In Texas Oil Country, an Unfamiliar Threat: Earthquakes

PECOS, Texas — The West Texas earth shook one day in November, shuddering through the two-story city hall in downtown Pecos, swaying the ceiling fans at an old railroad station, rattling the walls at a popular taqueria. Getting rid of the “produced” water is an important business in West Texas, and locations labeled “SWD” — for saltwater disposal — dot the landscape of drilling rigs and truck-worn roads. Texas only recently began its statewide program of monitoring for earthquakes, after a series of small quakes in North Texas rattled residents of Dallas and Fort Worth. “This county does not even have a fire code out in the county,” Mr. Bullard said. I felt it.”The post In Texas Oil Country, an Unfamiliar Threat: Earthquakes appeared first on New York Times.