Well, Good Luck: OK State Senator Trying To Rein In Pollution Of Groundwater From Fracking Operations
An Oklahoma state senator has introduced legislation to strengthen regulations on how oilfield wastewater is injected underground following an investigation by The Frontier and ProPublica. For the legislative session beginning Monday, Sen. Mary Boren, a Democrat and a member of the chamber’s Energy Committee, filed four oil and gas bills to curb industrial pollution or create more transparency for landowners.
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Reporting by the news organizations also showed that officials at the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, the state’s oil and gas regulator, have been aware of the risks for years and identified excessively high injection pressures as a primary cause of the toxic releases known as purges. But regulators have done little to address the problem. A commission spokesperson previously told the news outlets it prefers “to lead with a handshake instead of a hammer” and has not fined any company for purges in the last five years.
The commission previously noted that the state has taken steps to reduce injection pressures on new wells in recent years and is committed to “doing the right thing, holding operators accountable, protecting Oklahoma and its resources, and providing fair and balanced regulation.” A spokesperson for the Oklahoma Corporation Commission declined to comment on Boren’s legislation.
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Another bill from Boren, SB 1474, would create a fee on oilfield wastewater to pay for groundwater testing, land restoration and well cleanup. The proposed fee of $0.01 per barrel of wastewater produced in the state would generate millions of dollars each year, based on estimates of the amount of wastewater produced in Oklahoma annually. This could add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for a large oil company. Oil and gas companies could earn deductions on this fee by investing in technology to recycle the wastewater. Sen. Grant Green, the Republican chair of the Energy Committee, declined to comment on Boren’s proposed bills. The Oklahoma Energy Producers Alliance, which represents smaller oil and gas companies, declined to comment on the draft bills. The Oklahoma Petroleum Alliance did not respond to a request for comment.
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https://www.propublica.org/article/oklahoma-legislation-oil-gas-injection-wells-water-pollution-cleanup