Kansas Legislators Kill Anti-Injection Well Bill….One Blames Oklahoma for Kansas Earthquakes

An effort launched by the Sierra Club to target oil and gas production in a bid to stop earthquakes in eastern Kansas has been killed in a State House committee.

House Bill 2641 would have put water limitations on new and existing wastewater injection wells in the state.  The Sierra Club sponsored the measure following the advent of earthquakes in the Flint Hills where residents fought efforts to create two new wells.

The bill called for the same kind of restrictions ordered by the Kansas Corporation Commission n wells in Harper and Sumner counties at the state line with Oklahoma where hundreds of quakes have occurred over the past several years. The KCC put  an 8,000 barrel a day restriction on those wells.

The Sierra Club wanted the restrictions extended to all of the nearly 430 other wastewater injection wells in Kansas according to a report in the Lawrence Journal World.

“We’re here in front of you today at the Legislature because the regulatory system has failed,” said Cindy Hodel of Matfield Green before the committee. “Their mission calls for them to regulate the oil and gas industry to protect the public safety. They’re not doing it.”

But the Kansas Independent Oil and Gas Association claimed the bill was based on wrong assumptions about what is causing earthquakes in the state.  Edward Cross, President of the Association accused activists of leading a political effort to disrupt the oil and gas industry.

“They work backwards from a conclusion using an innuendo-filled collection of unfounded allegations to generate anxiety around injection wells and oiland gas development in general,” stated Cross in written testimony. “They offer ideas that are contradictory or otherwise separated from reality and try to manufacture debate that confuses policymakers and the public with assertions that are out of context and need more information for a complete and informed discussion.”

Topeka Rep. Annie Kuether, a Democrat tried to lay the blame on Oklahoma, arguing earthquakes in Kansas are real but are caused by the result of oil and gas production in Oklahoma.

“I live in Topeka. Two years ago, early in the morning, my 100-year old house groaned and made a lot of noise and shook with a very big earthquake. So it seems to me, we need to do more work with Oklahoma,” said Kuether.

Another Democrat, Rep. Steven Crum of Haysville favored referring the bill to an interim study committee.

“I know that (the industry) may think it’s faulty science. All I know is that I now have earthquake insurance on my house and I never had to do that before.”