Folks in Oklahoma are nervous. Their state earned a title. But it’s one they don’t want: Earthquake Capital. Oklahoma is having more and more quakes. The trend puzzles scientists. They want to know why.

A year ago, Oklahoma and Kansas both had lots of earthquakes. Scientists saw a reason. They believed wastewater caused the quakes.

Oil and gas companies drill deep into the ground. Drilling makes underground wastewater come to the surface. The companies want to get rid of it. They pump wastewater back into the ground. The more they pump and the faster they pump, the more oil and gas they get.

The bad news is . . . they may also get more earthquakes.

Kansas and Oklahoma tried two different ways to solve their quake problems. Kansas told companies not to pump too much or too fast. Oklahoma told companies not to pump the water too deeply.

Now Oklahoma is having many more earthquakes. In January, Oklahoma had 88 earthquakes. That’s more than in a whole year! Some of them were strong. Experts think the worst may be coming.

In Kansas, medium-sized earthquakes went down by over half. The Kansas plan may have worked.

Scientists believe injecting lots of water may worsen fault lines.

Oklahoma residents want answers. Their homes and businesses are in danger.

Oil and gas workers admit they don’t want to cut back on wastewater pumping.

“Without the ability to dispose of wastewater,” says one oil company chief, “we cannot produce oil and gas in the state of Oklahoma, and this is our lifeblood.”

God gives humans “everything we need for a godly life.” (2 Peter 1:3 NIV) He gives us minds to grasp science. He made us stewards of His Earth. He calls us to consider others’ needs over our own. People wrestle with how to work together. The right answer considers everyone involved—and God’s creation too.