The Texas Railroad Commission on Tuesday said it has made available online information on injection wells around Azle, where a series of small earthquakes rocked residents last year. Azle Mayor Alan Brundrett and other officials had complained that the data, such as injection volumes and pressures, was only updated once a year. A link to the data is here.
In a news release Tuesday, the Railroad Commission said its state seismologist, Dr. Craig Pearson, "is facilitating the data exchanges between operators and academic institutions interested in conducting the research required to ultimately determine the cause of recent seismic activity in Parker and Tarrant counties." The agency did not make an interpretation of the data, provided by five of seven operators of the injection wells.
In a prepared statement, Pearson said “the Commission appreciates industry cooperation in the gathering of this data. Posting of the information to the Commission’s website is part of our continued effort to ensure the public is informed of our efforts to scientifically investigate seismic events in Texas"
Officials in Arkansas, Ohio and Colorado have linked earthquakes with nearby wastewater injection wells, while Texas and Oklahoma regulators have not established such a link. University of Texas at Austin researchers have also concluded that there were possible links between injection wells and seismic activity at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport and around Cleburne in 2009-2010.
The quakes are the subject of a scheduled public meeting Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Azle High School, 1200 Boyd Road. Scheduled speakers include a Reno Mayor Lynda Stokes, Texas Rep. Phil King and SMU geophysics professor Heather DeShon. It is sponsored by KERA and StateImpact Texas, a public radio collaborative.
-- Jim Fuquay
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