Fallin, in an interview Thursday at the state Capitol, said she felt three of the earthquakes on Wednesday night. Back-to-back quakes of magnitude 4.8 and 4.4 hit about 20 miles northwest of Fairview at 10:27 p.m. Wednesday. They were felt from Oklahoma City to Wichita, Kan.
By Thursday evening, 19 earthquakes greater than 3.0-magnitude had shaken the Fairview area since Wednesday afternoon, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Four were greater than 4.0-magnitude.
Fallin, a Republican who has been criticized by several Democratic legislators over her handling of the state's earthquake response, said she believes the Oklahoma Corporation Commission is the proper agency to handle saltwater disposal wells and the links to induced seismicity.
"I want to commend the Corporation Commission for being so active on this issue," Fallin said. "It's important that we understand that people are very, very concerned about this. I am too, and it's important that we address the issue."
Fallin created the Coordinating Council on Seismic Activity in September 2014 to bring together regulators, researchers and energy companies. In the 2015 legislative session, she signed Senate Bill 809, which reaffirms the Corporation Commission as the state's top oil and gas regulator and put limits on local regulation of the industry.
Voluntary directives
The Corporation Commission began in March to issue a series of voluntary directives to operators of saltwater disposal wells in areas of recent earthquake activity.
Directives in March and July asked operators to check to see if their disposal wells in the deep Arbuckle formation were touching the granite basement, an area of concern for researchers of induced seismicity. Since then, 590 disposal wells have either reduced depths, cut volumes or shut down. In addition, the commission later asked operators of another 166 Arbuckle disposal wells to reduce volumes or shut down altogether.
"We have been working over the past year and a half on the Governor's Seismicity Council to look into disposal wells and how we regulate them through the Corporation Commission," Fallin said. "As we've seen with the Corporation Commission, they have reduced tremendously the number of disposal wells; they are limiting their injection rate and the depth of their injections.
"Science is ever-evolving as to what actually causes earthquakes. We know that disposal wells can cause earthquakes, but not all earthquakes. There are fault lines that are just natural in Oklahoma.”
The industry has largely complied with the voluntary directives, although financially troubled Sand-Ridge Energy Inc. told regulators it would not follow a Dec. 3 directive to stop injecting at six disposal wells in Alfalfa County.
Commission staff are expected to file an administrative action against SandRidge by the end of next week, said spokesman Matt Skinner.
Fallin said the SandRidge dispute was a legal issue that will have to be resolved between the Corporation Commission and the company's attorneys.
Problem is not new
Rep. Cory Williams, D-Stillwater, said Thursday he was tired of the “reactive” approach by regulators and the energy industry, but didn't see much appetite for change from his colleagues in the Legislature.
“Everything we're doing is 100-percent reactive,” he said. “We draw a circle around some earthquakes and ask operators to act.
“This is something I've been dealing with for a few years now. This is not a new problem. The magnitudes and frequencies are new, but we should have recognized this a few years ago. We are so reactive that we will wait for the big one. Once we have real loss of property — not a chimney falling off — or God forbid, loss of life, then we'll act. But I don't see the political will there. It baffles me.”
Rep. Richard Morrissette, D-Oklahoma City, last week called for a moratorium on disposal wells near earthquake activity.
Forum planned
Morrissette will host an open forum Dec. 15 at the Capitol for Oklahoma residents to express their concerns about the uptick in earthquakes and the links to oil and gas production. The forum will be from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in Room 412C at the Capitol.
The city of Edmond, which was rocked by earthquakes of 4.3-magnitude and 4.2-magnitude last week, said Thursday it will continue to review setbacks and fencing requirements for oil and natural gas wells inside city limits. City Manager Larry Stevens said Edmond will work under the restrictions on cities put in place by Senate Bill 809. The city urged concerned residents to contact the Corporation Commission.
“We understand and share the concerns of our residents concerning recent earthquake activity, both in our city facilities and our homes,” Stevens said in a statement. “The recent events have certainly been unsettling to all of us.”
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