No Link Found Between W.Va. Quakes, Drilling

Charleston Gazette
5 March 2011
By The Associated Press

PARKERSBURG, W.Va. -- State officials say they've found no link between minor earthquakes that rattled central West Virginia last year and natural gas drilling.

At least eight earthquakes with magnitudes between 2.2 and 3.4 were reported in Braxton County in 2010. Some residents and officials had expressed concern that the temblors were related to drilling.

Michael Hohn with the West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey told The Parkersburg News that the agency couldn't find a link between drilling operations and the earthquakes.

He says the earthquakes were probably more of a coincidence.

A spokeswoman says the Department of Environmental Protection never made a connection between seismic activity and drilling operations.