Really, folks, I wish a bunch more Oklahoma legislators would speak out on these earthquakes. Earthquakes are less frequent since Spring, but the trade off is they are getting stronger. Rep Morrissette and my own Rep. Cory Williams are possibly the only two Oklahona legislators, who see fit to speak out after the 5.0 earthquake hit Cushing on Tues. night. Williams has been calling for a moratorium on waste water injection wells for quite some time, yet didn't draw any opponents for reelection, even though energy is a fairly important industry in his district. Here are his thoughts on the earthquakes:
Impose Moratorium on Saltwater Disposal in Seismically Active Areas,
Ban Wastewater from Other States, Stillwater Lawmaker Recommends
OKLAHOMA CITY (7 November 2016) – A Payne County legislator called again Monday for a moratorium on all saltwater disposal wells in the multicounty “seismic risk zone” identified by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC).
“Once again I urge the Corporation Commission to impose a moratorium on wastewater injection in disposal wells in Payne, Pawnee, Kay, Noble, Grant, Logan, Oklahoma, and the several other counties that are in the seismically active ‘area of interest’ outlined by the commission,” said Rep. Cory Williams.
The Stillwater Democrat issued his comments in the wake of a magnitude-5.0 earthquake Sunday evening that damaged perhaps four dozen structures in Cushing, site of one of the world’s oil storage hubs where nearby tank farms held 58.5 million barrels of crude oil less than two weeks ago.
Besides the Cushing earthquake, a magnitude-3.7 earthquake was logged Saturday near Pawnee, a 3.1 tremor occurred Sunday afternoon near Perry, and a 2.9 ’quake was reported Monday morning at Nicoma Park. A magnitude-4.3 earthquake was recorded at Luther on Aug. 17, and the state-record magnitude-5.8 temblor occurred at Pawnee on Sept. 3.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently recommended that Oklahoma oil and gas regulators “consider a moratorium” on oilfield waste disposal in those areas of the state that have been rattled by earthquakes, because volume reductions alone haven’t stopped the swarm of earthquakes plaguing the state.
The EPA recommended the OCC consider a moratorium on injection into the Arbuckle Formation “in high seismically active focus areas,” the federal agency wrote Sept. 22 in its annual review of the Corporation Commission’s regulation of wastewater wells. More than 6.3 billion barrels (265 billion gallons) of oilpatch saltwater have been injected into Oklahoma disposal wells in the last five years, OCC ledgers show.
Even with the price of oil down in the $40/barrel range, nearly a million barrels of oilfield wastewater are being pumped into injection wells in Oklahoma each day, an Oklahoma Oil and Gas Association executive reported during an interim legislative study Oct. 25 at the State Capitol.
“We need to do more than just pray for divine assistance,” said Williams. “The Good Lord has given us His guidance, but the people who run this state apparently aren’t paying attention.”
Numerous scientific studies “have told us that what we’re doing in this state is extremely dangerous,” Williams said. “We are willfully ignoring the evidence. The peer-reviewed research says that high-volume, high-pressure injection is causing these earthquakes.”
During the legislative study at the Capitol last month, Oklahoma State University professor/hydrogeologist Todd Halihan said the evidence that disposal wells are triggering earthquakes in Oklahoma is “clear and convincing,” contrary to what skeptics claim.
Williams also recommended that the Corporation Commission ban the importation of oilfield wastewater from other states. Last year, 2.44 million barrels (102 million gallons) of oilfield wastewater from Texas, Arkansas, Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico were injected into commercial disposal wells in Oklahoma, OCC records reflect.
“We are making Oklahoma a toxic dumping ground and risking our lives and property from induced seismicity,” Williams said.
“And don’t bother telling me that the federal Interstate Commerce Clause prohibits Oklahoma from importing wastewater from other states,” he said. “The government’s own records indicate that wastewater from five other states is being imported into Oklahoma, but nobody is exporting Oklahoma wastewater to any of those other states,” Williams said.
“If we had done this four years ago, as I originally called for, we would not be staring down the barrel of ever-increasing magnitudes of seismicity – two 5.0 or greater earthquakes in 60 days.”