TOPEKA — A group of citizens living in the Flint Hills planned a protest at the Topeka offices of the Kansas Corporation Commission this afternoon. The group, Kansas Water, is seeking to get the KCC to reconsider its decision three weeks ago to allow a Garden city-based fracker to operate an underground salt water injection well in Morris County in the Flint Hills. The group says the well could trigger earthquakes along the fault line in the Flint Hills, as has happened in Oklahoma and Texas. Oklahoma issued a ban on underground injection wells after a series of earthquakes caused damage to structures in northern Oklahoma. The group notes the well is a hundred miles from the Wolf Creek nuclear power plant near Burlington. Wolf Creek officials; however, say the plant could withstand a quake measuring up to 7.0 on the Richter scale although might have to shut the plant down. Kansas’ Water also says the well could damage underground water that Flint Hills familes and ranches depend on. The group says several legislators from both parties have expressed alarm about the KCC’s ruling.
Thursday, Oct. 5, 5 p.m.
