{"id":25381,"date":"2015-10-29T14:05:35","date_gmt":"2015-10-29T19:05:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=25381"},"modified":"2015-11-19T12:30:48","modified_gmt":"2015-11-19T18:30:48","slug":"u-s-oil-hub-in-oklahoma-on-alert-as-national-security-officials-warn-of-potential-for-damaging-earthquakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2015\/10\/29\/u-s-oil-hub-in-oklahoma-on-alert-as-national-security-officials-warn-of-potential-for-damaging-earthquakes\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Oil Hub in Oklahoma on Alert as National Security Officials Warn of Potential for Damaging Earthquakes"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_25389\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 620px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25389\" alt=\"Mike Moeller, senior director of mid-continent assets for Enbridge Energy.\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2015\/10\/20151027-cushing-pics073_WEB.jpg\" width=\"620\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2015\/10\/20151027-cushing-pics073_WEB.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2015\/10\/20151027-cushing-pics073_WEB-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2015\/10\/20151027-cushing-pics073_WEB-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2015\/10\/20151027-cushing-pics073_WEB-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Joe Wertz<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mike Moeller, senior director of mid-continent assets for Enbridge Energy.<\/p>\n<\/div><p>Oklahoma\u2019s boom in man-made earthquakes has become a national security threat. It\u2019s easy to understand why.<\/p><p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/230660677&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=false\" height=\"150\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p><p><!--more--><\/p><p>The ground is shaking near Cushing, Oklahoma, home to the largest commercial crude oil storage center in North America, where big money is made storing and moving crude. The massive oil hub is connected to dozens of pipelines and lined with hundreds of airplane hangar-sized tanks currently holding <a href=\"http:\/\/www.eia.gov\/dnav\/pet\/pet_stoc_wstk_dcu_ycuok_w.htm\">an estimated 54 million barrels<\/a> of oil.<\/p><p>A <a href=\"http:\/\/earthquake.usgs.gov\/earthquakes\/eventpage\/us10003mqq#scientific_origin\">4.5-magnitude earthquake<\/a> recorded near the hub on October 10 triggered inspections at a tank farm owned by Enbridge Energy, one of the largest operators in Cushing. No damage was found, says Mike Moeller, senior director of mid-continent assets.<\/p><p>\u201cWe\u2019ve not experienced any issues, any deformations or releases that were caused because of an earthquake,\u201d he says.<\/p><p>The story is the same throughout the hub: No earthquake damage has been reported \u2014 yet.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_25386\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 620px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25386\" alt=\"Crude storage tanks and pipelines at the oil hub in Cushing, Okla.\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2015\/10\/20151027-cushing-pics062_WEB.jpg\" width=\"620\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2015\/10\/20151027-cushing-pics062_WEB.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2015\/10\/20151027-cushing-pics062_WEB-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2015\/10\/20151027-cushing-pics062_WEB-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2015\/10\/20151027-cushing-pics062_WEB-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Joe Wertz \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Crude storage tanks and pipelines at the oil hub in Cushing, Okla.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h3>Familiar faults<\/h3><p>Researchers and federal security authorities, however, say the earthquakes imperil the Cushing hub, which links North American oil fields with Gulf Coast refineries and plays a critical role in the U.S. energy market as the delivery point for NYMEX crude oil futures.<\/p><p>Daniel McNamara, a research geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey, sounded the alarm in <a href=\"http:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1002\/2015GL064669\/full\">a peer-reviewed paper<\/a> published in the journal <i>Geophysical Research Letters<\/i>.<\/p><p>\u201cI have had conversations with Homeland Security,\u201d McNamara says. \u201cThey\u2019re concerned about the tanks mostly.\u201d<\/p><p>The new research centers on <a href=\"http:\/\/earthquake.usgs.gov\/earthquakes\/eventpage\/usb000sjk0#general_summary\">a series<\/a> of <a href=\"http:\/\/earthquake.usgs.gov\/earthquakes\/eventpage\/usb000skq4#general_summary\">troubling earthquakes<\/a> that shook below the oil hub in October 2014. McNamara says the Cushing quakes and the faults that produced them are strikingly similar to those near the town of Prague, where the largest quake ever recorded in Oklahoma happened in 2011.<\/p><p>\u201cIt\u2019s all part of the same general fault system,\u201d McNamara says.<\/p><p>The Prague quake injured two people and damaged more than a dozen homes. It was a 5.6-magnitude earthquake triggered by smaller foreshocks in the magnitude 4.0 range, McNamara says. He\u2019s worried the Prague pattern could repeat in Cushing.