Oklahoma Corporation Commission Takes Additional Actions After Another Swarm of Earthquakes in Central Oklahoma

On December 30, 2015, the Oklahoma Corporation Commission announced that the Commission is implementing an emergency action plan in response to recent earthquakes that occurred in central Oklahoma. On December 29, the USGS recorded a swarm of earthquakes that has shaken up the Edmond area - including a magnitude 4.3 earthquake. According to a media report, an hour-long power outage was caused by the earthquakes, but there were no reports of personal injuries.

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission set out in its media release that this is a very “complex” issue “as the initial review of the data for the area in question has not identified any oil and gas wastewater disposal wells that are both high volume and in the state’s deepest formation, a combination that researchers have identified as being at the highest risk for inducing earthquakes.”

The media release also recapped the Commission’s multiple prior actions to mitigate the seismic impacts resulting from well stimulation that have taken place from March 25, 2015, through the date of the release.

Written by Chloe Marie - Research Fellow

01/06/2015