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Texas regulators have ordered Exxon Mobil's (NYSE:XOM) XTO Energy subsidiary and another company to prove their wells near Fort Worth are not causing earthquakes.
- On Friday the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates the state’s oil and gas industry, told both companies they need to appear at hearings scheduled for June to justify why their wells should not be shut down.
- The action follows a Southern Methodist University study released this week that linked a rash of small earthquakes in the area to nearby natural gas wells and the injection of wastewater deep underground.
- Also this week, the U.S. Geological Survey reported that an increase in seismic activity in Texas, Oklahoma and six other states "very likely" was caused by wastewater injection from oil and gas operations.
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