{"id":22832,"date":"2015-02-11T12:17:22","date_gmt":"2015-02-11T18:17:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=22832"},"modified":"2015-02-12T14:03:39","modified_gmt":"2015-02-12T20:03:39","slug":"mapped-traffic-light-wells-in-oklahomas-earthquake-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2015\/02\/11\/mapped-traffic-light-wells-in-oklahomas-earthquake-country\/","title":{"rendered":"Mapped: &#8216;Traffic Light&#8217; Wells in Oklahoma&#8217;s Earthquake Country"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpactok.cartodb.com\/viz\/4937a68c-b169-11e4-a30e-0e9d821ea90d\/embed_map\" height=\"620\" width=\"100%\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p><p>Oklahoma&#8217;s surge in earthquakes and possible links to oil and gas activity has led regulators to <a href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2015\/01\/22\/as-authorities-use-permit-process-to-scrutinize-wells-in-earthquake-country-oil-industry-remains-silent\/\">scrutinize permits<\/a> for disposal well operators in quake-prone regions of the state.<\/p><p><!--more--><\/p><p>New disposal wells located within six miles of the epicenter of a 4.0 magnitude or larger earthquake, or within two miles of faults the Oklahoma Geological Survey has determined to be particularly risky, are issued temporary &#8220;traffic light&#8221; permits.<\/p><p>The language of these interim orders differs from well to well, but they generally limit injection pressures and volumes, and define &#8220;red light&#8221; conditions that require the operator to shut the well down if earthquake activity in the area increases.<\/p><p>So far, eight disposal wells have been issued these &#8220;traffic light&#8221; permits. We&#8217;ve mapped them all, using documents and data obtained from the Oklahoma Corporation Commission through Open Records Act requests.<\/p><p>Click around and explore the map. The info box has details, including the name of the well&#8217;s operator, the date when the temporary permit was signed, and the date of its review. For more information on the exact earthquake-related &#8220;traffic light&#8221; requirements the well is operating under, click the link at the bottom of the info box to view a copy of the interim order.<\/p><p>Also included in the map, for reference, are 4.0-magnitude quakes recorded from 2013 \u2014 when the Corporation Commission first started scrutinizing disposal well permits and sanctioning wells because of quake concerns \u2014 to 2015.<\/p><p>The Corporation Commission&#8217;s scrutiny of disposal wells and permits in quake-prone regions has led to at least 18 sanctions \u2014 through actions known as directives or orders \u2014 StateImpact reported in <a href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2015\/01\/22\/as-authorities-use-permit-process-to-scrutinize-wells-in-earthquake-country-oil-industry-remains-silent\/\">a January 2015 investigation<\/a>. For an interactive map of those quake-related actions, <a href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2015\/01\/22\/as-authorities-use-permit-process-to-scrutinize-wells-in-earthquake-country-oil-industry-remains-silent\/\">click here<\/a>.<\/p><p><em>Updated 02\/12\/2015: New well and permit data added.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Oklahoma&#8217;s surge in earthquakes and possible links to oil and gas activity has led regulators to scrutinize permits for disposal well operators in quake-prone regions of the state.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":22840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[490],"tags":[489,500,238],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22832"}],"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=22832"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22844,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22832\/revisions\/22844"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}