely populated and thus unbuilt, the personal property damage was not such as it would be today. However, printed stories state that the River even flowed backwards for a period of time. That is a major quake and there was probably visible dislocation at the ground surface, which has been covered by the passage of time. My eyes have not had the opportunity to visit the area to see for myself. It was named for the town of New Madrid (with accent on the first syllable, not like the Spanish city) in Missouri a few miles South of Cape Girardeau. This is just above the "boot heel" of MO where the River makes a sharp bend from Southeast flow to Southwest flow, following the fault line.

It appears to me that the "scientists" listened to by the writer are oriented to those who oppose the production of oil and gas and the frac treatments used to enhance the productivity of the wells. The existence of a worldwide movement having such opposition to such production with the goal of depopulation of the world by any means was brought to my attention when my now 52 year old youngest was a Weebalos Cub Scout.

It had been the practice of the Pack, 237, Lakewood, Colorado, to take that den on a camp out in the mountains before they turned 12 and went into a Scout Troop. It was required that each cub have a dad responsible for him present. After getting them bedded down for the night the dads were sitting around the campfire getting acquainted and one informed us that "his group" was determined to end oil and gas production. He went on to state that "his group" would go to any lengths to depopulate the world, including execution. At his turn, he stated that his occupation was a junior high school science teacher.

Back to the subject of the story. Several decades ago, while a "displaced Okie" living in and working from the Denver area, the area suddenly began to experience a series of small earthquakes. After a while of these, one of my RMAG colleagues came forth with the postulation that they were being set off by the injection of fluids from a Federal Government disposal well on the grounds of the Rocky Mountain Arsenal, just Northeast of Denver. The well had been drilled into the "basement" granite rocks to dispose of very toxic war chemicals produced during WW II. His opinion was loudly and widely laughed at by others in the geologic arena, while it did make some sense to me and deserved at least being considered. After some time it was decided to shut down the injection and guess what, the quakes ceased.

Now how does this apply to the quakes being experienced in central Oklahoma. Well the actual disposal well information has not been made available to me to examine, so their depth is not known. However, it would appear to me that the quakes are not being CAUSED by the injection, but it is possible that the injection of waters into the basement rocks could allow stress relief movement and allow the smaller quakes.

Assuming for discussion that to be a fact, it seems much more logical to have a number of small quakes to relieve the stress than wait until it builds up to the point of causing natural slippage, and a major, very destructive quake. The point being that the world is far bigger than puny mankind is able to control or prevent and it would be much better to allow the movement in small increments than wait until the "big one" resulted in massive destruction on a greater scale than the 1906 incident in San Francisco. Let's call it "preventative maintenance."

Robert W. McDowell, Jr.

Broken Arrow, OK