I'm still more impressed with the people demonstrating that their tap water is flammable by turning their running water into a flame-thrower.

However, this does recall to mind the many anomalous news reports collected by Charles Hoy Fort of strange "booms" in the English countryside. Many of these were no doubt caused by small earthquakes or clear sky thunder despite Fort's skepticism. Away from the big subduction zones where earthquakes are most common and most violent, there are many places where slight slippage occurs routinely. Most of these mini-quakes are too small to be noticed except under exceptional circumstances.

The shale oil companies might claim that they are preventing earthquakes by relieving stress but it would be hard to prove and somewhat dubious. They could be, but in some cases they would be doing the opposite--preparing a larger earthquake. The Devil is in the details, as they say. Depending on the geological facts, small earthquakes can cause build up stress as well as reduce it. Think of a gear being slowly stripped of its teeth: stress might build up until the machine explodes or the resistance might be slowly dissipated until the gear turns freely and the machine stops working.

There are gas-rich shale deposits in my native New Brunswick, which means that the issue will be striking close to home eventually (say 100-200 miles). New Brunswick also has coal (Albert County) and even a tiny amount of oil--a very pumps near the Bay of Fundy and in the Miramichi* River basin, owned, I believe by Irving Oil Co.

*Pronounced variously. English-speaking New Brunswickers say Mere-a-mish-ee--the last three syllables are run together quickly and softly. The first two syllables sound like the Latin "mira", which you will recognize in admiration and miracle as well as the star named Mira. But I digress.

It strikes me that fracking is as nasty as it sounds, and that it is little more responsible and friendly to people and the environment than strip-mining and mountain-top removal. It should be avoided for many reasons.