County sees little new damage from Sunday's quake

Jan. 22--He was nervous about returning to the courthouse following Sunday's earthquake, based on the severity of the event and the damage done by a similar quake in August.

Reno County Maintenance Director Harlan Depew, however, said the quake -- rated a magnitude 4.6 by the Kansas Geological Survey -- appeared to have had little new impact on the 90-year-old building.

"There are a few items still being evaluated, to figure out the extent of it," Depew said, such as the main courthouse elevator now out of service because counterweights in the elevator "jumped the track."

"It took significant movement to cause that to happen," Depew said.

"There is some new mortar damage high in the dome, in the same area we had back in August," he said. "Those areas were temporarily repaired. We finished that project three weeks ago. But the extent (of damage) doesn't appear to be anything like August."

The commission in December approved spending $24,300 with Restoration and Waterproofing Contractors Inc. to make temporary repairs to the dome, to keep rainwater and ice out of openings created by the shifting concrete slabs. Permanent repairs, expected to cost several hundred thousand dollars, are planned for the spring.

"On the interior, plaster cracking throughout the building was already extensive," Depew said. "It doesn't appear to be a lot worse because of this. There may be a few that opened a bit further or lengthened, but I've not seen anything near the scope of the August quake."

He also walked through other county buildings Sunday and Monday and didn't find "any significant issues," Depew said.

A structural engineer the county contracts with was unavailable Tuesday to inspect the buildings, but he was expected at the courthouse Wednesday. Meanwhile, Depew said, he was meeting with the county's insurance provider to discuss additional claims.

Commissioner Ron Sellers, noting he was surprised there wasn't more damage based on what he felt at his home, expressed "displeasure with the state of Kansas for not wanting to make factual findings or come up with some kind of plan."

"The last major quake was in August and now we have one in January," Sellers said. "If we don't change our ways, these are going to continue. My hope is the state of Kansas will take a more aggressive approach to what's causing them."

Commission Chairman Bob Bush said he'd received an email from a constituent asking who they could contact, but he wasn't sure.

That prompted Monte Markley of SCS Engineers, in the audience for several items on the commission agenda related to contracts for services at the county landfill, to offer suggestions.

Markley, who said he's also an advisor at his company on deep wastewater injection wells throughout the country, suggested the commission and public contact the director of the Conservation Division at the Kansas Corporation Commission, which regulates injection wells, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, which regulates other wells not under the KCC, and the Kansas Geological Society.

Markley said current research continues to indicate the earthquakes are related to high volume injection of wastewater from oil and gas production into disposal wells.

Commissioner Ron Hirst, however, said that there are injection wells operated in the area of the earthquakes by a pair of gas production companies that he thought should be investigated.

"Those of us that live in the area or are engaged in business there noticed this directly after some events happened in that area," Hirst said. "I fully believe the KCC and those others you mention, KGS and KDHE for sure, should thoroughly investigate the volumes and pressures they are putting down daily to rule them out, or to make adjustments so this doesn't happen again."

Asked after the meeting, Hirst said he didn't have direct knowledge about injection levels by those gas-related companies, but said he's seen an application for a permit that indicated high volumes.

Markley noted that Gov. Laura Kelley has appointed a "working group to address induced seismicity, which has generated a lot of interest."

Hirst complained, however, that "though I appreciate the working group, that could take months."

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