Second Greeley earthquake halts injection site work!
Colorado oil and gas regulators have halted work at a Greeley wastewater injection site after a second small earthquake was detected in the area on Monday. This is the second time after Ohio in March 2014!
Earthquakes are relatively rare along the plains and areas of Northern Colorado. And this is why the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which regulates the oil and gas industry, suspects the last two Greeley earthquakes (and probably others) were related to fracking operations. Moreover, it ordered the wastewater injecting company, High Sierra Water Services, to stop all injections at the Greeley fracking site for 20 days, while researchers try to determine if the site is the epicenter of recent seismic activity in the area.
Preliminary reports from USGS indicate the magnitude 2.6 earthquake, recorded at 12:27 p.m. Monday, struck about 5 miles northeast of Greeley, or 15 miles due east of Windsor. It struck at a depth of approximately 5,000 meters.
A May 31, 2014 earthquake registered at 3.4 on the Richter scale and was felt across that same area of Weld County. That shaker, at nearly 8,000 meters below the surface, rekindled a debate over oil and gas activity’s impact on earthquakes.
