Report by the National Academies identifies potential of induced seismicity in energy technologies

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This August the National Research Council (NRC) released a report, sponsored by the Department of Energy, that examines the relationship between induced seismicity and energy technologies.  The report concludes that “hydraulic fracturing has a low risk for inducing earthquakes that can be felt by people, but underground injection of wastewater produced by hydraulic fracturing and other energy technologies has a higher risk of causing such earthquakes … In addition, carbon capture and storage may have the potential for inducing seismic events.” The report also concludes that “technologies designed to maintain a balance between the amounts of fluid being injected and withdrawn, such as most geothermal and conventional oil and gas development, appear to produce fewer induces seismic events than technologies that do not maintain fluid balance.”