GWPC report examines changes in states’ water protection rules
Regulatory agencies in 27 US states that produce 98% of the nation’s oil and gas have significantly increased exploration and production oversight and rules, the Ground Water Protection Council said in a recent report.
The report, entitled State Oil & Gas Regulations Designed to Protect Water Resources: 2014 Edition, updates a 2009 report by GWPC, the national association of state groundwater protection regulatory agencies. It assessed which states were addressing various oil and gas-related issues by establishing rules or regulations, or processes through which rules or regulations may be developed.
“Since our 2009 report, states have continued to update and strengthen their rules addressing the critical areas in nearly every subject area we examined,” GWPC Executive Director Mike Paque said as the report was released on Oct. 1.
“In addition, state oil and gas regulatory agencies have adopted new practices to address the technological, legal, and practical changes in exploration and production,” Paque said.
In the realm of permitting, for example, the report said more states require public notice before issuance, deny or delay a permit if the applicant is not in compliance, and revoke permits when holders are not in compliance, among other things.
This suggests that more state regulators acknowledge stakeholders and assert their authority to address operators’ noncompliance at an early stage, it said.
Wellbore geology
Also, more agencies require a review of geology around a wellbore to evaluate potential subsurface pathways that could interfere with full containment during completion, the report said. “Several states are considering such a requirement, and more should do so in coming years,” it said.
More states also are asking operators to analyze stratigraphic confinement where well stimulation occurs close to a protected water zone or in uncertain geology, the report said. In cases where thousands of vertical feet separate the stimulated area and protected water zones, the analysis can be brief and informational.
Where stratigraphic containment is in doubt, such an analysis decreases the risk of protracted water contamination when state rules require appropriate water modifications, the report said.
Its analysis also addressed formation treatment, stimulation, or fracturing; well integrity; temporary abandonment; storage in pits; storage in tanks; produced water; exempt waste disposal (drill cuttings and tank bottoms); spill response; regulatory practices and programs; regulatory coordination; and data management.
“Assessing the status of all states’ regulatory progress is impossible in one snapshot,” said GWPC Pres. Leslie L. Savage, who also is chief geologist for the Texas Railroad Commission’s oil and gas division.
“Just as states continue to view oil and gas regulation as an ongoing, long-term commitment, our report is part of an ongoing review and assessment of how the community of states is responding to the country’s rapid increase in oil and gas exploration and production,” Savage said.
Contact Nick Snow at [email protected].
Nick Snow
NICK SNOW covered oil and gas in Washington for more than 30 years. He worked in several capacities for The Oil Daily and was founding editor of Petroleum Finance Week before joining OGJ as its Washington correspondent in September 2005 and becoming its full-time Washington editor in October 2007. He retired from OGJ in January 2020.
