Scientists Believe

The search string "scientists believe fracking causes earthquakes" returns nearly four hundred thousand Google results. The definition of the word "belief" is trust, faith, or confidence in someone or something.

A synonym for the word belief is the word "faith." Whenever I hear that scientists believe something, I know that the next thing is going to be an appeal to authority. A logical fallacy. Scientists hypothesize, theorize, test and prove or disprove. What a scientist believes is besides the point.

What brought on this two-minute hate was a story on NBC News. The same network that employs Brian Williams and Al Sharpton. NBC News reports that a geophysicist thinks small earthquakes linked to fracking "are dramatically increasing the chance of bigger and dangerous quakes."

William Ellsworth of the U.S. Geological Survey puts the risk of a major quake at about a "1 in 2,500 years' chance." Ellsworth is going to publish a paper summarizing these risks, the article says. NBC news embellished the story to frighten readers into thinking Ellsworth is blaming fracking for this looming earthquake of unimaginable magnitude. He isn't quoted saying anything about fracking. He's only quoted saying that he thinks the smaller quakes are increasing the risk for a larger one.

Radical environmentalists have completely internalized the belief that fracking causes earthquakes. NBC describes Ellsworth's presentation as a summary of "human-induced earthquakes." These quakes, the article says, "are mostly in areas with energy drilling, often hydraulic fracturing, a process known as fracking." Mostly? What about the earthquake swarms in areas where fracking is forbidden?

I wonder how the radical environmentalists would respond to the news that the anti-fracking propaganda tools they are using are paid for by OPEC countries that want to destroy America's oil industry.

In January, Connecticut experienced an earthquake swarm. Dr. Alan Kafka reported that he has "not found any answer to the question why this particular spot had these earthquakes." Fracking is banned in Connecticut. Maybe the little swarms migrated from Pennsylvania?

Hydraulic fracturing has been in use since 1949. Has every earthquake since 1949 been a result of fracking? What about the quakes that didn't occur in fracking zones, like the ones in Connecticut? It's possible we don't have all the answers, and it's possible the culprit isn't fracking. I believe.