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State Regulators Expand Limits On Disposal Wells Near Labor Day Weekend Quake

Charles Lord, senior hydrologist with the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, explains the modified and expanded emergency orders issued Sept. 12 to oil companies in response to  the 5.8-magnitude earthquake over the Labor Day weekend.
Joe Wertz
/
StateImpact Oklahoma
Charles Lord, senior hydrologist with the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, explains the modified and expanded emergency orders issued Sept. 12 to oil companies in response to the 5.8-magnitude earthquake over the Labor Day weekend.

Federal and state regulators on Monday expanded and modified emergency orders limiting oil and gas activity at wells near a fault line that produced Oklahoma’s strongest earthquake on record.

Regulators are targeting 67 disposal wells in two counties near the damaging 5.8-magnitude earthquake that rocked the state over the Labor Day weekend.

In Pawnee County, the Oklahoma Corporation Commission is ordering the energy industry to shut down 32 wells. In nearby Osage County, which is under federal jurisdiction, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is ordering the shutdown of 5 wells.

Jeremy Boak with the Oklahoma Geological Survey says shaking could continue along the previously unknown fault line.

“We’re worried about aftershocks,” Boak said. “A really big one is less likely, the odds are relatively small for it, but you can’t rule it out.”

Both agencies are ordering companies to reduce the amount of fluid pumped into dozens of wells in both counties.

Multiple wells shut down immediately after the Labor Day weekend quake are being allowed to resume operations with volume limits.

A map and a full list of the wells affected by Monday's action can be found below:

Credit Oklahoma Corporation Commission

Credit Oklahoma Corporation Commission

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Joe was a founding reporter for StateImpact Oklahoma (2011-2019) covering the intersection of economic policy, energy and environment, and the residents of the state. He previously served as Managing Editor of Urban Tulsa Weekly, as the Arts & Entertainment Editor at Oklahoma Gazette and worked as a Staff Writer for The Oklahoman. Joe was a weekly arts and entertainment correspondent for KGOU from 2007-2010. He grew up in Bartlesville, Okla. and studied journalism at the University of Central Oklahoma.
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