It's Official: Injection of Fracking Wastewater Caused Kansas’ Biggest Earthquake

The Wichita Eagle noted from the study that this man-made quake, which hit 40 miles southwest of Wichita and felt as far away as Memphis, likely came from just one or two nearby wells.

The publication ominously noted that, "one of those two wells, operated by SandRidge Energy, is still injecting water at the same level as when the earthquake occurred two years ago."

The USGS scientists believe that the 4.9-magnitude earthquake was triggered by wastewater injection for the following reasons:

-      There had not previously been similar earthquakes in the area.

-      There were waste-water injection wells nearby.

-      The earthquake activity started after the amount of water injected in the wells increased.

-      There's a piece of earth that could be activated by changes in pressure.

Kansas has had a long history with fracking. In fact, the first well ever fracked in the United States happened in 1947 in the Sunflower state. The process is now used for nearly all of the 5,000 conventional wells drilled in Kansas every year.

Read the EcoWatch story - “It's Official: Injection of Fracking Wastewater Caused Kansas’ Biggest Earthquake.”