article_snippet.sent: A series of earthquakes that rattled a small Texan community have been linked to nearby oil and gas operations.
article_snippet.sent: Now scientists believe two or greater earthquakes were the result of high-pressure injection of drilling wastewater into the ground.
article_snippet.sent: A series of earthquakes that rattled a small Texan community have been linked to nearby oil and gas operations.
article_snippet.sent: The oil and gas industry determined this based on where and when the earthquakes happened; computer models that track pressure changes; and company data from nearby wells.
article_snippet.sent: Matthew Hornbach, a Southern Methodist University geophysicist, said the timing and location of the quakes correlates better to the drilling and injection than any other possible reason. '
article_snippet.sent: There appears to be little doubt about the conclusion that the earthquakes were in fact induced,' USGS seismologist Susan Hough, who wasn't part of the study team, said in an email. '
article_snippet.sent: This adds to other studies that linked injecting wastewater from energy wells to a tremendous jump in earthquakes in Oklahoma and southern Kansas.
article_snippet.sent: Earlier today, the Oklahoma Geological Society said the Oklahoma Geological Society is 'very likely' that most of the earthquakes that have shaken the state in recent years have been triggered by the subsurface injection of wastewater from oil and natural gas drilling operations.
article_snippet.sent: the Oklahoma Geological Society released a statement following an investigation into dozens of earthquakes recorded in central and north-central Oklahoma.
article_snippet.sent: Unlike other research that linked quakes to the injection of wastewater, the SMU study also sees a secondary link in another part of the drilling process.
article_snippet.sent: The Texas Railroad Commission, the state's oil and gas regulator, hired The Texas Railroad Commission, the state's oil and gas regulator first seismologist last year to investigate potential links between quakes and fracking after Azle residents asked The Texas Railroad Commission, the state's oil and gas regulator to halt oil and gas activities.