3.6 Magnitude Earthquake Strikes West Texas This Morning

We haven't had an earthquake we could feel in a while until this morning when a 3.6 magnitude earthquake hit near Stanton early this morning.

The USGS reported the quake struck at 1:14 am this morning about 12 miles northwest of Stanton at a depth of 5.5 miles.

People in northwest Midland felt the earthquake the most as well as residents of Stanton.

EarthquakeTrack.com reports this is the third in the Stanton area since Thursday and it was the strongest earthquake in the Midland/Odessa region since February 17th when a 4.7 magnitude quake hit east of Snyder.

EarthquakeTrack.com also reports that 11 earthquakes have been reported around Midland/Odessa in the past 30 days and 190 in the past 365 days.

As far as earthquakes are concerned, things started ramping up in 2017 because of the boom in drilling and the oil companies pumping wastewater from the drilling process into the ground.

Scientists linked the earthquakes and drilling about a decade ago, but a number of people in the oilfield were initially skeptical, but now they fully acknowledge the link between the oil industry and earthquakes.

The Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates the oil industry and not railroads, keeps tabs on West Texas's activity.

“The Railroad Commission has been significantly aggressive in curtailing activity,” said Todd Staples, head of the trade group Texas Oil and Gas Association.

Staples also says that the industry knows more shutdowns of wastewater disposal sites are coming if the earthquakes don't slow down.

But regulators have outlined their goals to try and reduce the number of earthquakes within the next 2 years, but for now, earthquakes are just a part of the oilfield.