Oklahoma Shaking

Oklahoma has seen a dramatic increase in earthquakes in the last few years. These quakes are caused by deep underground injection of wastewater produced from oil and gas extraction activities. The activities including normal pumping, fracking and a process called dewatering. The state of Oklahoma imposed restriction on wastewater injection earlier this year. For years some pro-fossil fuel advocates denied that groundwater injection had anything to do with the earthquakes. But the science and reality finally began to sink in with some State officials The state of Oklahoma imposed some restrictions on wastewater injection earlier this year. As the video shows the rate of earthquakes has fallen. It is now "only" about 100 times the historical background rate for the state. Two of the three largest quakes ever recorded in Oklahoma have occurred in 2016.

When considering new oil and gas production and fracking activities in California and the Monterey Bay area the possibilities of induced earthquakes is seldom if ever considered in an environmental review. Researches have identified a few historical California quakes that may have been caused by wastewater injection. But so far California hasn't seen anything like what has been experienced in Oklahoma. But at some point Oklahoma crossed a threshold that we don't want to cross in California.