Chicken Little said the sky was falling. People have predicted the end of time based on Biblical and so-called scientific data; global warning will destroy the planet and oil and gas exploration, especially fracking, is causing all the earthquakes in the Flomaton, Century and Jay areas.
Sounds like something you would read in the National Inquirer.
As we talked to Sandy Ebersole with the Geological Survey of Alabama this week we, nor she, knows what the cause is of 13 earthquakes in the area since March 7.
She did tell us that the most frequent question she's asked is if oil and gas exploration is to blame. She told us Wednesday there is no scientific evidence that oil and gas exploration has anything to do with the recent earthquakes.
She told us the earth is constantly settling and earthquakes can occur from a lot of things, such as natural pressure and water.
She told us the GSA will be compiling data to see if there is a parallel of oil and gas exploration and the earthquakes. The four temporary seismic monitors installed in the tri-city area may give us a better picture of what's happening.
But as she said, until the data is collected there is no evidence that oil and gas exploration has anything to do with the recent earthquakes.
Too often we all jump to conclusions. We actually thought there had been only six or seven earthquakes in the area since early March. It had to be true, it was published on the Internet and posted on blogs. Now we find out there have been 13 detected by GSA scientific data.
All we ask is for people not to jump to conclusions based on incomplete facts. There's a story that begins on Page 1A of today's paper that gives you websites to let you monitor the same seismic stations that the GSA is monitoring every minute.
As we learned from Chicken Little, the sky has not fallen, the planet is not doomed and we simply live on a planet that settles every day.
