Permits for 87-01926 provide examples show changes in UIC permitting from the period before West Virginia achieve primacy until the late 1990s.
This 1971 UIC permit is styled a "Water Pollution Control" permit and is minimal in its requirements. This permit was issued by the Division of Water Resources.
After West Virginia achieved primacy all UIC wells were required to have permits, though there was a period of time when UIC wells were allowed to operate under rule. The first letter in this collection gives the operator a timeline in which to furnish a permit application. The permit application was to be sent to the Office of Oil and Gas.
This 1987 Class 2D UIC permit has the basic text and format which was followed until 2015. The permit is issued by both the Office of Oil and Gas and the Division of Water Resources, with the chief of the DWR signing first.
Class 2 permits have a 5 year period and then must be renewed. This 1992 Class 2D permit is also issued by both agencies with the heads of the agencies signing.
The 1997 permit incorporates a new attachment, a list of injection fluid analyses parameters. This attachment appeared in permits issued through 2013. Again the permit is issued, according to the heading of the permit, by the Office of Oil and Gas and the Office of Water Resources. The signature on the permit, however, is that of a member of the Office of Oil and Gas. This permit heading remained unchanged until 2008 when the Office of Water Resources was renamed the Division of Water and Waste Management. Later permits are not signed.
All of these permits issued did not contain conditions required to be in UIC permits according to state regulations, then and now. The Office did not begin to issue permits meeting almost all of the requirements of current 47CSR13-13 until 2015. A quick way to identify a permit that meets the requirements of state regulation is to find the operator's plugging plan which should be attached to the permit as a condition. If there is no plugging plan, the permit is deficient.
Background Documents
Current Federal and State Laws
Historic State Laws and Regulations
Relevant EPA Guidance for UIC and Class 2 Injection
State Online Oil and Gas Databases
Technical Background, Seismicity, and Groundwater Contamination
Underground Injection Control Class 2 Wells
Introduction to Class 2 Wells in West Virginia
Collected documents and information for a number of Class 2 disposal wells and secondary recovery area permits
Searchable tables for UIC inspections, UIC permitting and MITs based on a copy of the Office of Oil and Gas' online UIC databases made in 2016.
Select wells which present important issues
A UIC well constructed without any cement behind the steel casing strings to protect groundwater.
A commercial UIC well where activity on the site contaminated groundwater.