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A new world record has been set for the largest earthquake ever triggered by fracking, after a magnitude 4.6 earthquake struck near Progress Energy work site in northern British Columbia in August 2015. The news was recently confirmed after a 3-month investigation on the matter.

The company put a hold on their hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, operations in after the ‘manmade’ disaster. A thorough investigation that was lately conducted by the province’s energy commission confirmed the suspicion.

After the earthquake, seismologists with Natural Resources Canada and GeoscienceBC partnered with the Oil and Gas Commission analyzed all potentially relevant data together, noting that the earthquake's epicenter was just three kilometers from Progress Energy's fracking site.

Hydraulic fracturing is the process used to extract natural gas from the Montney [unconventional rock, which has pathways that are much narrower than pathways in conventional rock containing natural gas] formation in northeast B.C.

According to the company’s website, micro-seismic activity that may occur happens deep underground and is rarely felt on the surface, which does not pose a risk to public safety or the environment.

But according to the CBC news, local residents felt the quake, which was described by Canada seismologist Alison Bird as "significant.”

Local sources said the shake, which was felt from Pink Mountain to Fort St. John.

Berniece Lilly, who felt it from her home on the Halfway River First Nation and is concerned the quake is connected with fracking operations, said “My house got shook. My couch I was on was actually shaking with me. It dawned on me it could be earthquake, but it could be fracking in the area. I don't think they should continue fracking.”

Also, a man living in a worker camp at Mile 131 of the Alaska Highway said he felt the quake and several aftershocks around 1 p.m.

Officials first thought the quake measured magnitude 4.4, but Bird said the latest data analysis proves it was a 4.6 magnitude earthquake — a very large quake for this region.

This phenomenon is called "induced seismicity." According to studies, fracking is linked with earthquakes in the U.K., Oklahoma, and in B.C.

B.C. Oil and Gas Commission spokesman Alan Clay said the quake was "likely induced by hydraulic fracturing,” but he later emailed CBC News saying the commission has yet to determine a cause and is still collecting detailed seismological data.

Honn Kao, a research scientist with Geological Survey of Canada, who is involved in a major research project testing seismicity in northeastern B.C., said that if this is proven to be linked to hydraulic fracturing, this would be a world record in terms of size.

Between August 2013 and November 2014, around 230 seismic events in the Montney were tied to oil and gas activity [ranging between 1.0 and 4.4 in magnitude]. Eleven out of those could be felt at the surface.

The vast majority fell between 1.0 and 2.9, while only two fracking-induced events greater than 3.5 magnitude have been recorded in the Upper Montney, according to a 2014 OGC report.