Fracking, Earthquakes, and Carbon Disposal – Providence Athenaeum Salon Discussion Co-Presented by FirstWorks

In conjunction with Cloud Eye Control’s performance of Half Life in November, FirstWorks and ecoRI News present a salon discussion with Terry E. Tullis (Brown University Professor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences Terry E. Tullis, Chair of the National Earthquake Prediction Evaluation Council).
While fracking has lowered current gas prices and made us less dependent on foreign oil, it has some negative consequences. Ground water can be contaminated, and a dramatic incidence of small earthquakes has resulted from the injection of waste fluids produced by fracking. For example, Oklahoma now has a rapid acceleration of earthquake occurrences and more earthquakes than California. We understand why these earthquakes are occurring from laboratory and field experiments. The potential for more, even larger man-induced earthquakes looms as the Department of Energy begins “carbon sequestration” – pumping carbon dioxide down disposal wells to attempt to reduce future climate change. Join us to discuss the potential effect of our present practices on our future. Cloud Eye Control is featured as part of FirstWorks’ Frontier series.