Lawsuit Filed Over Oklahoma’s ‘Fracking’ Earthquakes as Its Third Largest Quake Is Felt in 7 Other States

Read page 1

“The science laid out in our case is clear,” Paul Bland, executive director of Public Justice, said. “Oklahoma may be on the verge of experiencing a strong and potentially catastrophic earthquake. All evidence points to alarming seismic activity in and around fracking operations, and that activity is becoming more frequent and more severe. This lawsuit, which we filed after the three companies named in our suit refused to take steps of their own, is an action brought by residents of Oklahoma in an attempt to protect their property, their communities and their lives.”

The groups said in their complaint that continued injection “may present an imminent and substantial endangerment to health and the environment.”

“The dangers associated with fracking and its related processes has never been more clear than it is here in Oklahoma,” Johnson Bridgwater, director of Sierra Club’s Oklahoma chapter, said. “Oklahomans, just as all Americans do, deserve the right to live in peace and comfort—not to live in fear of man-made earthquakes. It is our hope that these three companies will recognize the immediate danger they are putting communities in, and put our health and our environment ahead of its profits.”

OKLAHOMA SIERRA CLUB SUING ENERGY COMPANIES OVER EARTHQUAKE CRISIS: https://t.co/tNvBsUmcjI #oklahomaearthquakes

— Oklahoma Sierra Club (@OKSierraClub) February 16, 2016

Not only are the groups requesting a substantial reduction in production waste, they are also seeking an order that requires the companies to reinforce vulnerable structures, which could be impacted by large magnitude earthquakes. The suit also asks the court to require the establishment of an independent earthquake monitoring and prediction center.

“If the fracking industry doesn’t change its ways, the next earthquake could be catastrophic,” Robin L. Greenwald, head of Weitz & Luxenberg’s Environmental, Toxic Tort and Consumer Protection litigation unit, said. “This lawsuit seeks to beat back immediately the amount of production waste that fracking creates, to reduce the deep well injection of that waste and, most important, to limit the amount of damage this process is causing across the Sooner State.”

Public Justice attorney Richard Webster told Radio Oklahoma News that “the polluters know very well that their activities will trigger earthquakes and yet they continue to inject large volumes of waste with impunity despite that knowledge.

“What we’re asking them for is to come down to a level where the injection does not induce earthquakes.”

Listen to @FPBland & attorney @EnviroWeb discuss our #fracking lawsuit with @RadioOklahoma: https://t.co/FHMUKdtGY3

— Public Justice (@Public_Justice) February 16, 2016

Devon spokesman John Porretto told the AP it would be inappropriate to discuss the suit from the Sierra Club and Public Justice. The other companies didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment.

Many have criticized the state’s slow response to the regulation of wastewater injection. Al Jazeera America’s bombshell documentary, Earthquake State, exposed the maddening hurdles and bureaucracy that state scientists and regulators face in their efforts to halt the potential crisis and national security threat.

As the quakes continue to strike the state with increasing frequency, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin ordered $1.4 million in emergency funds for earthquake research during her annual State of the State last month.

“I’m committed to funding seismic research, bringing on line advanced technology and more staff to fully support our regulators at they take meaningful action on earthquakes,” she said in a statement.

The Sierra Club and Public Justice have joined the mounting lawsuits against energy companies. Last month, 14 residents of Edmond, Oklahoma filed suit against 12 “reckless” energy companies, claiming their fracking operations caused the state’s string of earthquakes.

Get ready #fracking Co! RT Oklahoma Residents Sue 12 'Reckless' #Fracking Companies for Earthquake Damage https://t.co/oFczFDDG3A @ecowatch

— Bianca Jagger Nicaraguense por gracia de Dios ?? (@BiancaJagger) January 19, 2016

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE 

Second Review of EPA’s Fracking Study Urges Revisions to Major Statements in Executive Summary

Warning to Fossil Fuel Investors: Coal and LNG Markets Shrinking Due to Competition From Renewables

Mark Ruffalo: There’s No Fracking That Can Be Done Safely

70 More Earthquakes Hit Oklahoma, Averaging Nearly Three a Day in 2015