Railroad Commission of Texas said July 26 it is inspecting saltwater disposal wells within 2.5 miles of a series of earthquakes in recent days in the Camp Springs area near the county line of Scurry and Fisher in west Texas. And this week the commission told the Midland Reporter Telegram it “shut-in two deep disposal wells in the area following inspections… Staff will continue to monitor wells and seismicity data to mitigate earthquakes.”
Justin Rubinstein, geophysicist with U.S. Geological Survey, told USA Today there were 103 quakes in 8 days, including 12 of magnitude of at least 3.0. The first quake July 22 measured 4.9 magnitude, and the highest was 5.1 July 26, which prompted a disaster declaration by Scurry County Judge Dan Hicks.
Rubinstein said, “We’ve found evidence that saltwater disposal is the most likely cause of the earthquakes in Scurry County. This specific area has seen seismic activity going back to 2020.” Railroad Commission said several operators in the area converted deep saltwater disposal wells to shallow saltwater disposal wells within the last year.