Drilling, quakes linked, except for regulators

Another study by university scientists linking Texas earthquakes to oil and gas industry practices, another not-scientific-enough response from the state’s oil and gas industry regulator, the deceptively named Texas Railroad Commission.

The new study, reported Wednesday by The Dallas Morning News, was by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin and Southern Methodist University.

The U.S. Geological Survey has reported that some Texas areas, including Dallas and Fort Worth, have a tenfold higher risk of a damaging earthquake than they did in 2008.

Oklahoma regulators have ordered that state’s oil and gas industry to scale back some operations because of quakes.

The latest UT Austin/Southern Methodist study, in the journal Seismological Research Letters, says earthquakes have been tied to oil and gas drilling activities in Texas as far back as 1925.

In 2014, the Railroad Commission tightened rules for injection wells that dispose of drilling waste, including requiring some operators to reduce injection volumes and pressure.

Commission spokeswoman Ramona Nye called the latest study “subjective” and “arbitrary.” She said the commission will use “credible scientific study” for its regulations and rulemaking.

This story was originally published May 18, 2016 at 5:34 PM with the headline "Drilling, quakes linked, except for regulators."