Oklahoma Shuts More Oil Fracking Waste Wells as Quake Upgraded
- Environmental agency orders suspension of another 17 sites
- Move follows 37 closed by state oil and gas regulators
Oil field workers pull pipes from a fracking well near Crescent, Oklahoma on March 31.
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Oklahoma drillers are being ordered to shut more fracking wastewater wells just as the U.S. Geological Survey is upgrading last weekend’s earthquake to a record magnitude.
The Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday it has ordered the closure of 17 additional disposal sites under its jurisdiction in Osage County. The move follows the suspension of 37 wells by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission and comes on the same day the USGS upgraded the tremor to 5.8 in magnitude, the highest ever for the state, from 5.6 previously estimated.