Quakes in Texas Oil Country On the Decline Amid Shale Crackdown

The frequency of earthquakes in West Texas declined in 2023 for the first time in at least half a decade after regulators cracked down on the practice of burying toxic wastewater from oil drilling.

The Texas section of the Permian Basin oil field recorded 194 quakes last year, a 10% drop from 2022’s record high, according to the Texas Seismological Network. The figures didn’t account for seismic activity in the New Mexico area of the Permian.

For decades, oil drillers have dealt with the huge quantities of wastewater that spew out of wells alongside crude by injecting it ...