OKLAHOMA – Move over California, there’s a new earthquake capital.
According to the Center for Investigative Reporting, Oklahoma had three times as many earthquakes as California in 2014 and remains well ahead in 2015.
Scientists point to fracking-related activities in Oklahoma's earthquake explosion: http://t.co/dyfScmvSHK pic.twitter.com/oAb3QSgoMP
— CIR (@CIRonline) February 7, 2015
Before 2009, Oklahoma was barely on the earthquake map, but in 2014, Oklahoma recorded 562 earthquakes with a magnitude 3.0 or higher.
Oklahoma even beat Alaska, the nation’s perennial leader in total earthquakes.
The CIR’s report blames the uptick in earthquakes in Oklahoma on waste water disposal wells used in fracking.
Hey, California: Oklahoma had 3 times as many earthquakes in 2014. @mikejcorey mapped them: http://t.co/DqS5Kkwy9M pic.twitter.com/p3mwrLn5cR
— CIR (@CIRonline) February 7, 2015
In 2013 alone, more than 50 billion gallons of fracking wastewater went into disposal wells in Oklahoma: http://t.co/W4i7c7BqB8
— Reveal (@reveal) February 9, 2015
Matt Skinner, with the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC), said due to continuing earthquakes in Alfalfa County, a SandRidge Energy well, located near the northern Oklahoma town of Cherokee, will stop operating until more data is collected to study a possible connection to seismic activity.
Read more of the Center for Investigative Reporting’s earthquake study here.
