Kansas officials report fewer earthquakes, but can’t yet say why

? The Kansas Geological Survey is reporting a sharp decrease this month in the number of earthquakes occurring in south-central Kansas. But they say it’s still too early to tell whether that’s the result of new regulations imposed last month on oil and gas production.

“It’s too early to reach any conclusions,” Kansas Corporation Commission spokesman Steve Boyd said Wednesday.

In March, the KCC issued an order putting new limits on the amount of saltwater waste that oil and gas producers can inject into disposal wells in parts of Harvey and Sumner counties, the area in south-central Kansas where most of the recent seismic activity has been centered.

That was in response to widespread public concern in the area about the large number of minor earthquakes that have been felt in south-central Kansas, which appeared to coincide with increased oil and gas production that was made possible by a new technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.”

During 2014, KGS recorded 158 earthquakes in Kansas, ranging in magnitude from 1.3 to 4.8 on the Richter scale. That included 30 quakes in the month of November alone, the strongest of which was the 4.8-magnitude quake on Nov. 12.

But officials from the Kansas Geological Survey reported in January that fracking was not the cause of the earthquakes. Rather, they said, the more likely cause was the increased disposal of saltwater waste, a byproduct of oil and gas extraction, into nearby injection wells.

In March, the month when the KCC issued its order, Kansas Geological Survey recorded 25 quakes, most of which were in the 2.0 to 2.9 range on the Richter scale.

But so far in April, geologists have recorded only five quakes, the most recent of which was a 2.2-magnitude quake on Monday about 2 miles southeast of Caldwell in Sumner County.

Rex Buchanan, interim director of the Geological Survey, told a legislative committee in January there was no correlation between the timing of the quakes and the incidence of “fracking” in the area.

The more likely cause, he said, likely was that some of the injection wells used for saltwater disposal were located near fault lines and that the increased pressure from the massive dumping of saltwater into those wells was triggering the quakes.

But neither he nor KCC officials would speculate this week about why seismic activity in the area has fallen sharply this month.

Ed Cross, president of the Kansas Independent Oil and Gas Association, noted there also has been a sharp decline in oil and gas production in that area, coinciding with a sharp decline in the global price of oil.

“Oil prices are impacting the industry,” Cross said. “There has been a big drop in permits for oil wells, a drop in permits for disposal wells, a drop in the number of oil rigs that are operating. It’s more about the price of oil.”

The KCC has said it will continue to monitor reports of seismic activity in the area, as well as how oil and gas producers are complying with the order, and that it may modify the rules in the future.

Meanwhile, the single largest oil company operating in the area, SandRidge Exploration and Production LLC, filed a motion Friday to intervene in the case and reserved the right to request a hearing if the agency intends to take further action.

Officials at SandRidge did not respond to email and telephone requests for comment about the filing.