The Sept. 3 earthquake that measured 5.8 magnitude in Pawnee has led to the filing of a class-action lawsuit against at least two oil and gas companies, blaming them for the damages.
The suit was filed Thursday in Pawnee County District court (CJ-2016-78) by James Adams and others against Eagle Road Oil LLC, Cummings Oil Company and 25 John Does.
Attorney Billy Joe Ellington of Pawnee filed the suit along with Weitz and Luxenberg of New York, the Poynter Law Group of Little Rock, Ark. and the firm of Steel, Wright, Gray and Hutchinson of Little Rock, Ark.
“By disposing of fracking wastewater deep into the earth, Defendants introduced contaminants into the natural environment that caused an adverse change to it in the form of unnatural seismic activity,” charged the suit. “In order words, due to Defendants’ pollution of the environment they caused the man-made earthquakes at issue in this case.”
The early-September earthquake was originally classified as 5.6 magnitude but the U.S. Geological Survey updated the official magnitude, making it 5.8 magnitude and the largest recorded earthquake in the state. Its power was felt from Omaha, Nebraska to Kansas City, Kansas and Dallas, Texas. At least one person was injured in the quake that hit at 7:02 a.m. on a Saturday.
The quake prompted the Oklahoma Corporation Commission to shut down 37 wastewater injection wells in the area. The action applied to ten operators and wells within 5 miles of the epicenter. Other wells were ordered to reduce operations within 10 miles of the epicenter.