A UK fracking site has just seen its biggest earthquake yet

A fracking site at the centre of a growing storm has now recorded 17 earthquakes nearby in just eight days. But one recorded on Friday 26 October was the most powerful yet. And it’s prompted widespread outcry.

What the frack…???

As The Canary has been reporting, between Thursday 18 and Wednesday 24 October the British Geological Survey (BGS) recorded 11 tremors near to Cuadrilla’s Preston New Road fracking site in Lancashire. The strongest of these, on 24 October, measured 0.5 in magnitude. This is classed as a red event on the government’s “traffic light” system for seismic activity:

But since then, there have been another seven tremors. One was the strongest so far, with a magnitude of 0.8.

Serious questions

People have been asking questions on social media.

Many questioned BGS because the recorded strength of the tremors seems to change:

And originally, this was quickly screenshot by @im_silverfox as a 0.6 magnitude. Any answer for this, @BritGeoSurvey?

FYI @MrTopple pic.twitter.com/XYxcpTdfGe

— Lady_Claire 🍉 (@Lady_ClaireEU) October 25, 2018

The BGS said:

The event was still being analysed and the location and magnitude had not been finalised when the web page was updated resulting in incorrect information appearing on the web pages for a short period of time. The correct location and magnitude for this event have now been added.

— British Geological Survey (@BritGeoSurvey) October 25, 2018

People also asked it about Cuadrilla’s own monitoring:

Thanks. That’s interesting. So would this mean that the seismic monitoring Traffic Light System doesn’t operate in real time?

— Lady_Claire 🍉 (@Lady_ClaireEU) October 25, 2018

To which the BGS said:

It’s the responsibility of the operators themselves, not BGS, to carry out real-time seismic monitoring in order to comply with Traffic Light regulations. 1/3

— British Geological Survey (@BritGeoSurvey) October 25, 2018

But it also revealed:

We’ve deployed additional surface seismic sensors in the area to help provide an independent assessment of both the baseline levels of natural earthquake activity and any induced seismicity. 2/3

— British Geological Survey (@BritGeoSurvey) October 25, 2018

The Canary asked Cuadrilla for comment. It directed us to an online statement, which says it will pause fracking for 18 hours. But it will start again on Saturday 27 October.

“Most concerning”

But campaign group Frack Free Lancashire is increasingly concerned. It told The Canary:

The fact that these earth tremors are increasing in intensity is most concerning. The integrity of any pipe infrastructure underground is at risk following seismicity events. We’ve now had 17.

As previously theorised by geologists, Cuadrilla seem not to know what they are working with, in relation to major and minor geographical faults. Their ‘mis-mapping’, according to Professor David Smythe, is a ‘serious geographical error’ and once again, we find our community in the midst of this being forced upon them, having to live through Cuadrilla’s experimentation phase.

This is where we see that the fracking industry virtually gets to mark their own homework, and the promised ‘gold-standard, robust regulations’ – as regularly touted by ministers who have minimal understanding of the fracking process – actually turns out to be nothing more than a gold-plated sham.

Chaos

Preston New Road is becoming the eye of the storm over fracking. Cuadrilla has permission to drill the site for shale gas, which has pitted it against local people. In July, the government officially gave Cuadrilla the go-ahead to start extracting shale gas. But the decision drew more protests from locals. Then, a judge jailed three activists (whom another judge promptly freed). But after a court case, bad weather and protests stopped it, Cuadrilla finally began work on Monday 15 October. People met this with further protests.

With the increased frequency and intensity of earthquakes, local residents and campaigners will surely be even more certain that their opposition to this industry is correct. Be warned, Cuadrilla.

Get Involved!

– Support Frack Free Lancashire and Preston New Road Action Group.

– Read previous Canary articles on fracking.

Featured image via Clive Varley – Flickr and Cuadrilla – YouTube