A bus load of Texans made the ground shake in Austin this week.
And I’m still shaking! Their dedication to helping others and protecting our communities, homes and children is truly inspiring.
More than 50 Texans from North Texas (the area around Azle) took time off from work and school, woke up at 3am and sat on a bus for eight hours to tell our government officials we need immediate action to stop fracking related earthquakes.
Because of their heroic efforts, and support through our online petition, we are bringing about real change that will help real people.
The results so far:
- The Texas Railroad Commission is hiring a seismologist.
- The Texas House Energy Resources Committee formed a subcommittee to investigate earthquakes.
- We made the national news, raising the profile and urgency of the issue.
And we sent Austin into a scurry. But further action is needed.
In my testimony at the Texas Railroad Commission (RRC) meeting this week, I asked for 3 things:
- Fracking wastewater injection should halt in the area until the science exists to prevent related earthquakes.
- Those responsible for the injection wells should be help presumptively liable for damages caused by earthquakes in the area.
- Seismic data collected in the area should be publicly available online and in real time.
One of those 3 has come true, but not because the RRC took any action. I knew the seismic data from the Bayou Corn sinkhole is available online and I was determined that the Texas frackquake data should also be online. As it turns out, it was already available. I only needed to make enough phone calls and persist long enough to find out where it is.
You can find the data from the new seismic sensors here. Scroll down until you find information that starts with AZ. Like this: AZEP HNE NQ 01 (Azle Epicenter, Azle, TX) keep scrolling down and clicking on dates. You will see that there is still a lot of activity happening.
