Following a six-year period of intensifying earthquakes, the Oklahoma House voted to have the state’s oil and gas industry limit its underground wastewater disposal that has led to a growing number of quakes across the state.

The proposal released by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission spans over 400 wells across an area of 6,000 square miles, according to the Associated Press.

The commission's plan was released just a few weeks after a similar proposal covering almost 250 wells in northwestern Oklahoma was implemented.

A pumpjack is silhouetted against the setting sun in Oklahoma City.

(AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)

Current disposal volumes are at nearly 1 million 42-gallon-barrels a day, but the commission is aiming to reduce that number to about 724,000 barrels a day, said spokesman Matt Skinner.

The cutback comes at an unsettling time for the energy-producing state. A rapid drop in oil prices has sent the state’s economy into a nosedive with a $1.3 billion loss.

In 2010, the Sooner State recorded only 3 earthquakes with a magnitude of 3.0 or higher. In 2016, that number jumped to 907, and through the first 3 months 2016 almost 160 have been registered, according to the New York Times.

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Just last month, the third-largest quake to rock the state was recorded at a magnitude of 5.1, a testament to the intensifying shakes. Scientists have created a connection between the tremors and the underground disposal of waste from oil and gas production.

However, it will take some time before the impacts of the cutbacks will be seen. In the 20 days before the 5.1 magnitude tremor hit the state on February 13, 31 total quakes were recorded. In the 20 days since the limit was put in place on February 16, 30 earthquakes have been felt.

"Researchers have made it very clear to us that there is no off switch (to seismic activity)," said Skinner. “It will take time.”

MORE ON WEATHER.COM: The Biggest Earthquakes Since 1900

8. Rat Islands, Alaska, Feb. 4, 1965 – 8.7 Magnitude

Because this quake occurred in a remote area, relatively little damage was reported. (U.S. Army)