Does fracking increase the number of earthquakes?

The latest study seems to indicate that is the case. The study looked at wells and fracking in Ohio last year and tentatively concluded that fracking built up subterranean pressures that repeatedly caused slippage in an existing fault as close as a half-mile beneath the wells. In the area they concentrated on, there were 77 well-related earthquakes from March 4 to March 12, two of which were fairly serious. However, Michael R. Brudzinski, a professor and seismologist at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, said. “It appears you have to be quite close to the fault for fracking operations to trigger earthquakes. Having that sort of information helps us to see that this stuff is pretty rare.”