Texas state regulators propose stricter guidelines for injection wells, in response to earthquakes

Texas oil and gas regulators on Tuesday proposed stricter guidelines for injections wells, in response to recent earthquakes linked to drilling, Marissa Barnett reports for the Dallas Morning News. "The suggested changes would require oil and gas companies to provide more information in their permit applications for underground disposal wells used to store waste from oil and gas drilling, including data from the U.S. Geological Survey about area fault lines, past earthquake activity and geologic mapping."

Concern has grown because of a rash of earthquakes in North Texas in Azle, a town near Fort Worth that sits atop the Barnett Shale, Barnett writes. Azle has registered more than 30 earthquakes in the past nine months. (TownMapsUSA map)

But state officials in Texas and Oklahoma have shied away from linking earthquakes to the state's powerful energy industry. Three studies — one by a seismologist hired by the Railroad Commission, which regulates oil and gas; one by Southern Methodist University, and one by a state House subcommittee — said there was no "conclusive link between the earthquakes and disposal wells, and that regulatory changes should be made with caution given the state’s robust oil and gas economy."

"The proposed changes would increase the burden for oil and gas companies," Barnett writes. "Injection-well operators would be required to supply the commission with geological data and previous earthquake activity in the area where they plan to put injection wells. Also, companies would need to more frequently report fluid pressures and well data to regulators. Other changes would allow the commission to suspend or terminate a permit if the injection well is suspected as the culprit in an earthquake. Currently, 'causing seismic activity' is not on the list of reasons for which a well could lose its permit." (Read more)