New Mexico has joined Texas in placing restrictions on oilfield wastewater injection in Permian Basin. Albuquerque Journal said last week the state’s Oil Conservation Division issued guidelines requiring operators southeast of Malaga in Eddy County to report wastewater injection amounts and pressure and monitor for seismic activity. Adrienne Sandoval told the Journal, “We’ve been pretty lucky not to have had the type of activity that’s occurred across the border, but the good thing of not being first is we can take a look at what other states have done, what’s worked, what hasn’t worked, and adopt that in our own unique New Mexico plan.”
New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources said wastewater injection is a possible origin of human-caused earthquakes. The bureau and U.S. Geological Survey collect data from 25 seismic monitoring stations in southeast New Mexico. These stations recorded seven earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 to 4.0 in seven months in the region from March to September 2021 along with dozens of others of at least 2.0. The Journal said the Oil Conservation Division also will pause approvals on 70 applications for additional disposal wells in the region.
Saltwater disposal wells are NOT the cause of earthquake swarms along the
faults feeding the Pecos River Rift down to the Rio Grand Rift. Pressure is
building along the subduction zones in Washington, Oregon, Wyoming, Colorado
right down to the Pecos River and Rio Grand Rifts starting locations in Colorado.
Naturally the earthquake swarms are migrating down the faults.