Members of a seismicity technical advisory committee to the Bureau of Economic Geology at The University of Texas at Austin (UT) have been appointed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

The committee was created by Texas House Bill 2 with an appropriation of $4.47 million to UT for the purchase and deployment of seismic equipment, maintenance of seismic networks, and modeling of reservoir behavior for systems of wells in the vicinity of faults. It is intended to address complaints of increased seismicity in the area of oil/natural gas operations, particularly drilling waste injection wells (see Shale Daily, Sept. 11, 2015; Jan. 21, 2014).

The nine-member committee will advise the Bureau of Economic Geology on the use of the funding, including the TexNet Seismic Monitoring Program and collaborative research relationships with other universities in Texas, and on the preparation of a status report to the governor and legislature.

Committee members are:

Separately on Monday, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) released its first-ever maps and an associated report on human-induced seismicity hazards. Previously, USGS had only identified natural earthquake hazards (see related story). Oklahoma is another state that is working to address increased seismicity thought to be due to oil/natural gas activity (see Shale Daily, March 7).