TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas legislative committee’s chairman says it will review data about a spike in small earthquakes in recent years and ways to lessen their number amid concerns that they are tied to a process used in fracking.

Republican Rep. Dennis Hedke of Wichita said Tuesday that he’s hoping the briefings he’s planning for the House Energy and Environment Committee will reassure residents of south-central Kansas, where the earthquakes have been most numerous. He has not set a date for the hearing.

The Kansas Geological Survey says there were 161 earthquakes in Kansas last year.

The survey says its “working hypothesis” is that the earthquakes are possibly linked to drillers injecting millions of gallons of waste water into disposal wells. The process is used in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.