{"id":34541,"date":"2014-02-19T08:02:37","date_gmt":"2014-02-19T14:02:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/?p=34541"},"modified":"2014-02-19T11:23:09","modified_gmt":"2014-02-19T17:23:09","slug":"could-earthquakes-shake-up-the-race-for-railroad-commission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2014\/02\/19\/could-earthquakes-shake-up-the-race-for-railroad-commission\/","title":{"rendered":"Could Earthquakes Shake Up the Race for Railroad Commissioner?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"After<\/a>

Photo: OLIVER BERG DPA\/LANDOV<\/p>

Most candidates for Railroad Commission of Texas don't recognize the link between quakes and injection wells.<\/p><\/div>\n

Scientists have known that man can create earthquakes by injecting fluids into the ground for decades<\/a>. But if you listen to the people campaigning to regulate the Texas oil and gas industry, you may think the idea was in serious dispute.<\/p>\n

Every Republican party candidate this primary season for the Railroad Commission denies that there is a link between injection wells used to pump oil and gas waste water underground and the surge in earthquakes that have struck Texas since the current oil and gas boom got underway. (The Railroad Commission of Texas<\/a> has nothing to do with railroads; it’s the state’s oil and gas regulator.)<\/p>\n

It’s a denial that has people living in quake-prone parts of the state deeply upset.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre they blind?!” Lynda Stokes, the mayor of the North Texas town of Reno, says. “Except for maybe one or two, every study says that they [quakes and injection wells] are linked. How can they say that there is no correlation?<\/p>\n

Reno is at the epicenter of the most recent swarm of quakes. She calls herself a political independent.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Lynda<\/a>

Doualy Xaykaothao \/ KERA News<\/p>

Lynda Stokes is the mayor of Reno in Parker County, where more than 30 earthquakes have been recorded since November.<\/p><\/div>\n

“[Candidates are] choosing to just turn their face and look the other way, while the very people they\u2019re supposed to be representing and protecting are suffering the consequences,” she says.<\/p>\n

Like many in her area, she blames political contributions from the oil and gas industry for politicians\u2019 unwillingness to acknowledge the link between disposal wells and quakes. She believes those politicians will pay a price at the ballot box.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, I do,” she says. “We have a lot of very intelligent people in our area. We have a lot of people who get on the internet and read the studies that are available and everybody knows that these wells are linked to this.\u201d<\/p>\n

None of the current slate of Republican politicians running for the open seat on the Railroad Commission has acknowledged that injection wells can cause earthquakes.<\/p>\n