An Oklahoma environmental group recently filed a lawsuit seeking to force oil companies to reduce the wastewater fueling the earthquakes that have ravaged the state. But now, Oklahoma oil and gas companies are asking a federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit. The Oklahoma chapter of the Sierra Club filed the lawsuit in February, reports StateImpact. But the three companies named in the suit say they’re already reducing the wastewater produced by their disposal wells.
The three companies also claim they were only responsible for about two-thirds of the wastewater injected in 2014. That means the other companies’ wastewater won’t be regulated. However, the Sierra Club says the effort by the state oil regulators isn’t enough.
The organization responded that “the voluntary directives issued to date have not stopped the earthquakes, or even reduced their frequency or intensity.”