Earthquakes in the salinity zone raise questions about wastewater injection

The 4.3-magnitude earthquake south of Salina in the first week of December was a concern for enough people who called officials to report the quake, which hit homes.

It turned out to be a precursor to more than a dozen earthquakes in the region that included 4.0 in Gypsum and 3.5 in Asaria on December 15, a Christmas surprise 2.0 in Marion, 3.9 near Lindsburg and 3.3 in Salina on Sunday, and Monday morning triceps ranging from 2.5 to 2.8 around Salina.

This increase in earthquakes caught the attention of the Kansas Corporation Commission, which is responsible for regulating the oil and gas industry. Earthquakes have also been noted by skeptics of waste fluid injection and hydraulic fracturing, a technique of expanding energy production by using wells to force fluids under pressure into foundation formations.

Linda Perry, a spokeswoman for the KCC, said commission staff have been working with the Kansas Geological Survey and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to investigate possible links between recent earthquakes in Saline County and drilling or injection activities.

She said there had been no drilling in the past three months near the earthquakes south of Salina, in central Kansas. She added that this rules out theories of hydraulic fracturing, which directly caused the earthquakes.

There are no sewage disposal wells regulated by KDHE within the 15-mile radius of the earthquake, Berry said. She said there are approximately 38 KCC-regulated Arbuckle disposal wells within the 15-mile investigation area.

“KCC staff compiled injection data for these wells dating back to 2015 and shared it with KGS and KDHE,” Berry said. “As we analyze this data, we will look for any patterns or trends that could lead to an increase in the number of earthquakes.”

It said the company has the authority to request more detailed injection data from operators of the 38 wells and can take action to reduce or eliminate disposal at specific wells.

Joe Space, CEO of WindSoHy, an Overland Park company involved in developing wind, hydrogen, and energy storage projects, said the dumping of waste fluids near Salina from elsewhere in Kansas or from other states could explain a wave of earthquakes in Saline County.

It contains the same identifiers associated with what I call ‘frackquakes,’ Spease said.

He said regulators in Kansas were at a disadvantage because they relied on companies to voluntarily report the amounts and locations of fluids being pumped underground through wells.

Spease said the earthquakes in Hutchinson, Hays and Salina bring urgency to questions about whether the KCC should expand restrictions on wastewater injection and fracking.

The Kansas Geological Survey has reported links between induced earthquakes and wastewater disposal through injection wells. Research indicated that fluid deposited at depth increased pressure along faults to the point where it overcame frictional forces and caused earthquakes.

In 2014, a 4.8 magnitude earthquake shook parts of Kansas and Oklahoma. The US Geological Survey said the quake’s epicenter was near Conway Springs, which is about 25 miles southwest of Wichita. The KCC responded in 2015 with an order limiting the volume of waste fluid injections in the hardest-hit county in south central Kansas. The regulatory action reduced the occurrence of earthquakes within this part of the state.

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Storyline: Tim Carpenter from The Kansas Reflector

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