Bloomberg reports that Harold Hamm, billionaire CEO of oil company Continental Resources, tried to get University of Oklahoma scientists fired for their research.
This report comes just a few weeks after Oklahoma's government confirmed that the hundreds of earthquakes the state has experienced in recent years are, in fact, caused by oil and gas operations — an about face for state officials. Oklahoma’s new position reflects the scientific consensus on the question of why the state experienced five times more earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or greater in 2014 than 2013. You can read that story, from the International Business Times, here.
And this piece from NPR’s StateImpact explains in more detail the connection between fracking and earthquakes: the disposal of wastewater.
