we're six miles away from cushing over there. >> whitaker: independent oil man gary larue says cuttingf water also means cutting back on the production of oil and gas. with the recent drop in oil prices, the cutbacks, he says, will hurt. >> larue: $30 a barrel, if we have to cut our production in half because of restrictions they put on us, we're done. >> whitaker: you're out of business? >> larue: yeah, we won't be drilling wells, we won't be employing local people to do our service work, we're done. it will drive us out. >> whitaker: just two weeks ago, larue abandoned one of his 14 wells to comply with the cutbacks. >> kathy matthews: you know that it's going to hurt the mp it's going to hurt your neighbors. but you cannot compromise, when it comes to public safety. >> olbert: we may be talking about trucking it 30 miles away. i think that could be done. >> kathy matthews: i won't be fear-mongered into thinking that you can't do anything. because in my heart of hearts, i believe you can. and i believe you should. and i believe you haven't. and now you're paying the price. >> olbert:

. >> gary larue, president of a small independent oil company that operates 14 wells in oklahoma.hat happens in this cylinder its what happens on a grand scale at wells across the region. the oil, gas and water, naturally separate. so the bubbles. >> salt water. gas up here. >> that's the gas. >> the oil. >> the oil. >> like every other operator in the region. big and small. larue's oil wells produce more oil than petroleum. gas and oil collected in tanks for sea. but the water is too briny to be recycled or used. it is considered waste. >> awful this is salt water. >> salt water. >> go back in the ground. have to get rid of it. >> reporter: getting rid of the water means sending it down a disposal well that's drilled deep below the freshwater, to prevent contamination and the zone where it came from. >> this is it? >> this is it. >> what all the talk is about. >> well in the ground. >> the disposal well its more than one of 3,000 in oklahoma. the state created a website to explain the earthquakes. this map shows disposal wells as blue dots. orange dots are earthquakes. when the p