Fricking Fracking

THE GREAT STATE OF OKLAHOMA is now the earthquake capitol of the world, surpassing such quaking hotspots as California, japan, and the middle of the Pacific ocean. What's wrong with this picture? Isn't Oklahoma, deeply ensconced in middle America, supposed to be relatively stable and free of the shakes? True, it lay in fairly close proximity to the famed New Madrid fault, but, heck, that only becomes a problem every few hundred years, and, since historically there has been little human habitation or infrastructure in the Sooner state, and since the New madrid fault is close to everyone, earthquakes have never been associated with Oklahoma - until now. Now, at long last, the highly conservative government of Oklahoma, prone to do little other than preserve the status quo and attack the rights of gay people, has formely acknowledged that there is a problem, and that the problem is caused by the oil industry, and its recently invented practice of forcing oil out of the ground by pumping massive amounts of water into the ground at very high velocity. Folks in the middle of the state, who can remember never having experienced an earthquake, are now having several every day, albeit small ones. It all started a few years ago with a quake here and there, then increased to two a month, then two a week, and now, its shake rattle, and roll, to the tune of two or more quakes each and every day. So now it seems good Sooner folks can add earthquakes to a steady stream of tornados as their primary source of excitement. I live in extreme western Arkansas, just a few miles from the Oklahoma border. Three years ago, on a chilly, windy, November night, about eleven P.M., I noticed that the walls in my new ranch style house were sort of weaving back and forth, swaying visibly. I took it to be a resultt of the stong wind, and prepared to lose my home to a late season freak tornado. I went to bed, assuming that I would either live, or die. Next morning, a flicker of a thought entered my mind, belatedly. No, it couldn't be. I turned on the news, and sure enough, an earthquake had shaken my town, epicentered in eastern Oklahoma, about a three point five. Well, I always said I wanted to experience one, and I got what i wished for. Admittedly, I always assumed I would have to spend a day or two in southern California to get my wish. Maybe I ought to be a bit more careful about wishing, as the saying goes.