It’s no secret wastewater injection wells linked to fracking have led to a staggering rise in earthquakes in Oklahoma and Kansas. But now,notes The Rural Blog,oil and gas companies appear to have discovered a method to reduce man-made seismic activity.
As Jen Fifield reports in Stateline, “Oklahoma is feeling an average of about two earthquakes a day, down from about six last summer, and Kansas is feeling about a quarter of the tremors it once did.” The change began after oil companies stopped injecting wastewater into certain hotspots. And now scientists are getting closer to pinpointing the cause of the earthquakes.
In the meantime, both states have placed new restrictions on how much wastewater each operator in certain areas can dispose of at a given time. A recent US Geological Survey says 7 million Americans now live in areas at risk of manmade quakes.
