Tuesday’s earthquake had no impact on Marcellus Shale drilling operations in Pennsylvania.
   
“The earthquake in Virginia that was felt in parts of Pittsburgh had no impact on our operations,” said Matt Pitzarella, spokesman for Range Resources. 
   

“As with any instance, we will continue to monitor all operations and will continue on our daily maintenance and inspection cycles,” he added.
   
Travis Windle, a spokesman for the Marcellus Shale Coalition, an industry group, said there had been no reports from member companies of the earthquake impacting drilling operations.
   
Windle and other industry spokesmen bridled at the suggestion the 5.8 magnitude earthquake could in any way be connected to drilling.
   
Critics of shale drilling have claimed it’s the cause of recent earthquakes in Great Britain and Arkansas.
   
A drilling company in Great Britian stopped fracking operations in July after two small earthquakes of 1.5 and 2.3 magnitude were registered within 500 meters of the site.
   
“It is well-established that fluid injection can induce small earthquakes,” the British Geological Survey noted in its report of the incident. “Typically, the earthquakes are too small to be felt, however, there are a number of examples of larger earthquakes occurring.”
   
The British Geological Survey noted that that fluid injection was ongoing at the drilling site shortly before both earthquakes occurred and concluded, “The timing of the two events in conjunction with the fluid injection at the Preese Hall drill site suggests that they may be related to this.”
   

There is no Marcellus Shale in central Virginia where Tuesday’s earthquake was centered.
   
If Marcellus drilling caused an earthquake hundreds of miles away, then “it also caused the Great Depression, the Black Plague, the October Revolution, and the break-up of the Beatles,” said Chris Tucker of Energy In Depth, an oil and gas industry group based in Washington, D.C.
   
Windle said it was like comparing “apples and orangutangs.”
   
Likewise, they said, any similarity to earthquakes in Arkansas.
   
Following a “swarm” of more than 800 small earthquakes in central Arkansas since last August, officials with the geological survey there discounted any correlation with drilling and fracking in the Fayetteville Shale.
   
The Arkansas earthquake swarm occurred in an active seismic zone.
   
However, some geologists have posited a connection between the earthquakes and the deep well injection method of disposing of drilling wastewater, and the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission has enacted a moratorium on deep well injection within the fault zone.
   
Deep well injection is not a common practice in Pennyslvania, in part because the deep geologic reservoirs where wastewater could be injected are already used for natural gas storage.
   
According to online records at the Environmental Protection Agency, Virginia appears to have as many as 75 such wells. Arkansas has more than 1,000.
   
“We agree with the U.S. Geological Survey and other leading scientists that the 1 million oil and gas wells that have been hydraulically fractured over the last six decades have no impact on seismic activity,” said Pitzarella at Range Resources. “Despite this firm belief, we are supportive and encourage additional study to help address potential concerns.”
   
Windle said, “If you want to report real news from USGS today, it’s the new assessment of Marcellus Shale that showed a 4,100 percent increase in estimated recoverable natural gas... The numbers are staggering.”
   
Indeed, the USGS issued a report Tuesday updating its estimate of recoverable gas in the Marcellus at 84 trillion cubic feet — up from a 2002 estimate of only 2 trillion cubic feet.
   
“It’s really a nail in the coffin to certain reporters who question natural gas development in the United States,” Windle said.