Written
by Chloe Marie – Research Fellow
In this article, we will provide an
update on induced seismicity regulatory developments in the United States. Our last article relating to this topic is
dated June 14, 2017.
·
U.S.
Geological Survey
On March 28, 2018, the U.S. Geological
Survey (USGS) published the 2018 One-Year Seismic Hazard Forecast for the Central and
Eastern United States from Induced and Natural Earthquakes, available from the
Seismological Research Letters.
USGS recorded a steady decline in M3 and
higher magnitude earthquakes over the past three years and pointed out that
these earthquakes occurred within the highest hazard regions of the 2017
forecast. USGS noted that “the short-term hazard for damaging ground shaking
across much of Oklahoma remains at high levels due to continuing high rates of
smaller earthquakes that are still hundreds of times higher than at any time in
the State’s history.”
·
Oklahoma
On June 27, 2017, the Oklahoma
Corporation Commission (OCC) stated in a News Release that “efforts to manage the
potential risk of induced earthquakes not associated with wastewater injection
wells are showing some positive results.” The agency pointed out, however, that
earthquakes caused by wastewater disposal, not hydraulic fracturing operations,
have proven to be more problematic. The News Release shows a summary of well
completion seismicity protocol for anomalous seismic activity within 1.25 miles
of hydraulic fracturing operations.
In another Press Release dated February 27, 2018, OCC
announced the implementation of a new protocol to further address the issue of
induced seismicity in the South Central Oklahoma Oil Province (SCOOP) and the
Sooner Trend Anadarko Basin Canadian and Kingfisher counties (STACK) plays.
Acknowledging the increase of felt
earthquakes triggered from well completion activity in the SCOOP and STACK
play, the OCC’s Oil and Gas Conservation Division (OGCD) Director Tim Baker
stated that “the data gathered over the past year indicates earlier action may
be best.” Consequently, OCC now imposes on all operators the requirement to use
a seismic array for real-time seismicity reading purposes and to take
mitigating actions each time a M2 earthquake is felt. In addition, operators
are required to halt their activities for a 6-hour period when M2.5 earthquakes
are felt. OCC declared that “while important, the threat of induced earthquakes
from well completion activity is much smaller than the threat linked to
injection of oil and gas wastewater in the north-central area of the state,
where the larger and more frequent earthquakes have occurred.” For further
information on local directives and actions in the state of Oklahoma, please
consult the Earthquakes in Oklahoma website operated by the
Office of the Secretary of Energy and Environment.
·
Texas
On October 17, 2017, the University of
Texas at Austin Bureau of Economic Geologic announced the availability of TexNet, a
state-run seismic monitoring system. The TexNet Seismic Network’s creation was
commissioned in June 2015 through House Bill 2 of the 84th Texas Legislature.
According to the University of Texas at
Austin, TexNet includes 22 additional permanent monitoring stations as well as
40 portable seismic stations used for the purpose of increasing the density of
stations in sensitive areas prone to seismic activity, such as in the
Dallas-Fort Worth area, South Texas, and West Texas in the Delaware Basin and
Snyder area.
The University of Texas at Austin Bureau
of Economic Geologic had previously issued a Report on House Bill 2 (2016-17) Seismic
Monitoring and Research in Texas on December 1, 2016, which provides
further background on the TexNet initiative.
This
material is based upon work supported by the National Agricultural Library,
Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.
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