{"id":27615,"date":"2016-11-18T13:00:21","date_gmt":"2016-11-18T19:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=27615"},"modified":"2016-11-21T09:32:25","modified_gmt":"2016-11-21T15:32:25","slug":"groundwork-laid-for-class-action-lawsuit-against-oil-companies-after-record-earthquake-in-pawnee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2016\/11\/18\/groundwork-laid-for-class-action-lawsuit-against-oil-companies-after-record-earthquake-in-pawnee\/","title":{"rendered":"Groundwork Laid For Class-Action Lawsuit Against Oil Companies After Record Earthquake in Pawnee"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"embed-documentcloud\" style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<div class=\"DC-embed DC-embed-document DV-container\">\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:129.42857142857142%;height:0;overflow:hidden;max-width:100%;\"> <iframe src=\"\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/3222285-CJ-2016-00078-Petition.html?embed=true&responsive=false&sidebar=false\" title=\"Pawnee Quake Lawsuit - Petition (Hosted by DocumentCloud)\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-forms\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:1px solid #aaa;border-bottom:0;box-sizing:border-box;\"><\/iframe> <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div><p>Attorneys are asking a judge in Pawnee County to approve a class-action lawsuit against oil and gas companies after <a href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2016\/09\/08\/oklahoma-sets-a-new-earthquake-record-as-aftershocks-jolt-residents-researchers-and-regulators\/\">the 5.8-magnitude earthquake<\/a> that shook the area in September.<!--more--><\/p><p>The action was brought on behalf of Pawnee resident James Adams. If a judge approves, other residents could join the lawsuit against oil and gas companies operating wastewater disposal wells in the area.<\/p><p>Attorneys will argue wastewater pumped into wells in and around the town in northeastern Oklahoma helped trigger the earthquake and weeks of aftershocks. The lawsuit would seek money from energy companies to compensate residents for damage to homes and property and emotional harm.<\/p><p>\u201cDangerous tremors have become a constant threat to the residents of Pawnee, but the energy companies behind them don\u2019t seem to care,\u201d Robin Greenwald, an attorney with Weitz & Luxenberg, wrote in an an emailed statement. Attorneys representing plaintiffs in the Pawnee case have filed other <a href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/tag\/earthquake-lawsuits\/\">earthquake-related lawsuits<\/a> in Oklahoma, <a href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2016\/02\/16\/sierra-club-files-federal-lawsuit-against-three-energy-companies-over-earthquakes-in-oklahoma-and-kansas\/\">including one<\/a> on behalf of a state chapter of the Sierra Club.<\/p><p>Two Oklahoma-based companies were named in the petition: Eagle Road Oil of Tulsa and Cummings Oil Company of Oklahoma City. Neither has responded to the court filing. Twenty five unnamed companies were included in the filing. If the lawsuit continues, other companies could be named as defendants.<\/p><p>The Pawnee quake is the largest ever recorded in Oklahoma, which is experiencing a boom of seismic activity <a href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/topic\/earthquakes-2\/\">scientists have linked<\/a> to the practice of wastewater injection. Emergency officials say the shaking caused at least one minor injury and damaged dozens of buildings.<\/p><p>For years, state officials were reluctant to acknowledge the earthquakes and the economically vital oil industry were <a href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2016\/10\/25\/oil-and-gas-activity-likely-caused-widely-felt-western-oklahoma-earthquake-study-suggests\/\">connected<\/a>. In 2015, state regulators started working with companies to shut down and limit wastewater injection at wells in shaky areas.<\/p><p>Researchers say such actions have helped reduce earthquake activity, but the shaking is ongoing and has, by some measures, grown. Six magnitude-5.0 or stronger quakes have been recorded in Oklahoma over the last 60 years; half of which occurred in 2016 alone, data show.<\/p><p>One such quake \u2014 a 5.0-magnitude <a href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/2016\/11\/07\/501053194\/earthquake-strikes-oklahoma-near-major-oil-hub\">Nov. 7 temblor<\/a> recorded near the city of Cushing \u2014 caused one minor injury, damaged dozens of buildings, and led to the temporary shutdown of one of the country\u2019s largest crude oil storage terminals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Attorneys are asking a judge in Pawnee County to approve a class-action lawsuit against oil and gas companies after the 5.8-magnitude earthquake that shook the area in September.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":27616,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[490],"tags":[489,500],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27615"}],"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=27615"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27615\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27624,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27615\/revisions\/27624"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}