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.
Laws to increase oversight of oil and gas production, one of the largest industries in the state, often face long odds in Oklahoma, though a few have passed in recent years. The bills would have to win support from leaders in the GOP-controlled Legislature and the state’s Republican governor over industry opposition.
But Boren said that the threat to the state’s groundwater is too big to ignore. “My responsibility is to pay attention to things that could solve problems for real Oklahomans,” said Boren, who credited the investigation for calling attention to large-scale pollution from oil and gas injection practices.
The Frontier and ProPublica found over 150 incidents in recent years where oilfield wastewater has gushed from the earth, releasing toxic chemicals — including those that can cause cancer — near homes, onto farmland and into drinking water sources.
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.
One of Boren’s bills, SB 1419, would require oil and gas companies to assess whether the pressure at which they are injecting wastewater is cracking rock layers deep below ground, allowing the toxic fluid to travel for miles. In addition, companies would be required to protect drinking water sources by performing tests to ensure that toxic wastewater is not spreading after being injected underground. Test results would be reported to state regulators, who would be required to investigate any problematic injection wells and potentially lower the pressure at which wastewater is sent down.
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.
Boren’s bills, including SB 1472, also aim to protect property owners who have oil and gas operations on their land. In Oklahoma, landowners may not necessarily own the oil and gas that lies beneath their tract of land. Boren’s proposed legislation would bring greater transparency by requiring companies to alert landowners before wells on their property are sold.
This is important because old wells with declining production are often sold to increasingly undercapitalized companies that lack the means to pay for cleanup. When these companies go bankrupt, cleanup costs often fall on taxpayers, while landowners must endure the presence of these wells — and the pollution risk they pose — on their properties. Unplugged wells abandoned by the industry can leak toxic chemicals into local groundwater, while spewing huge volumes of methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
Boren said that right now landowners often learn that the wells on their land have changed hands when “a new logo appears on the gate.”
Two of Boren’s bills address the financial ability of oil and gas companies to plug and clean up wells involved in a sale. One of them, SB 1419, would empower landowners to challenge pending sales when companies selling or buying the wells appear to lack the means to plug them when they are no longer profitable.
The other bill, SB 1418, would require state regulators to establish a process to investigate a buyer’s financial capacity to meet plugging and cleanup requirements before a sale is finalized. The legislation would call on regulators to block sales when the seller is “insolvent, financially distressed, or subject to foreclosure.” Last year, Oklahoma lawmakers passed a bill — sponsored by Boren and Green — to increase the amount of money companies must set aside to ensure that wells are properly cleaned up.
“When you don’t have regulation that can enforce best practices,” Boren said, “you have bad actors looking to make a quick buck and leave the landowner holding the bag.”
Toxic wastewater from oil fields keeps pouring out of the ground in Oklahoma. For years, residents have filed complaints and struggled to find solutions. We need your help to understand the full scale of the problem.
