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Quaking and shaking in Medford (Oklahoma, that is) By Greg Stiles Mail Tribune Apr 28, 2015 12:00 AM A A Medford, Oregon, and Medford, Oklahoma, are worlds apart culturally and demographically. Suffice to say there are more students in the band at either North Medford or South Medford here than in the entire student body in Oklahoma's Medford High. It's dog loving vs. dogie punching, mountain vs. prairie, not to mention Ducks vs. Sooners. Yet, for all the differences, there is a common cause for concern: While Southern Oregon braces itself for the long-awaited Big One, Oklahoma's Grant County is getting tired of annoying, small-magnitude earthquakes that hit an average of 20 times a week. The most recent oil boom brought on by hydraulic fracturing — a practice commonly known as fracking, where high volumes of liquid are injected deep below the surface — coincided with the rise of earthquakes disturbing the plains. Oklahoma surpassed California as the shakiest state in the Lower 48 during 2014, according to U.S. Geological Survey. USGS data showed 585 earthquakes in Oklahoma in 2014 registering a magnitude of 3.0 and larger, up from 100 in 2013. The number of earthquakes of all sizes was nearly 10 times that — 5,417. That's more than 100 times the number recorded in 2009, when Oklahoma registered 50 earthquakes. Grant County, Oklahoma, gets its fair share of the quakes, rocking and rolling 1,071 times in 2014. Medford, population 991, is the county seat of Grant County, just 17 miles south of the Kansas border. During her time in Medford, Oklahoma, City Recorder and Treasurer Barbara Bush has seen at least three oil booms. But none with the corresponding seismic fallout. "The first (earthquake) I noticed was in November 2011," Bush said. "It's gotten increasingly worse and worse; last year was horrible. I've got friends that live just east of here who tell me they don't have one door in their house that closes right." Last month, a town hall meeting drew more than 100 people to discuss the implications of fracking in the area. "Even though we've had little shakes of 4.1 magnitude and down to 2.1, it seems to shake continuously, two or three times a day a couple of times week," Bush said. "We're concerned about our water supplies and what that continual shaking will eventually do. We don't know what kind of damage has occurred. Most people have concluded it's related to the oil activity and the saltwater injection wells." Grant County Assessor Robin Herod is a relative newcomer. Nonetheless, she's in the same boat with everyone else. "My kitchen cabinets are coming loose from the ceiling," she said. "It's just kind of an annoyance. You know exactly what it is now when it happens. At first, you wonder, 'What's that?' Then, after a while, you realize it's just another earthquake." While some Oklahomans have sustained major property damage, Herod said hers are generally minor — books jumping around and CDs sliding off the table. Her office is on the first floor of a three-story courthouse, but she doesn't worry about the prospects of a really big one. "I know people are concerned about it, but I don't think they're that concerned," Herod said. "We're just hoping the big one doesn't come." As oil prices have declined, so has the pace of production in the region. Some believe there is a direct correlation between diminished saltwater waste well activity and the earthquakes. "I haven't noticed earthquakes happening near as often lately," Herod said. "I'm just not sure if it's from the fracking or the drought. I don't want to say yea or nay, there just isn't enough enough information to prove one way or another." Tim Jantz, a Grant County road foreman, has been on the job for nearly 34 years. He, too, wonders if the long, dry spell the region has endured is part of the equation. "But I would be speculating," he said. "We had one the other day that shook the building where I work pretty good, but most of the time I'm on the road." Oregon is far from the oil fields and an unlikely target for fracking. It would be even more unlikely in the near term if a bill introduced by Rep. Ken Helm, D-Beaverton, is approved, putting a 10-year moratorium on the practice. The House Energy and Environment Committee passed the legislation, 5-4, last week and it has been forwarded to the Joint Ways and Means Committee. If passed and signed into law, the bill would direct the Geology and Mineral Industries and Environmental Quality departments to review statutes and rules that are applicable to fracking and make recommendations for legislation or rulemaking to ensure best practices. Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 541-776-4463 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GregMTBusiness, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/greg.stiles.31, and read his blog at www.mailtribune.com/ Economic Edge. Medford, Okla., had more quakes in 2014 (1,071) than residents (991), with the quake onslaught coinciding with increased oil production using fracking methods. submitted photos