Dallas Morning News
Originally Posted: September 10, 2015
Five months ago geologists from Southern Methodist University identified two wells used to store wastewater from natural gas drilling as the likely cause of a series of earthquakes around the North Texas town of Azle in late 2013.
Now the Texas Railroad Commission is questioning whether they had enough evidence.
In preliminary findings released Thursday, examiners with the commission said there was not sufficient proof the injection well operated by EnerVest, a Houston-based oil and gas company, caused the seismic activity. They recommended the well be allowed to continue operating.
That followed on from a finding last month that another injection well operated by XTO Energy, a subsidiary of oil giant Exxon Mobil, was also not to blame for the earthquakes.
“SMU’s seismology team stands by its research and does not comment on public policy,” a spokeswoman for the university said in a statement. READ MORE