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As Amberlee Darold steers the white pickup over a rutted cow pasture near Oklahoma City, she tries to explain what it’s like being a seismologist for the state of Oklahoma right now. Darold works at the Oklahoma Geological Survey, the state agency charged with studying and reporting on Oklahoma’s current earthquake explosion.
Darold says she and OGS seismologist Austin Holland receive angry emails from people who think they aren’t working hard enough to figure out what’s causing the earthquakes.
A self-described child of hippie parents from Oregon, Darold, 36, says she went into the job so she could make a difference in her community.
“I kind of enjoy responding politely to them. Ultimately, I just tell them that I understand their concern and I’m sure it is frightening and nerve-wracking and we’re doing the best we can.”
In fact, Darold and Holland are literally digging in the dirt to gather information. On an unseasonably warm January day, they are setting up a permanent seismic monitoring station in a pasture.
An oil company hopes to explore the pasture, about 16 miles southwest of Oklahoma City, and paid for the seismic equipment because the area is close to homes, Holland explains.
Surrounded by a small crowd of journalists, he jokes that he should get some endorsement money for his appearance.
In addition to a reporter and photographer from the Tulsa World, a photographer for the New York Times and a reporter and photographer from the Washington Post are all watching Holland and Darold set up the seismic station.
The state’s frequent earthquakes and their connection to oil and gas activities have received wide attention from media outside the state and have resulted in stories in National Geographic and Time magazines.
Cameras snap rapidly as Darold leans down into a black plastic pickle barrel — situated in a large hole carved out of the earth — and places the seismometer on a small foundation of concrete.
The seismometer is unremarkable, like a small black paint can with a handle on top.
About 20 feet away, a solar panel stands next to a metal box holding the components of a small computer. Data from the seismometer are sent to the computer, where the information will be transferred by cell signal to the Oklahoma Geological Survey computers on the University of Oklahoma’s Norman campus.
From there, the earthquake data are shared with the U.S. Geological Survey and other organizations for researchers to use.
Holland, 40, came to Oklahoma five years ago after earning his degree at the University of Arizona. Being a seismologist in Oklahoma wasn’t so exciting back then.
“I came here just as the earthquakes started to pick up,” he said. “Resources available to the seismic-monitoring program at the time were more limited.”
Now, nearly 50 permanent and temporary seismometers across Oklahoma are monitored by the OGS. The agency hired Darold and a public information specialist last year to assist Holland.
As he finishes shoveling the dirt, he stamps it down on top of the seismograph vault. A reporter asks him whether politics in an oil and gas state ever influence his work.
“We don’t work in a vacuum, although a lot of people think science does occur in an ivory tower or vacuum. So clearly we feel pressures on both sides, and really we are trying to serve Oklahomans and understand things as best we can.”
Insurance excludes
induced quakes
As the number of earthquakes in the state has continued to rise, more Oklahomans are buying earthquake insurance. But the apparent cause of that increase is now being excluded from some policies.
At least four companies offering earthquake insurance in Oklahoma have excluded coverage for earthquakes triggered by hydraulic fracturing or wastewater-injection wells, records show. The clauses differ, with some companies excluding only earthquakes caused by fracking and others excluding injection wells.
Records provided by the state Insurance Department show that the following insurers have exclusions related to fracking or wastewater-injection wells: American Association of Insurance Services, Aegi Security, and United Fire and Casualty.
The United States Geological Survey and several studies have attributed Oklahoma’s rapid increase in earthquakes to wastewater-injection wells. They are used to dispose of wastewater, laden with salt and naturally occurring toxic chemicals, produced from oil and gas wells.
Well operators disposed of a total of 1.1 billion barrels of wastewater in the state in 2013, enough to fill Tulsa’s Lake Yahola 23,000 times.
State Insurance Commissioner John Doak said interest in earthquake insurance continues to grow in Oklahoma, with about 35,000 policies sold last year. About 25 percent of Oklahomans who have homeowners insurance also have earthquake insurance, according to the Insurance Department.
However, many people mistakenly think their homeowners policies cover earthquake damage.
“I am very acutely aware that most consumers never read their policies and they think that they are covered for this,” Doak said.
He said a new rule requires insurance agents to take one hour of training regarding earthquake policies as part of their continuing education requirements.
Policies differ widely in the amount of deductibles, ranging from 2 percent to 10 percent of a home’s total value before coverage kicks in. Some companies also have moratoriums on new policies for 30 or 60 days following an earthquake.
Residents living in areas bombarded by frequent earthquakes say they are concerned about the insurance company exclusions.
Roger Freeman lives just east of Lake Guthrie, where many of Logan County’s 1,258 earthquakes originated last year. He has purchased earthquake insurance and installed piers under his home to protect his foundation.
“So how do they determine what was caused by an earthquake or what was caused by fracking? If it’s not manmade and you have an earthquake, then how do you get the insurance company to pay?” Freeman asked.
In an email, a spokeswoman for the Insurance Department said consumers who think their claims should not have been denied can file a complaint with the department.
“We would require the insurer to provide documentation to support its position that the cause of loss was actually from an excluded peril,” she said.
If the consumer is not satisfied with the insurer’s explanation, the matter can be referred to the department’s mediation program or settled in court, she said.
A survey by Doak’s office of some of the state’s largest insurers found that 54 claims were filed by Oklahomans holding earthquake insurance policies last year. The majority of claims have not yet been paid, according to the department.
Bill Ellsworth, a seismologist for the U.S. Geological Survey, said that in states such as Oklahoma that are experiencing earthquakes on a wide scale for the first time, “you’re dealing with structures you’ve got, not the structures you want.”
“The fragility varies greatly by structural type. A good type of building in a tornado would be a big, sturdy brick building, but that’s not a good building in an earthquake,” he said.
Even weak earthquakes can cause damage such as cracks in walls and brick, Ellsworth said.
During the magnitude-5.6 earthquake that was centered near Prague in 2011, six homes were destroyed, 20 homes sustained major damage and 38 homes had minor damage, according to the Oklahoma Emergency Management agency.
The average cost to repair a home with major damage was $80,000, while minor damage averaged $13,000 per home, OEM said.
ODOT responds to increased earthquake activity
Tornado-savvy Oklahomans have faced a learning curve when it comes to dealing with earthquakes.
When the state’s shaking became more frequent in 2010, the Oklahoma Department of Transportation wanted to make sure bridges remained safe. With no policy from which to work, ODOT decided to inspect every bridge within a 50-mile radius of a 3.0-magnitude earthquake.
Some years later, ODOT officials met with the California Transportation Department, or Caltrans, to review earthquake preparedness.
“They almost found it laughable that we were looking at such a large radius for such a small event,” ODOT Director of Operations Paul Green said. The agency reduced its standard to requiring bridge inspections within a 15-mile radius of a 4.0 earthquake, still a cautious standard compared to other states, he said.
So far, inspectors have found damage to a bridge in Lincoln County following the Prague earthquake and found that concrete had fallen off a Logan County bridge. ODOT repaired the damage, which was minor, in both cases.
Green said the agency is working to hire a consultant to develop an earthquake response protocol.
ODOT spokeswoman Terri Angier said the state’s bridges are designed to absorb the energy from an earthquake.
“Obviously, we don’t like the earthquakes in any way, but they are designed for a certain amount of that,” she said.
Curtis Killman
Tulsa World Staff Writer
