{"id":27282,"date":"2016-09-08T12:43:43","date_gmt":"2016-09-08T17:43:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=27282"},"modified":"2016-09-08T12:52:35","modified_gmt":"2016-09-08T17:52:35","slug":"oklahoma-sets-a-new-earthquake-record-as-aftershocks-jolt-residents-researchers-and-regulators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2016\/09\/08\/oklahoma-sets-a-new-earthquake-record-as-aftershocks-jolt-residents-researchers-and-regulators\/","title":{"rendered":"Oklahoma Sets a New Earthquake Record as Aftershocks Jolt Residents, Researchers and Regulators"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_27292\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 620px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-27292\" alt=\"Mona Denney surveys earthquake damage inside her home near Pawnee, Okla.\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/09\/20160903-pawnee-quake-pics070_WEB.jpg\" width=\"620\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/09\/20160903-pawnee-quake-pics070_WEB.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/09\/20160903-pawnee-quake-pics070_WEB-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/09\/20160903-pawnee-quake-pics070_WEB-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/09\/20160903-pawnee-quake-pics070_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\">Mona Denney surveys earthquake damage inside her home near Pawnee, Okla.<\/p>\n<\/div><p>The U.S. Geological Survey is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usgs.gov\/news\/magnitudes-oklahoma-earthquakes-shift-upward\">upgrading the strength<\/a> of an earthquake that shook the state on Sept. 3 to 5.8 magnitude. That change makes the <a href=\"http:\/\/earthquake.usgs.gov\/earthquakes\/eventpage\/us10006jxs#executive\">Labor Day weekend temblor<\/a> the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in Oklahoma. The quake is the latest in a seismic surge researchers say has largely been fueled by the oil industry practice of pumping waste fluid into underground disposal wells.<\/p><p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/281982564&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><!--more--><\/p><p>Like many Oklahomans, Sherri Laird was in bed when the earthquake hit.<\/p><p>\u201cMy husband and I had to hold onto the bedposts it was so bad,\u201d she says.<\/p><p>Instead of cooking a bunch of food and watching the Oklahoma State University football game with her family, Laird spent her Saturday sweeping up shards of glass and surveying damage, including broken bottles and a cracked chimney. Down the road, Laird\u2019s neighbors <a href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/thetwo-way\/2016\/09\/04\/492600714\/oklahoma-shuts-down-energy-companies-disposal-wells-in-area-of-strong-quake\">rushed to fix a sewer line<\/a> that sheared off their mobile home during the shaking.<\/p><p>Laird \u2014 flanked by two granddaughters eager to share stories of falling televisions, flying deer head hunting trophies and quake-related disarray \u2014 walks through her kitchen and points to an antique clock.<\/p><p>\u201cThe clock hasn\u2019t worked for years,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s working. Is that weird? We just looked up there and it\u2019s going.\u201d<\/p><p>One of her granddaughters chimes in: \u201cIt probably needed a little shake, grandma.\u201d<\/p><p>\u201cI guess it did,\u201d Laird says with a nervous laugh.<\/p><p>Adding considerable uneasiness to Laird\u2019s morning were relentless aftershocks, which rumbled throughout our interview. One startling tremor blasted the house, triggering a loud crash from a kitchen cabinet.<\/p><p>\u201cOh, there went another one,\u201d Laird gasped. \u201cOh my gosh.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_27289\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 620px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-27289\" alt=\"20160903 - pawnee quake pics065_WEB\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/09\/20160903-pawnee-quake-pics065_WEB.jpg\" width=\"620\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/09\/20160903-pawnee-quake-pics065_WEB.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/09\/20160903-pawnee-quake-pics065_WEB-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/09\/20160903-pawnee-quake-pics065_WEB-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/09\/20160903-pawnee-quake-pics065_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\">\n<\/div>\n<h3>State of emergency<\/h3><p>Official assessments are underway, but one injury was reported after the Sept. 3 earthquake. At least 15 homes and nine buildings sustained damage near the city of Pawnee, as did numerous buildings on the OSU campus in Stillwater, says Keli Cain with the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management.