#State that seismac tremors series

TexNet's role is not 'to try to pin individual wells as problems,вЂќ he said. While the Railroad Commission oversees more than 8,000 deep disposal wells in Texas, Hennings said вЂњjust a tiny number of that 8,000' have been associated with earthquakes. There's already a 'body of science,' he said officials should now be taking steps to reduce the risk, such as recycling fracking water instead of injecting it into the ground. The year before, the state was pegged as the third-most at-risk for them, behind only Oklahoma and Kansas.Д«ut Luke Metzger, the director of the advocacy group Environment Texas, said that the oil and gas industry вЂ“ backed by government regulators вЂ“ continues to downplay the link between quakes and disposal wells. Geological Survey said the odds that a manmade earthquake would hit Texas this year had plummeted. вЂњThe commission has long recognized the possibility of induced seismicity related to fluid injection thatвЂ™s why the has in place some of the most stringent rules in the nation to address the issue,' she said.Д®verley, the Texans for Natural Gas spokesman, credited the Railroad Commission's regulatory overhaul with a subsequent decline in earthquakes in the state. Another 15 of the applications were returned or withdrawn. Of those, 60 were issued with special conditions, including some related to injection volumes and pressure. Since they took effect, the commission has received 114 disposal well applications in 'areas of historic seismicity,' said Ramona Nye, a spokeswoman for the commission, in an emailed statement. The regulations allow for permits to be amended or wells shut down due to seismicity. 'There's been, I'd say, a difference between their sort of public face on that and their activities,' Frohlich said. But in 2014, the agency approved regulations requiring disposal well operators to submit more geographical information and hired a staff seismologist. The commission has panned much of the research linking quakes to oil and gas activities. The Texas Railroad Commission, the state's oil and gas regulator, also has seemed to have a 'vexed relationship' with the issue, Frohlich said. Environmental Protection Agency and researchers at Texas universities have pointed to the wastewater disposal process as a likely culprit behind shaking in the state.Д¬liff Frohlich, a senior research scientist at the University of Texas at Austin who has studied seismicity for decades, said 'some companies in industry have been very forward-looking about getting some of their best people working on this,' while 'others have stuck their heads in the sand or been very secretive.' Scientists have long established that injecting fluid deep underground вЂ“ a technique used to dispose of oilfield wastewater вЂ“ can trigger earthquakes. 'We're moving pretty swiftly in the direction of being able to provide answers.' A 'vexed relationship'

As the program amasses more data, вЂњwe'll be able to start to look at the earthquake rate and ask the question, вЂIs it increasing or decreasing in a given area?вЂ™вЂќ he said. Peter Hennings, a research scientist with UT-Austin's Bureau of Economic Geology, said initial TexNet data shows 'earthquakes happening in key areas in Texas that have really been known about for a few years' вЂ“ mainly hubs of oil and gas production. This is a program that obviously leads us toward that goal.' 'We need to get good data we need to have good research. 'You have a very complex issue, and a lot of people have tried to oversimplify it,' said Steve Everley, a spokesman for the industry-funded group Texans for Natural Gas. The goal is for the network of sensors, now collecting data across the state, to suss out the source of the tremors. That's where the TexNet Seismic Monitoring program comes in. Industry representatives and state regulators have been wary of acknowledging a connection, arguing more detailed information is needed. Texas saw an uptick in quakes starting in 2008, and a growing body of research has linked fossil fuel activities вЂ“ specifically the injection of oilfield wastewater into the ground вЂ“ to the shaking.

#State that seismac tremors series

Greg Abbott in 2015 after a series of temblors shook the Dallas-Fort Worth region. Run out of the University of Texas at AustinвЂ™s Bureau of Economic Geology, the program was created by the Legislature and Gov. That sensor, installed last year, is just one node in a statewide network called TexNet that monitors quakes and tremors across Texas.