Oklahoma Residents Offered $2.6M Earthquake Settlement
A $2.6 million class action settlement is available to Oklahoma residents who suffered property damage from earthquakes since 2019. The lawsuit alleged that certain wastewater disposal wells contributed to the seismic activity, and eligible residents can now file for a payment.
This latest settlement is part of a series of legal actions against energy companies concerning induced seismicity in Oklahoma. The defendants in this specific $2.6 million agreement include Freedom Energy, Montclair, New Dominion, and H&P. The companies deny the allegations but agreed to settle to avoid further litigation. The lawsuit highlighted a significant seismic event: a 5.1 magnitude earthquake that struck near Prague, Oklahoma, on February 2, 2024. This particular quake is a central point in the legal claims, but the settlement covers property damage from any earthquakes within Oklahoma that have occurred since January 29, 2019. This is not the only recent settlement related to Oklahoma's earthquakes. In a separate case, Spess Oil Co., Circle 9 Resources, and Culbreath Oil & Gas Co. Inc. agreed to a $555,000 settlement. That lawsuit also alleged that their wastewater disposal wells contributed to seismic activity, including the same February 2024 earthquake near Prague. The issue of earthquakes linked to wastewater disposal from oil and gas operations has a long history in the state. Scientific studies have attributed a dramatic increase in Oklahoma's earthquake frequency since 2009 to the deep injection of wastewater from these activities. This surge in seismic events led the Oklahoma Corporation Commission to implement new guidelines and restrictions on disposal wells in an effort to curb the quakes.
