The Sierra Club and Public Justice have notified four major Oklahoma energy companies that they plan to file suit unless changes are made to drilling operations that reduces the states earthquake rate.
The organizations have filed a "Notice of Intent to Sue" with Sandridge Exploration and Production, New Dominion, Chesapeake Operating and Devon Energy Production company.
In the "Notice" the groups say that "overlaying the locations of 'Defendants' wells onto the places where earthquakes above magnitude 3.5 have been felt shows that earthquakes are occurring in the vicinity of the 'Defendants' wells or along fault lines that are close to the wells."
The two organizations want the energy companies to immediately and substantially reduce the amount of produced waste water that is injected back into the ground, plus take other steps to protect buildings and create a monitoring facility that could determine how much waste water is safe to inject underground.