July 1, 2010

In a recent addition of Carol Camelot’s column, the popular idea that oil drilling may be causing earth quakes was discussed. Overdraft of liquids may be causing some localized seismic activity as a result of compaction subsidence but does not have any large scale effect and certainly did not cause the earth quake and resulting catastrophic tsunami of 2004. Extracting oil from the earth does not cause Earth quakes. In fact it has the opposite effect. Oil is a very effective lubricant. What happens to your cars motor when the oil all leaks out? That’s right it seizes up. For as long as there has been oil in the ground there have been earth quakes. The solution is simple, remove the earth’s crustal lubricant and the earth quakes will stop; the plates will seize up and all of the continental sliding around will become a thing of the past. It is time to put a stop to plate tectonics, stop continental drift and stop earth quakes. We need to get as much oil out of the ground as we can and use it up.

James W. Brown
CareFusion, Inc.