Oklahoma Residents Offered Quake Settlement
A $2.6 million class action settlement has been reached for Oklahoma residents who suffered property damage from earthquakes between 2019 and now. The lawsuit alleged that certain companies operated wastewater disposal wells that contributed to causing seismic activity, including a 5.1 magnitude quake.
The recent settlement is the latest in a series of legal actions against energy companies in Oklahoma over induced seismicity. Previously, other oil and gas operators have settled for amounts ranging from $555,000 to $7.5 million for damages linked to their wastewater disposal wells. The scientific consensus, including statements from the Oklahoma Geological Survey, attributes the dramatic increase in the state's earthquakes to the injection of wastewater from oil and gas production into deep underground wells. This process can increase pressure on existing fault lines, leading to seismic events. Oklahoma's rate of magnitude 3.0 or greater earthquakes surged from an average of 1.6 per year between 1978 and 2008 to exceeding California's rate from 2014 to 2017. Before 2009, the state experienced only one or two such earthquakes annually; by 2014, it was seeing one or two per day. In response to the spike in seismic activity, the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC), which regulates the state's oil and gas industry, has implemented measures to mitigate the risk. These include directives to shut down some disposal wells and reduce injection volumes in others, particularly those injecting into the Arbuckle formation.
