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Oklahoma puts limits on oil and gas wells to fight quakes
Facing a six-year barrage of increasingly large earthquakes, Oklahoma regulators are ordering the state’s powerful oil-and-gas industry to cut back the underground disposal of industry wastes that have caused the tremors across the state. New York Times. Mar 08 2016
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/08/us/oklahoma-earthquakes-oil-gas-wells.html?_r=0
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California gas leak was the worst man-made greenhouse-gas disaster in U.S. history, study says
The massive leak that vented millions of pounds of natural gas from a Los Angeles storage facility now appears to have been the worst accidental discharge of greenhouse gases in U.S. history, scientists concluded in an analysis released Thursday.
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Change in EPA policy could broaden reach over oil & gas wells
WASHINGTON – Oil and gas wells across Texas and the country could soon be subject to stricter emissions regulation and government inspections under a policy change under review at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Houston Chronicle, February 20, 2016 (subscription)
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Environmentalists sue three Oklahoma energy companies over earthquakes
The Oklahoma Sierra Club filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against three Oklahoma energy companies, accusing them of using saltwater disposal wells that are contributing to the state’s sharp rise in earthquake activity. Oklahoman, Oklahoma. Feb 17 2016
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Fracking research hits roadblock with Texas law
8Texas law allows companies to withhold specific chemicals by labeling them as proprietary. Operators in Texas have invoked the exemption to shield – at least partially – the identities of more than 170,000 ingredients. Houston Chronicle, Texas. Feb 08 2016
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Poor, minorities carry the burden of frack waste in South Texas
Poor and minority neighborhoods bear a disproportionate share of fracking wastewater wells in South Texas’ Eagle Ford play, according to a new study. Environmental Health News. Feb 03 2016
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Oklahoma aims to find ways to reduce induced earthquakes
Mary Fallin, governor of emerging shale state Oklahoma, said she set aside more than $1 million in emergency funds to support earthquake research. United Press International. Jan 30
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Fracking Industry-Linked Earthquakes in Oklahoma Crack Political Party Lines
Though the US Geological Survey has determined the use of fracking wastewater disposal injection wells is the cause of the state’s earthquakes – and predicted a magnitude 5.5 or greater quake is probable – the use of disposal injection wells continues. The grassroots group Oklahoma Coalition Against Induced Seismicity called […]
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Lawsuits accuse fracking companies of triggering Oklahoma’s earthquake surge
Two lawsuits in Oklahoma accuse more than a dozen oil and gas companies of triggering recent earthquakes by disposing of their drilling waste in deep wells.
Inside Climate News, Jan 20, 2016
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More quakes rattle Oklahoma but state avoids tough measures
OKLAHOMA CITY — In Oklahoma, now the country’s earthquake capital, people are talking nervously about the big one as man-made quakes get stronger, more frequent and closer to major population centers. Next door in Kansas, they’re feeling on firmer ground though no one is ready yet to declare victory.