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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DrinkYourMilkshake" data-source="post: 2720840" data-attributes="member: 37041">Emotions do not dictate science. And my main point was to counteract your claim that Class II vs a hydraulically fractured well are pretty much the same.  That is simply not true... both in the amount of fluids inject, lithology and substructure properties (porosity, permeability etc).  For instance one of the main reason you fracture a well is to increase permeability (the ability for the fluid in the pore space to move)... this, by very nature should tell you that if it is that hard to get out... that isnt the type of formation you would want to use as a disposal well.  Now when shifting to the subject of earthquakes, that is all very relevant.  The explanation that "Faults are being lubed are simply layman wording that is very far from the truth.  What is happening, supposedly, is that the prolonged increase in fluid in the pore space is changing the stress profile of the rock structures and near-by faults.  (if you want to learn more,  look up Mor's failure envelope for rock).  As for "Dont cause earthquakes" where are you placing blame?  There are many drillers/completion/producers out there that have made significant progress towards waste water recycling. And it isnt, necessarily because of seismic activity.  What was once more economical to just shoot down an old well, is starting to shift with current drought scenarios. IE cost of water is going up.As for shifting blame, I have not seen such and I think that claim is manifestation of emotion.  What the industry is wanting to do is prevent production halt for something that may be preventable through other means (other than an all out moratorium on hydraulic fracturing).As okietool said, difference in geology.  However, you can pull a map of class II wells (fracktracker.org) for eastern Kansas and then cross reference their fault system.  There is obviously an incomplete picture... but again,  could be, not just differing geology, but differing stored stress in the faults.  For what it's worth,  when people say dead fault... no such thing.  A dead fault is a fault that hasnt been active in awhile.  That DOES NOT mean that there isnt stored potential energy.  This was the case with the new madrid fault in the 1800s.  And it was one of the most powerful quakes in the midcontinent substructure, enough so it made the mississippi flow blackwards.There hasnt been definitive claims by the industry that its changing lake levels or drought, it HAS, however, been postulated that it could be a contributing factor and the swarms we are seeing are not due to anyone thing, but a combination of many triggered by varying events.  Again, it's really hard to say.  I think the industry's main concern is halting all production when it can be prevented in other methods.  In all honesty... a good start would be to cease injection near known fault systems (start with a reasonable distance).</blockquote>

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