State to Unveil Another Earthquake and Disposal Well Plan







Coming soon—another earthquake and wastewater disposal well plan from the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. Weeks after announcing a plan that covered at least 5,200 square miles and 245 disposal wells in northwestern Oklahoma, the commission now says it will unveil a new regional plan addressing earthquake activity in the central part of the state.

“The plan is similar to the Western Oklahoma Regional Plan implemented on February 16,” stated the announcement from Matt Skinner, a spokesman for the Corporation Commission. “It will encompass an area of over 5,000 square miles and includes more than 400 Arbuckle disposal wells.”

The announcement indicated the plan includes dozens of communities including Edmond, Luther, Perry, Stillwater and Pawnee. Full details won’t be released until Monday, March 7.

In making the Feb. 16 announcement, the OCC called it “the largest volume reduction plan yet for oil and gas disposal wells in western Oklahoma, one that will reduce total volume by more than 500,000 barrels a day or about 40 percent.”

Tim Baker, director of the Oil and Gas Division at the Commission explained at the time that a number of actions were taken in the Medford, Fairview and Cherokee areas.

“However, there is agreement among researchers, including our partners at the Oklahoma Geological Survey that the data clearly underscored the need for a larger, regional response.”

Some of the wells targeted in the northwestern plan also were in a regiona where there had not yet been major earthquake activity. The February plan covered 5,200 square miles in an area from eastern Harper County to eastern Grant County and parts of Garfield and Woodward counties as well as all of Alfalfa and Major Counties. Several strong earthquakes have still occurred in the area in recent days.