The $4.5 million study is intended to provide big picture information on whether there is a link between hydraulic fracturing’s disposal wells and seismic activity. Work is underway on the multi-million dollar TexNet Seismic Monitoring Program, designed by Texas lawmakers to gather and disseminate research on any relationship between disposal wells and an unexpected spate of earthquakes in North Texas. State Rep. Rafael Anchia, a Democrat from Dallas, wrote the legislation this year, which passed as part of the state budget and became effective in September. “Our community is rightfully concerned about the unusually high seismic activity in Dallas, Irving and Farmers Branch,” Anchia said in a statement. The “study should help us get to the bottom of it.” Bringing industry, academia and the government together will ensure that different perspectives will be represented, said Scott Tinker, director of the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas. […]