Linda Berry, spokeswoman for the KCC, said the commission’s staff was working with the Kansas Geological Survey and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to investigate potential links between the latest earthquakes in Saline County and drilling or injection activity. She said there had been no drilling in the past three months adjacent to the earthquakes south of Salina in central Kansas. That serves to rule out theories hydraulic fracturing directly induced the quakes, she said. There are no KDHE-regulated Class I wastewater disposal wells within 15 miles of the earthquakes, Berry said. There are approximately 38 KCC-regulated Class II Arbuckle disposal wells within the 15-mile investigation area, she said. “KCC staff has compiled the injection data for these wells dating back to 2015 and shared it with KGS and KDHE,” Berry said. “As we analyze this data, we will look for any patterns or trends that could be leading to the increased number of earthquakes.”
Source: The Iola Register
