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Thomas H. Goebel, University of Memphis

(THE CONVERSATION) The way companies drill for oil and gas and dispose of wastewater can trigger earthquakes, at times in unexpected places.

In West Texas, earthquake rates are now 30 times higher than they were in 2013. Studies have also linked earthquakes to oil field operations in Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado and Ohio.

California was thought to be an exception, a place where oil field operations and tectonic faults apparently coexisted witho...