Kansas panel tightens fracking waste limits in effort to prevent earthquakes

In its continuing effort to settle the shaky ground, a divided Kansas Corporation Commission on Tuesday expanded restrictions on underground injection of oilfield wastewater linked to the spate of earthquakes over the past four years.  The new rules put stricter limits on the volume of wastewater that can be dumped down disposal wells around the most seismically sensitive areas of Harper and Sumner counties. Tuesday’s order also expands the area where underground disposal is restricted. Reduced injection rates are being credited with a reduction in the magnitude and frequency of human-perceptible quakes on the Kansas side of the Oklahoma border. Most of the quakes now being felt in the Wichita area are originating in Oklahoma.