![\"Oklahoma](\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/02\/20150325-medford-townhall-pics015_WEB.jpg\")
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Joe Wertz \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n
Oklahoma Geological Survey seismologists and representatives from the Corporation Commission lead a public meeting on earthquakes held in March 2015 in Medford, Okla.<\/p>\n<\/div>
A former research seismologist with the Oklahoma Geological Survey says agency leaders and other state officials fostered a culture of hesitation and reluctance to act on science suggesting the state’s earthquake boom was linked to oil and gas activities.<\/p>
In an interview<\/a> with Union of Concerned Scientists writer Pamela Worth published Tuesday on The Huffington Post, Amberlee Darold, who left the OGS to take a job at the U.S. Geological Survey, says she was \u201csurprised\u201d by the silence from state officials:<\/p>\n “When I first got there, it did feel like people were trying to–,” she trails off. “Not lie, but they were trying to soften. I had the feeling they were trying to protect something.”<\/p><\/blockquote> Darold\u2019s frustrations echo those of another OGS seismologist, Austin Holland, who also left the state<\/a> for a USGS post. Holland has acknowledged pressure<\/a> from the oil and gas industry and top leaders at the University of Oklahoma, which hosts the state agency and has cozy relationships with executives at oil and gas companies<\/a>.<\/p> Darold says she \u201cbecame increasingly frustrated by the politics\u201d of doing solid scientific fieldwork, while also answering questions from reporters and frightened members of the public and \u201cdelivering bad news to politicians,\u201d HuffPo reports:<\/p>\n “We were persuaded to not be so open when giving public presentations or speaking to the media,” Darold says. “We would get reprimanded by the director, and\/or the dean, if an article came out that mentioned fracking or wastewater management in conjunction with earthquakes.”<\/p><\/blockquote>