Hydraulic Fracture Drilling-Part 13

Fracking Increases Oklahoma Earthquakes from Two a Year to Two a Day

Lorraine Chow | September 21, 2015 11:21 am



Oklahoma Sees 2800% Increase in Earthquakes over 5 Years, Likely Due to Fracking

Scientists have identified that the injection of wastewater byproducts into deep underground disposal wells from fracking operations are very likely triggering the major increase of seismic activity in the central U.S. state.

Oklahoma, which is not near any major fault lines, has felt 585 earthquakes that were a 3.0-magnitude or greater in 2014—three times the 180 quakes felt by California last year, the AFP reported. Last month alone, Oklahoma experienced more than 600 quakes that could shake homes and cars, with the town of Crescent hit hardest with a 4.5 whammy, the AFP said.

The Collapse of Middle East Oil is inevatable

Collapse of oil production is within sight.  What are we going to do about it?  Ignore the facts and assume its someone else's problem? 

Nafeez Ahmed
Monday 28 September 2015 10:37 UTC




On Tuesday 22 September, Middle East Eye broke the story of a senior member of the Saudi royal family calling for a “change” in leadership to fend off the kingdom’s collapse.
In a letter circulated among Saudi princes, its author, a grandson of the late King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud, blamed incumbent King Salman for creating unprecedented problems that endangered the monarchy’s continued survival.
“We will not be able to stop the draining of money, the political adolescence, and the military risks unless we change the methods of decision making, even if that implied changing the king himself,” warned the letter.
Whether or not an internal royal coup is round the corner – and informed observers think such a prospect “fanciful” – the letter’s analysis of Saudi Arabia’s dire predicament is startlingly accurate.
Like many countries in the region before it, Saudi Arabia is on the brink of a perfect storm of interconnected challenges that, if history is anything to judge by, will be the monarchy’s undoing well within the next decade.

The Quiet Crisis-The price for our success

‘A quiet crisis': The rise of acidic soil in Washington
 by Sylvia Kantor 
         


Gary Wegner first noticed the problem in 1991, when a field on his family’s farm west of Spokane produced one-fourth the usual amount of wheat. His father and grandfather attributed the problem to farming on shallow soils, but Wegner decided to dig deeper. Lab tests revealed a surprising result: the soil had become acidic.

Wheat farmers are now seeing this problem across the inland Pacific Northwest. The culprit, as far as anyone can tell, is the abundant use of synthetic nitrogen to increase crop yields, a practice that has otherwise revolutionized production over the past half century. Over time, however, it has contributed to a soil health problem that has farmers worried about the future of farming in the Palouse.

“We’re riding the edge of a crisis,” says Paul Carter, an agronomist and the director of WSU Extension in Columbia County. “We can pretty well nail it down to the addition of nitrogen to our soils for crops. In 1940 or 1950, nitrogen was applied at five pounds per acre. Now, in some areas, we’re up to 100 or more pounds per acre.”

Prepping for an economic melt down

Why the surging US debt should have you prepping for a fiscal crisis

CNBC

The U.S. national debt is on pace to rise to record levels vs. the U.S. economy, its only precedent being the debt levels reached in World War II, according to a new report from the Congressional Budget Office. However, the government paid off much of that debt in the middle of the last century and the U.S. saw its most economically prosperous years in the ensuing decades, whereas the current debt has been neglected, morphing into a festering wound.

While interest rates are unlikely to rise significantly in the near future, they could see a dramatic spike in the long term. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the rise in national debt will stagnate economic growth within 10 years.

A stagnant economy could retroactively drain government revenue and back the government into a corner of perpetual borrowing. Tapered spending or increased taxes could help us dodge a catastrophic economic meltdown. The CBO's report adopted common conservative arguments, warning that financial aid to the poor leaves them with no incentive to join the workforce while entitlement spending as a whole continues to depress the economy.

Although we should see slight improvement over the next couple of years as we climb out of the crater-sized hole George W. Bush left in his wake, things look much worse over the long haul. The CBO blames the bleak long-term economic outlook on large deficits that occurred under Obama's stimulus, as well as the many Americans leaving the labor force and taking refuge under the government's umbrella instead of making their own. The retirement of the baby boomers and the lack of motivation in the workforce will also hike up the debt burden by causing future deficits. The CBO believes that we'll see deficits as high as $1 trillion by 2025.

The CBO can make projections, but not even it knows for certain how high the debt can get before an economic meltdown ensues. However, there will come a time when investors lose trust in the United States' ability to pay back it's loans and will be forced to raise the interest rates they charge on them.



Interest rates are projected stay at very low levels for the foreseeable future. But when they increase, it will greatly effect federal spending. U.S. interest payments are expected to more than double in the coming decade, jumping from 1.3% of GDP to 3% of GDP. These seemingly small deviations in percentage points appear harmless, but they could have a dramatic effect on federal debt many years down the road. It's time for our government, and, more importantly, its people, to stop ignoring these numbers and display prudence in financial behavior.

With a Congress that refuses to tighten the lid on spending despite an unprecedentedly high national debt, it shouldn't come as a great shock if the debt continues to mount. It may require a fiscal catastrophe--per usual--to bring Washington down from cloud nine. It is imperative that you sleep with one eye open on your spending and saving habits, because taxes could see a spike parallel to that of our nation's debt.