Return to Injection Wells

In 2013 we spent a good deal of our Gas Well Study time investigating Underground Injection Wells used to dispose of oil and gas industry liquid waste deep underground. The injection well that first attracted our interest is in Fayette county and has been operating since 2002. Their permit expired in October 2012; they managed to get the long-overdue permit renewal application in to the Office of Oil and Gas in January 2013. While the Office was processing the permit the operator was allowed to inject waste without a permit. The operator eventually got a permit in 2014 which was revoked a month later but is still injecting waste as the Office continued to process a new permit application.

There are too many issues with the operator, the facility’s contaminating a nearby stream, the Office’s procedures to try to write a brief post here. Instead, here’s a page on Sootypaws devoted to the well and here’s a great video that presents the issues.

The Office has finally created a new draft permit which has numerous flaws, including not having conditions required by state and federal law.

January 22, 2015