WELD COUNTY, Colo. — State regulators have ordered a wastewater disposal operation to shut down after a second earthquake was recorded in the area.
According to the Denver Post, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission told the oil and gas drilling site to stop operations after a 2.6 magnitude earthquake was recorded in the area Monday afternoon.
The site, operated by High Sierra Water Services, has agreed to a 20-day halt.
The COGCC said the shutdown was because the agency wants to “further analyze more information to determine whether injection at the site is tied to recent seismic activity recorded within the general vicinity of the well.”
Earlier this month a team from the University of Colorado researchers installed seismographs in parts of Weld County near Greeley to monitor seismic activity.
There are 28 oil and gas waste disposal wells in Weld County, with two of them near the epicenter of a May earthquake.
As part of their research, the scientists hope to determine whether or not fracking played any role in causing the seismic event.