TIPTONVILLE, Tenn.—It’s still a situation here in the Midwest that when an earthquake of a magnitude 3.0 or higher hits along the New Madrid or Wabash Valley Seismic Zones, the internet lights up with the news.
However, the one that hit south of the city of Tiptonville, Tenn., across the river from the famed New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ) in southeastern Missouri, ended up not quite reaching that benchmark.
Screen shot of the USGS map that shows Tennessee’s Sunday quake.
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) authorities have downgraded that earthquake from the originally-reported 3.1 to a now-revised 2.9…just under that threshold where folks start to get nervous.
Quakes in the immediate area of Tiptonville, including those across the Mississippi River over in Missouri
However, a perusal of the earthquake maps in the Midwest show something significantly more disturbing than a few minor shakers in our neck of the woods:
See all those shakers in Oklahoma and Kansas? Those are NOT common. Those, according to some, are the results of fracking going on in that area of the state, and the big “oil boom” that’s supposed to be occurring there.
We’ve had fracking in the news lately, since the Illinois Department of Natural Resources still hasn’t put “rules” in place governing exactly how it’s going to go here in southern Illinois. One of the proposed rules has to do with earthquakes…and a fine to be imposed on a fracking operation if they cause one of a 4.1M or higher.
Really?
We’ve been being told for years that fracking DOESN’T cause earthquakes. Why is this in the rules now?
It’s because fracking DOES cause earthquakes. Ask folks out in Oklahoma, where they’ve been rocking and rolling for YEARS.
High pressure hydraulic fracking is a bad idea. It doesn’t create that many jobs; it brings people in from other areas where they’ve more fracking experience. They just don’t hire the locals. It has been going on in other states for many years now and gas prices are still soaring. And the water issues….do your own research. It’s insane.
And yet, by the end of the year, the HPHF units will be here, doing their thing.
Be watchful, peeps. And most of all, be prepared. If you survive a catastrophic earthquake, the hard part is going to be continuing to survive. Have a plan. Get your family prepped. Don’t be herded by the government. You know that’s what they want. Be ready, willing and able to be self-sufficient. That’s what southern Illinoisans have been good at being for years…let’s don’t drop the ball on that now.