The Kansas Corporation Commission has expanded restrictions on the amount of oilfield wastewater that can be injected underground, a practice that has been linked to earthquakes in south central Kansas in recent years.

During a meeting Tuesday, the commission left in place an 8,000-barrel per day limit in five specific areas of Harper and Sumner counties. But it put a 16,000-barrel per day limit on the rest of those two counties and parts of Kingman, Sedgwick and Butler counties.

Experts on the KCC staff said reduced injection rates imposed earlier led to a drop in the magnitude and frequency of earthquakes on the Kansas side of the Oklahoma border.

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Associated Press information from: The Kansas City Star