According to the Christian Science Monitor, since last November, there have been 14 earthquakes recorded in Alabama. This is the most earthquake activity seen in Alabama in
over 40 years.
Records from the U.S. Geological Survey show the first of 14 earthquakes occurred on Nov. 20, when a magnitude 3.8 earthquake was recorded about 10 miles northwest of the community of Eutaw. The second occurred in mid-December, followed by another in January and three within a few hours of each other on Feb. 19.
The tremors have continued ever since, with the most recent occurring June 6, when a magnitude 3.0 quake rattled the area. All the tremors have been weaker than the initial jolt in November, and Ebersole said some have been too slight for residents to detect.
Alabama's state geologist, Nick Tew, has said that there is no connection between the growth of hydraulic fracturing in the state and the
rise in earthquake activity.
Tew is the head of both the Geological Survey of Alabama and the State Oil and Gas Board of Alabama, the latter of which regulates drilling operations in the state.
According the biography he submitted to Shale UK for a speaking event at a March 2015 conference seeking to boost shale drilling potential in the UK, Tew was the former head of American Geosciences Institute, an organization that downplays fracking risk, and vice-chairman of the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission. He currently serves on the National Petroleum Council.
I cannot speak to the implication that the AGI is a fracking apologist—from what I've read they're a geological institute and they caution complete studies. Their fault may be that they are too conservative in committing to an opinion on fracking's geological ramifications. I am open to more information in the comments if you have any. As for being vice-chairman of the
Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, that is probably the same as saying you are a vice-chairmen of a den of thieves.
With evidence mounting that fracking-related procedures are very likely causing the rise of earthquakes in at least some areas it is probably much too soon to assert that they have nothing to do with what has been happening in Alabama.
You can track these mysterious quakes here.