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Oklahoma Ordered To Cut Fracking After Unsual Spike In Earthquakes

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission have issued an order to reduce fracking by 50% due to a recent spike in earthquake activity, which they say is a direct result of fracking activity.  At least a dozen earthquakes hit Oklahoma City in less than a week last week, which officials say is ‘highly unusual’. Yahoo News reports: “We are working with researchers on the entire area of the state involved in the latest seismic activity to plot out where we should go from here,” Oil and Gas Conservation Division Director Tim Baker said, adding that responding to the swarm of earthquakes in the region was an ongoing process. Oklahoma has become one of the most earthquake-prone areas in the world, with the number of quakes magnitude 3.0 or greater skyrocketing from a few dozen in 2012 to more than 800 in 2015. Many of the earthquakes are occurring in swarms in areas where injection wells pump salty wastewater — a byproduct of oil and gas production — deep into the earth. George Choy, a U.S. Geological Survey seismologist in Denver, said studies indicate that earthquakes in certain areas have been induced by wastewater disposal. About 200 million barrels was disposed in the [...]