<\/p><p>The earthquake also sent researchers scrambling to collect equipment and book flights to Oklahoma.<\/p><p>In a field near Pawnee, Nate Stevens, a Ph.D. student at Cornell University, wrapped a seismometer inside two contractor-grade trash bags, sealed it with tape and buried it beside a barbed-wire fence near a small, two-story home. His teammate, Hannah Rabinowitz, a grad student from Columbia University, is testing the sensor by jumping up and down.<\/p><p>Rabinowitz sets down her checklist, \u201cReady for the stomp test?\u201d<\/p><p>\u201cHit it,\u201d Stevens says.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_27290\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 620px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-27290\" alt=\"Researchers Nate Stevens and Hannah Rabinowitz calibrating a seismometer near Pawnee, Okla.\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/09\/20160906-pawnee-quake-pics019_WEB.jpg\" width=\"620\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/09\/20160906-pawnee-quake-pics019_WEB.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/09\/20160906-pawnee-quake-pics019_WEB-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/09\/20160906-pawnee-quake-pics019_WEB-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/09\/20160906-pawnee-quake-pics019_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\">Researchers Nate Stevens and Hannah Rabinowitz calibrating a seismometer near Pawnee, Okla.<\/p>\n<\/div><p>The pair makes a few calls to troubleshoot the finicky sensor. Typically, the equipment and sensors are pre-programmed and calibrated well in advance of deployment, but Stevens and Rabinowitz were in a hurry to get on the ground in Oklahoma. The team even unearthed recently placed seismometers from other, less-urgent locations in northwestern Oklahoma.<\/p><p>Rabinotwitz says capturing data on aftershocks is key to unlocking crucial details about the larger primary quake, like what might have caused it.<\/p><p>\u201cIt really helps us understand the fault systems in the area much better and have a better sense of the seismic hazard,\u201d she says.<\/p><p>Immediately after the Sept. 3 quake, Gov. Mary Fallin declared a state of emergency in Pawnee County. State oil regulators contacted 12 energy companies and told them to start shutting down 37 disposal wells. In nearby Osage County, which is under federal jurisdiction, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is telling operators to shut down 17 wells.<\/p><p>\u201cInjection well operators agreed to shut down their wells consistent with the actions in state jurisdiction, and some well operators had already shut down,\u201d Joe Hubbard from the EPA\u2019s regional office in Dallas wrote in an emailed statement.<\/p><p>The industry is warning the response from regulators <a href=\"http:\/\/oilprice.com\/Energy\/Energy-General\/Record-Earthquake-Threatens-Oil-And-Gas-Industry-In-Oklahoma.html\">could hurt energy companies<\/a> and impact Oklahoma&#8217;s oil-fueled economy.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_27293\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 620px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-27293\" alt=\"Jeremy Boak, director of the Oklahoma Geological Survey.\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/09\/20160907-ogs-meeting-pics017_WEB.jpg\" width=\"620\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/09\/20160907-ogs-meeting-pics017_WEB.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/09\/20160907-ogs-meeting-pics017_WEB-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/09\/20160907-ogs-meeting-pics017_WEB-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/09\/20160907-ogs-meeting-pics017_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\">Jeremy Boak, director of the Oklahoma Geological Survey.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h3>Closed-door meeting<\/h3><p>The Oklahoma Geological Survey, the state agency in charge of earthquake research, held a workshop in Norman this week with state and federal government officials, university researchers and representatives from the oil and gas industry.<\/p><p>The two-day event was scheduled months ago, and normally would be an under-the-radar affair. But the earthquake&#8217;s timing gave the meeting a sense of urgency. The event was closed to the public and off-limits to the media. StateImpact was escorted out of the meeting by OGS director Jeremy Boak. At least one other journalist <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ZivaBranstetter\/status\/773888885227085824\">was barred<\/a> from attending the workshop.