How earthquakes linked to fracking are fracturing an Oklahoma community

By Nick O'Malley
Updated February 28 2015 - 2:13am, first published 12:15am
US oil production will continue its surge to hit a record 9.6 million barrels a day in 2016, the US Energy Department predicts. Photo: Karen Bleier
US oil production will continue its surge to hit a record 9.6 million barrels a day in 2016, the US Energy Department predicts. Photo: Karen Bleier
US oil production will continue its surge to hit a record 9.6 million barrels a day in 2016, the US Energy Department predicts. Photo: Karen Bleier
US oil production will continue its surge to hit a record 9.6 million barrels a day in 2016, the US Energy Department predicts. Photo: Karen Bleier
Vietnam vet Mark Crismon owns land in Oklahoma that contains minerals worth millions - but he has chased away the oilmen that offered him money. Instead he is helping Oklahoma State University with a seismic study tracking the "swarm" of earthquakes since fracking started. Photo: Nick O'Malley
Vietnam vet Mark Crismon owns land in Oklahoma that contains minerals worth millions - but he has chased away the oilmen that offered him money. Instead he is helping Oklahoma State University with a seismic study tracking the "swarm" of earthquakes since fracking started. Photo: Nick O'Malley
A protest against fracking  in Los Angeles.  Photo: Lucy Nicholson
A protest against fracking in Los Angeles. Photo: Lucy Nicholson
US oil production will continue its surge to hit a record 9.6 million barrels a day in 2016, the US Energy Department predicts. Photo: Karen Bleier
US oil production will continue its surge to hit a record 9.6 million barrels a day in 2016, the US Energy Department predicts. Photo: Karen Bleier
US oil production will continue its surge to hit a record 9.6 million barrels a day in 2016, the US Energy Department predicts. Photo: Karen Bleier
US oil production will continue its surge to hit a record 9.6 million barrels a day in 2016, the US Energy Department predicts. Photo: Karen Bleier
Oklahoma has seen a dramatic rise in the number of earthquakes since 2009. Photo: www.bigberkeywaterfilters.com
Oklahoma has seen a dramatic rise in the number of earthquakes since 2009. Photo: www.bigberkeywaterfilters.com

When fracking started in Oklahoma, things went the way they had in the other oil-boom states. Trucks and men flooded in. They raised dust, clogged the roads, cleared scrub and sucked up water for the drilling. But the money flowed back thick and fast and many of the locals in a state long friendly with the oil industry decided they could live with the discomfort.

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