A report by the U.S. Geological Survey released Thursday attributes the increase in minor earthquakes in dozens of areas across the country to the improper disposal of wastewater produced in the oil and gas drilling process.
The study listed 17 areas that had been affected by man-made earthquakes, identifying Oklahoma as the region hardest hit by the earthquakes, with quakes having become hundreds of times more frequent in the Midwestern state in the past few years.
A vast majority of the earthquakes are small enough that it’s difficult for humans to even feel them, but a few have resulted in injuries and the destruction of homes, most notably a 5.6 quake that hit Prague, Oklahoma, in 2011.
The new study reaffirms what the agency had found in a 2012 analysis, which also stated that wastewater disposal, not hydraulic fracturing itself, was behind the rise in the number of earthquakes.
“USGS’s studies do not suggest that hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as ‘fracking,’ causes the increased rate of earthquakes [of magnitude 3.0 and larger],” reads the 2012 report.
