Oklahoma regulator issues new directive to curb quakes

 Oklahoma's oil and gas regulator on Friday issued a wider directive limiting future increases in wastewater disposal underground in another effort to address a rash of temblors that have occurred amid the shale boom.

The guidelines include wells in Oklahoma's Arbuckle formation that previously were required to restrict disposal volumes and some potentially high-volume wells not previously covered.

Those wells were not part of earlier orders because there had not been reports of seismic activity in their area.

In total, the directive will cover 654 wastewater disposal wells in the Arbuckle formation, the vast majority of which have already had volume restrictions, the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) said on Friday.