Government and oil-industry officials continue to be concerned about the prospect of earthquakes near the massive Cushing oil hub in Oklahoma,reports StateImpact. A 4.5-magnitude earthquake was recorded near the hub on October 10. After an inspection, no damage was found. But the incident troubled authorities. The U.S. Geological Survey sounded the alarm in a recent peer-reviewed paper. Almost all significant seismic activity in Oklahoma can be traced back to the oil industry’s practice of pumping fluid underground to dispose of drilling waste.
The Cushing tanks house a good portion of the nation’s oil. A catastrophic earthquake there could cause oil prices to rise and damage the US energy market. The quakes are therefore seen by some government officials as a national security threat.
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