Natural gas prices are doing their best Alfred E. Newman impression this morning falling in light of news that the strongest earthquake on record in Oklahoma hit this weekend. The culprit? Obviously, gas drilling or actually the disposal of waste from gas drilling. For the past several years, seismic activity in areas of heavy drilling has gone from non-existant to relatively normal. There was a dry spell for several months but Saturday's whopper got some people's attention.
Many wells have been shut down until "more is known" which means until the news stories go away and they can be reopened. Soon people will forget about Saturday morning. But eventually, one of these tremors will shake more than a town of 2500 people. Are structures in these areas built to withstand such activity? I have no idea and I don't think many others do either.