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ARTICLE · 27 MARCH 2015

Alberta Energy Regulator Responds To Earthquakes Possibly Linked To Fracking

Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP
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The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) has issued new rules which create a "traffic light" process in response to earthquakes believed to have been caused by hydraulic fracturing.

CanadaEnergy and Natural Resources
Alan Harvie
Alan Harvie
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The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) has issued new rules which create a "traffic light" process in response to earthquakes believed to have been caused by hydraulic fracturing. Subsurface Order No. 2 comes after several seismic events that may be related to hydraulic fracturing were recorded in the Duvernay play near Fox Creek in northwestern Alberta. A 3.8 magnitude earthquake measured on the Richter scale happened on January 214, 2015 and a 4.4 magnitude earthquake was recorded on January 22, 2014. Both were felt by residents of Fox Creek but there were no injuries or damage.

Some researchers believe that these and other recent shallow earthquakes in the area are consistent with being induced by hydraulic fracturing operations although it is impossible to definitely state that they were not naturally occurring earthquakes. The Fox Creek area historically has not had a lot of seismicity until hydraulic fracturing operations started in 2013. Since then, researches

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