{"id":16308,"date":"2013-09-12T11:41:29","date_gmt":"2013-09-12T16:41:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=16308"},"modified":"2013-09-12T11:49:24","modified_gmt":"2013-09-12T16:49:24","slug":"regulator-will-respond-to-risk-of-injection-well-earthquakes-with-suggestions-not-rules-or-laws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2013\/09\/12\/regulator-will-respond-to-risk-of-injection-well-earthquakes-with-suggestions-not-rules-or-laws\/","title":{"rendered":"Regulator Responding to Risk of Injection Well Earthquakes With Suggestions, Not Rules or Laws"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Oklahoma<\/a><\/p>\n

State of Oklahoma<\/p>\n

Oklahoma Corporation Commissioner Dana Murphy.<\/p>\n<\/div>

Geophysicists have linked Oklahoma\u2019s largest earthquake to an injection well<\/a> used by the oil and gas industry, and there is growing concern among many seismologists that underground disposal of oilfield waste fluid can trigger quakes or make it easier for faults to slip<\/a>.<\/p>

Wastewater disposal wells have been linked to quakes in a half-dozen other states. Oklahoma\u2019s regulatory response has been more passive than most, StateImpact reported in May<\/a>.<\/p>

Oklahoma\u2019s oil and gas officials are strengthening seismic monitoring<\/a> near oil and gas injection wells, but the state is still eyeing \u201cbest practices\u201d \u2014 suggestions, not rules or laws \u2014 to address the risk of manmade earthquakes.<\/p>

Here’s what Corporation Commissioner Dana Murphy told<\/a> The Journal Record<\/em>‘s Sarah Terry-Cobo, emphasis mine:<\/p>\n

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission is working with the Oklahoma Geological Survey and oil and gas operators to come up with a list of best practices for saltwater injection wells. The practices would only be voluntary, but Commissioner Dana Murphy said it\u2019s important to make sure regulatory agencies keep pace with changes in the industry.<\/p>

Although the OCC can suggest that operators monitor seismic activity in wells before and during the disposal process, the rules aren\u2019t mandatory.<\/strong> Making a company install and monitor for earthquakes requires legislative changes.<\/p><\/blockquote>

Commissioner Murphy says the state agency<\/em> is the appropriate authority to address oilfield waste fluid injection and potential earthquake risks, not the state legislature,<\/em> as states like Illinois and Pennsylvania have done, the paper reports:<\/p>\n

\u201cI think ours is a good model for developing rules for oil and gas drilling, because it\u2019s an open process with stakeholders like the Sierra Club, as well as technical professionals and university researchers,\u201d she told The Journal Record. \u201cThe process isn\u2019t at the Legislature with lobbyists with political dynamics.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>

The potential for\u00a0enforceable\u00a0state injection well seismicity rules exists, but appears to only address data<\/a> collection, the Journal<\/em> reports:<\/p>\n

Murphy said she and other commissioners often ask more questions when a company applies for a permit for a disposal well. She said she expects in the future that the agency will likely require more information from operators who want to put disposal wells in certain areas of the state.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

StateImpact Oklahoma is a partnership among Oklahoma\u2019s public radio stations and produces journalism in the public interest, essential to an informed electorate. Help support informative, in-depth journalism with a donation online<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Geophysicists have linked Oklahoma\u2019s largest earthquake to an injection well used by the oil and gas industry, and there is growing concern among many seismologists that underground disposal of oilfield waste fluid can trigger quakes or make it easier for faults to slip.Wastewater disposal wells have been linked to quakes in a half-dozen other states. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":16309,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[490],"tags":[390,489,500],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16308"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16308"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16308\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16320,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16308\/revisions\/16320"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}