The increasing rate of earthquakes in Oklahoma has resulted in a crackdown on disposal wells in the state, reports StateImpact, a reporting project of NPR member stations. Last year, Oklahoma experienced nearly 600 earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or larger. This year, the state has already suffered 500 such earthquakes.
Scientists have linked the earthquake surge to oil and gas disposal wells, and the new directive requires the operators of nearly 350 disposal wells to show proof that they haven’t been injecting oil and gas waste fluid into granite basement rock—a process known to trigger earthquakes.
