The number of magnitude 3 or greater earthquakes in Oklahoma has dropped significantly in 2017, according to state regulators.
The Oklahoma Geological Survey reports the state has had 294 quakes that are a magnitude 3 or greater in 2017 through the second week in December, the Oklahoma City Oklahoman newspaper reported.
That compares to 624 similarly-sized quakes in all of 2016, 903 in 2015, 579 in 2014 and 109 in 2013, Kallanish Energy reports.
The earthquake boom appears to be caused by injecting waste too quickly, injecting too great a volume of liquids or injecting it too close to basement rocks, state geology officials said.
The state’s Corporation Commission in mid-2015 started ordering producers to close some wells and reduce volumes in other wells. Those orders came after the quakes were linked to the injection of liquid drilling wastes into underground rock formations.