<\/p><p>Boak said energy company representatives attending the workshop would be afraid to speak openly if reporters or the public attended.<\/p><p>\u201cIn every meeting I\u2019ve heard about where the press were involved, the companies say nothing,\u201d Boak said.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_27291\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 620px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-27291\" alt=\"20160906 - pawnee quake pics125_WEB\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/09\/20160906-pawnee-quake-pics125_WEB.jpg\" width=\"620\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/09\/20160906-pawnee-quake-pics125_WEB.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/09\/20160906-pawnee-quake-pics125_WEB-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/09\/20160906-pawnee-quake-pics125_WEB-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/09\/20160906-pawnee-quake-pics125_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\">\n<\/div>\n<h3>Aftershocks expected<\/h3><p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2015\/05\/05\/stateimpacts-earthquake-research-reading-list\/\">chorus of scientists<\/a>, including Dan McNamara, a research geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey, have <a href=\"http:\/\/earthquake.usgs.gov\/research\/induced\/\">linked<\/a> Oklahoma\u2019s earthquake boom to disposal wells the energy industry fills with waste fluid from oil and gas production \u2014\u00a0 more than <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2016-03-17\/boom-times-for-fracking-s-toxic-wastewater-come-to-a-shaky-end\">a billion gallons a year<\/a>.<\/p><p>In an effort to slow the shaking, the Oklahoma Corporation Commission last year started asking companies to shut down disposal wells or limit the amount of fluid injected underground. McNamara says those efforts have reduced earthquakes and contributed to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/oklahoma-quakes-decline-amid-curbs-on-energy-industrys-disposal-wells-1467323816\">a slowdown in the frequency of earthquakes<\/a>.<br \/>\n\u201cEven if all wells were to shut off today, there would still be energy in the system and earthquakes occurring for some time,\u201d he said during a lunch break at the Norman workshop.<\/p><p>McNamara says the Sept. 3 quake could lead to more shaking in the days, weeks and months to come.<\/p><p>\u201cI would not be surprised to see some magnitude-four aftershocks,\u201d he said. \u201cThat would be very typical behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>\u2018Not convinced\u2019 of the connection<\/h3><p>Pawnee resident Gayla Schone lives near the epicenter of the Sept. 3 quake. She wasn\u2019t home when it struck, but she found damage when she returned.<\/p><p>\u201cThere are some bricks off the fireplace in the attic, off the chimney, onto our ceiling,\u201d she says, noting that she and her husband aren\u2019t sure if they can afford earthquake insurance or costly repairs since they\u2019re both retired.<\/p><p>Schone says she and her husband make money from some oil and gas leases, and their son worked briefly in the oil and gas industry. She\u2019s heard scientists connect disposal wells to the shaking, but she doesn\u2019t buy it.<\/p><p>\u201cI am not convinced disposal wells have anything to do with what is happening right now,\u201d she says. \u201cThere has not been any drilling going on for the last two years, there&#8217;s not been any pumping going into the ground.\u201d<\/p><p>Oklahomans have been lucky, McNamara and other researchers say. The strongest earthquakes have been in rural, sparsely-populated areas. If another powerful one touches off near bigger cities, the <a href=\"https:\/\/pubs.er.usgs.gov\/publication\/ofr20161035\">USGS says<\/a> cracked chimneys would be the least of the problems. Serious injuries, and even deaths, could occur.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Sept. 3 earthquake near Pawnee, now considered Oklahoma&#8217;s strongest ever recorded, is the latest in a seismic surge researchers say has largely been fueled by the oil industry practice of pumping waste fluid into underground disposal wells.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":27292,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[490],"tags":[390,489,500,238,680],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27282"}],"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=27282"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27302,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27282\/revisions\/27302"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}