On March 4th, two oil and gas companies decided to shut down wastewater disposal wells in Arkansas that many people seem to believe are connected to recent earthquakes. The State Oil and Gas Commission was supposed to shut down the wells last Friday, 6 days after Arkansas experienced its worst earthquake in 35 years. Although the directors of the companies that own the wells, Chesapeake Energy and Clarita, did not agree with the theory that their wells were the cause of the problem, they still willingly closed down the wells. These wells are made to get rid of wastewater that is a result of natural gas drilling. Scientists and researchers have been studying the relationship between disposal wells and earthquakes for a while now and these researchers are now seeing a potential connection. Since the fall thousands of earthquakes have been recorded in north-central Arkansas. Whole many of these were unnoticeable they still happened and some were stronger. This reoccurring of earthquakes is very worrisome for the people of Arkansas.
This is an interesting article because it explains how researchers have found a direct relationship between disposal wells and earthquakes. While many of the earthquakes that occurred went unnoticed, it is still a dangerous field to be messing around with and must be changed. While the wells are necessary for the disposal of wastewater, researchers and scientists must come up with a new way to dispose of the water that will keep people out of harms way. It is not worth the threatening earthquakes.
There were both strengths and weaknesses to this article. I liked it because it was concise and to the point. It did not give you unnecessary or confusing information. However it could have been better if they went into more detail about how they were going to fix this issue and what was the actual reasoning that connects the wells to causing these earthquakes.
Robertson, Campbell. "Waste Wells to Be Closed in Arkansas." Www.nytimes.com. 4 Mar. 2011. Web. 6 Mar. 2011.
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3 comments:
I really enjoyed reading Austin’s current event. I thought it was really well written and also displayed a lot of very important information. He chose a great article to write about. From his review, I learned that oil and gas companies in Arkansas are being shut down because of the fear that there is a connection between them and earthquakes. It was really interesting that the wells are made to get rid of the waste water which is essentially a result of natural gas drilling. To improve his review, he could’ve explained a little more about what the connection between the wells and earthquakes is. He stated that there was a connection, but I would’ve liked to know more about what the connection actually is. Other than that, this was a good review.
I felt that Austin’s review was very well-written which really added something to the article. I also liked how he explained what the waste wells were because it helped my understanding of the article. Finally, I enjoyed how mentioned the worst earthquake Arkansas had faced in 35 years.
I dislike how short he made his review because I still have some answers that I would like to be answered. I also felt he could have improved on the part when he talks about the many earthquakes that have hit Arkansas because I would like to know how many there were and how rough they were on the environment.
I found most interesting that the wells could possibly cause earthquakes since the wells are so small and are supposedly causing these massive earthquakes.
One part of the article that was well presented was the mention about how the wells have been studied and that way they have been connected to the earthquakes. Also, I like how he gives us some background information about how they found this connection to the wells. I liked the criticism that he gave this article. I think that even though Austin gave us some background information he could have gone into more detail than he did. Also I would have liked to know about the other earthquakes that affected the region. I was impressed that these wells could affect earthquakes in the region.
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