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Two years ago, Ovintive, a multinational oil and gas company, announced that it would expand fracking to gas in a new place built on a hill about a kilometer from Richard Kabzems’ home in Farmington, BC

Standing in his living room, Richard Kabzems burns a thick binder filled with letters and notes from his two-year battle to stop fracking wells nearby for gas in a new place built on a hill about a kilometer from Kabzem’s home in the rural Lebell -the subdivision. BC Energy Regulator (BCER) approved the permit. In accordance but drilling is scheduled to begin on February 9, the first of a projected 24 wells on site. “We carry the risk and they say, ‘Don’t worry,'” Kabzems said. He is in fact, worried. This is because by 2024, the number of earthquakes at size 3 or higher reached hydraulic fracture and the underground storage of its wastewater, a record high in the Montney formation, a gas-rich area that tightened northeast BC. and the northwestern Alberta. According to Monitoring Data from Natural Resources Canada, there were 34 registered earthquakes in the order of 3 and above (M> 3.0) in Montney, more than three times the amount 10 years ago. The correlation between oil and gas activity and induced earthquake is well-documented worldwide. Each step up to the order of the order releases 10 times the amount of energy. Kabzems and Burton have felt earthquakes before – from fracking further away than the new drilling point. Over the past 24 months, Richard Kabzems, Right and his wife, Sandy Burton, left, have written six detailed letters to the gas company that opposes Farmington, BC, the fracking project and another series of e emails and letters to the provincial regulator. (Jill English/CBC) “It felt like a truck hit the side of our house and the engine rumbling – this deep, low rumbling – and things would change,” he said, remembering a number of earthquakes four years ago. But Kabzem and Burton’s home insurance company informed them in June 2023 that earthquake insurance would be excluded from their policy. Allan Chapman, a former senior geomical scientist with BC Oil and Gas Commission, who analyzed data is expanded in the Peace River area. Kabzems says the first few times he experienced an earthquake, “You didn’t know what happened; you had no experience. And again, with earthquakes, you just don’t know when they will occur.” The industry recognizes risk hydraulic fracturing in the Montney formation involves drilling deeply vertically and then dull horizontally as much as four kilometers. A mixture of water, sand and chemicals is then forced into the well drilling at high pressure and divides the rock to release gas or oil. If the process hits an error, it can cause seismic activity. In BC the industry has recognized the risk. But Ovintiv’s website says “the occurrence and risk of seismicity is generally very low,” and says it has a framework for “proactive addressing seismic activity through partnerships with independent research institutions and regulatory agencies to minimize any affiliated or perceived risks.” The company has hosted consultation sessions with residents of Kabzems’ subdivision, but rejected an interview with CBC News. The incidence of stronger earthquakes is not limited to the Peace River region. In both BC and Alberta’s gas and oil areas, the number of higher size earthquakes has increased. “In 2021 we saw about 60 earthquakes a year, and by 2024 we were up to 160,” said Gail Atkinson, a consultant seismologist and former professor at Western University in London, Ont. Atkinson, who has studied “induced seismicity” for decades, says there is a direct link between the increasing number of earthquakes and stronger seismic events. “Most of the earthquakes you get are smaller sizes,” she said. But several earthquakes mean a higher occurrence of earthquakes of any size, including strong. In November 2018, construction workers building the C damp on the Peace River were forced to evacuate the workplace due to an induced earthquake measuring size 4.6. (Samuel Martin/CBC) “The more fracking we do, the more oil and gas we take, the more earthquakes we want. And the greater the chance of one of these earthquakes having an unwanted consequence,” she said. ” It’s a trade-off. ”In November 2018, construction workers who are building place C-dam on the Peace River were forced to evacuate the workplace due to an induced earthquake measuring 4.6.Atkinson calling on the regulators to pay more attention to the rising risks and create larger buffer zones. To send natural gas west to a LNG terminal in Kitimat, the BC Terminal will fly natural gas for export for the first time opening oversea’s markets to Canadian gas. It is projected that the pipeline will carry two million cubic foot gas a day and that production in Montney could double for the next 20 years. oil and gas. His nominees for energy secretary, Chris Wright, CEO of Liberty Energy, is Bullish on Fracking. But signs of an uptick in fracking-induced earthquakes are also clear in Texas Oil Patch.Watch | Fracking causes earthquake in Texas: Last July, 60 trembling a weekly from small to significant-shaking area around cheats, Texas. Jay Callaway was on duty as the city’s emergency control coordinator on July 26. “It sounded like a crew of cattle coming. His first thought was,” There’s a big one. “That was the order of 5.1. Jay Callaway was on duty as emergency administration coordinator last July last year when 60 shivers on a week shook the area around Cheats, Texas , he says, there are a few hundred earthquakes a day – most of them small, less than the order of 1.5. To run Texnet, a state -funded program for monitoring seismic events from Texas Oil Patch. (Hugo Levesque/CBC) They now have 200 sensors around the state. “When I got hit in 2016, (the producers) was in denial. It really wasn’t the best thing,” Savvaidis said. “I think in the last five years it has been accepted by the industry and the public.” Midlands Gamblethe Industry’s Hub is Midland, in the oil-rich Permian Basin. Oil exploration is so embedded in the culture, it is even the location of the new Paramount+ Drama Landman. In Midland, drilling and fracking are so pervasive, it is now happening in the city. A high rich towers over a parking space and strip center. Under, horizontal wells will extend far beyond the pillow itself, stretching several kilometers below the city. In Texas by Midland, drilling and fracking are so pervasive, a high rich towing over a parking lot and strip shopping mall. (CBC) “This operator, they have a belief that they just get better wells where no one has been drilled before,” said Steve Melzer, an oil industry consultant and engineer. “He is betting that this is fruitful grounds that have not been touched because it was in the city.” But Melzer recognizes the seismic activity in the last summer that poses a risk to the industry. Fracking is dependent on huge amounts of water that needs to be stored. According to Savvaidis, water storage causes most of the induced earthquakes in Texas. “If we have another big one, especially near a city center, it will affect us big-time,” Melzer said. “Hopefully we will be able to control it, constructing several uses of this water instead of putting it back into the ground.” Storage of the liquid is delicate and the wrong pressure, depth or quantity can trigger seismic activity. It is a problem that Melzer is focused on solving, both by improving the process and looking at other uses to the water, to reduce underground storage volumes. “If we can’t reduce the volumes of water that enter (underground) formations, we will have to slowly drill down.” Steve Melzer, an oil industry consultant and engineer in Texas, says the seismic activity this last summer is also a Risk of the industry. (Jill English/CBC) Warning Systemkabzems has officially appealed the permit to the fracking pad in Farmington, BC, but he has not had a response since October. Meanwhile, the construction continues. BC Energy Regulator points to protecting as the 35 seismic screens in the Montney area and a “traffic light system” that warns the regulator of seismic activity. At levels of size levels 3 and over, operators must stop fracking and examine. Gail Atkinson says the measures are useful but not foolproof because larger earthquakes have not always gone ahead unless. Leading Canadian Seismologist Gail Atkinson has examined induced Earthquakes in BC (Dillon Hodgin/CBC) “If you have someone who just lights up immediately and gives you a size 4 or 5 as its very first sage, the traffic light doesn’t work,” she said. “I do not blame the oil and gas company for following the existing rules. As a whole to make sure we do not end up with an environmental disaster as a result of an earthquake being generated in the wrong place.”