{"id":26485,"date":"2016-04-20T10:12:46","date_gmt":"2016-04-20T15:12:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=26485"},"modified":"2016-04-20T10:12:46","modified_gmt":"2016-04-20T15:12:46","slug":"gov-fallin-signs-bill-clarifying-oil-regulators-authority-to-act-on-wells-linked-to-earthquakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2016\/04\/20\/gov-fallin-signs-bill-clarifying-oil-regulators-authority-to-act-on-wells-linked-to-earthquakes\/","title":{"rendered":"Gov. Fallin Signs Bill Clarifying Oil Regulators’ Authority to Act on Wells Linked to Earthquakes"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Gov.<\/p>\n

Joe Wertz \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n

Gov. Mary Fallin<\/p>\n<\/div>

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin on Monday signed legislation that clarifies state regulators’ authority to take action on oil and gas operations linked to earthquakes.<\/p>

The measure, House Bill 3158<\/a>, authored by Republican House Speaker Jeff Hickman of Fairview, takes effect immediately.<\/p>

Speaking on the House floor in March<\/a>, Hickman said the legislation \u2014 which doesn’t mention earthquakes or seismicity specifically \u2014 reaffirms a power the Oklahoma Corporation Commission has already been asserting: The ability to “take whatever action is necessary,without notice and hearing” when responding to emergencies.<\/p>

Scientists say Oklahoma\u2019s dramatic spike in earthquakes<\/a> is likely related to oil-field waste fluid disposal operations. The Corporation Commission in 2015 ramped up its efforts<\/a> to curb the shaking, asking scores of operators to shut down, reduce the depth, or limit the amount of fluid pumped into hundreds of underground disposal wells.<\/p>

Most operators have agreed, but SandRidge Energy initially refused to comply, prompting the agency to prepare a legal challenge that was resolved<\/a> before it appeared in a courtroom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin on Monday signed legislation that clarifies state regulators’ authority to take action on oil and gas operations linked to earthquakes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":26487,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[490],"tags":[662,390,500,238],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26485"}],"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=26485"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26485\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26492,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26485\/revisions\/26492"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}