<\/p><p>McNamara says the two places have something else in common: wastewater injection.<\/p><p>The oil industry practice of pumping fluid underground to dispose of drilling waste or boost oil production is <a href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2015\/10\/20\/new-study-on-historical-shaking-suggests-a-century-of-oil-and-gas-earthquakes-in-oklahoma\/\">now linked to almost all of the significant earthquakes ever recorded<\/a> in Oklahoma. Officials worry that if a quake like the one that occurred in Prague struck Cushing, operations at the oil hub could be disrupted \u2014 the effects of which <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2015-10-23\/oklahoma-earthquakes-are-a-national-security-threat\">could surge<\/a> through the U.S. energy market.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_25388\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 620px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25388\" alt=\"The U.S. oil hub near Cushing, Okla.\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2015\/10\/20151027-cushing-pics042_WEB.jpg\" width=\"620\" height=\"251\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2015\/10\/20151027-cushing-pics042_WEB.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2015\/10\/20151027-cushing-pics042_WEB-500x202.jpg 500w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2015\/10\/20151027-cushing-pics042_WEB-150x61.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2015\/10\/20151027-cushing-pics042_WEB-300x121.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">The U.S. oil hub near Cushing, Okla.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h3>Data, determination<\/h3><p>Back in Cushing, Moeller says the tanks in Enbridge Energy\u2019s fields were built to national construction standards that account for ground shaking from small earthquakes. Other measures are in place that could help minimize the environmental impact of a tank rupture, including earthen berms designed to contain more liquid than the tanks hold.<\/p><p>Tank farm operators also can pump oil out of a tank if a crack is discovered, Moeller says.<\/p><p>Inside Enbridge Energy\u2019s control center at the Cushing terminal, two men sit behind banks of screens flashing with sensor readouts and pipeline data. It\u2019s like tank farm Mission Control. When an earthquake strikes, the crew decides whether the shaking is severe enough to inspect the tanks in person.<\/p><p>\u201cThey go to the USGS site, look at the maps, look at the guidance that\u2019s given there \u2014 the data that\u2019s recorded,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_25387\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 620px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25387\" alt=\"After a 4.5-magnitude earthquake was recorded near Cushing in October 2015, state regulators ordered oil companies to shut down several disposal wells, including the Ethridge 35-2 disposal well operated by American Energy-Woodford.\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2015\/10\/20151027-cushing-pics117_WEB.jpg\" width=\"620\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2015\/10\/20151027-cushing-pics117_WEB.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2015\/10\/20151027-cushing-pics117_WEB-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2015\/10\/20151027-cushing-pics117_WEB-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2015\/10\/20151027-cushing-pics117_WEB-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">After a 4.5-magnitude earthquake was recorded near Cushing in October 2015, state regulators ordered oil companies to shut down several disposal wells, including the Ethridge 25-3 disposal well operated by American Energy-Woodford.<\/p>\n<\/div><p>After the 4.5-magnitude quake in October, the control center ordered detailed inspections of storage tanks, Moeller says. State regulators at the Oklahoma Corporation Commission responded by <a href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2015\/10\/19\/state-regulators-expand-limits-on-wells-as-earthquakes-shake-near-u-s-oil-hub\/\">shutting down and limiting injection<\/a> at nearby disposal wells. McNamara, the USGS researcher, says that was a smart move.<\/p><p>\u201cI think it can be managed,\u201d he says.<\/p><p>Regulators <a style=\"font-size: 14px;\" href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2014\/10\/30\/hearing-on-disposal-well-rules-exposes-gaps-in-states-earthquake-response\/\">shut down disposal wells<\/a> after the quakes in 2014. McNamara says that seemed to slow the shaking \u2014 at least for a while. The earthquake activity near Cushing resumed when the wells were allowed to come back online.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Oklahoma\u2019s boom in man-made earthquakes has become a national security threat. It\u2019s easy to understand why.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":25389,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[490],"tags":[390,339,489,500,238,653],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25381"}],"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=25381"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25381\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25397,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25381\/revisions\/25397"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}