Asheville – It began with the news that well permitting in Buncombe County had increased by 300% this year. These permits were not limited to single-family wells; larger applicants included Mission Hospital and Buncombe County Schools.
In the 1980s, researchers from the University of Southern California gathered data that led them to believe offshore oil drilling was causing earthquakes. Oklahomans often equate correlation with causation, especially after experiencing a surge of earthquakes coinciding with the fracking boom. Additionally, one reason for Mexico City’s well-known sinking is thought to be excessive well-drilling.
Manoochehr Shirzaei at Virginia Tech has been studying this issue for years. Recently, his colleague Leonard Ohenhen’s work has gained attention from mainstream media. Ohenhen’s research concluded that all 28 major U.S. cities are sinking several centimeters each decade, with subsidence affecting two-thirds of the land area in 25 of these cities. This new data was obtained through precision radar measurements from satellites…