Add Oil & Gas Waste Water to the Mix!

The Thumbs Up Ranch Disposal site is also permitted as an oil and gas waste water disposal site. One of the partners of the business has bragged that they are accepting 200 loads a day and make $30,000 per day. Whether this is true, we don’t know.

Bokoshe, OK is 30 miles west of the Oklahoma - Arkansas state line. I do know from speaking with the Arkansas DEQ, in January of this year they started investigating their oil & gas disposal sites. In the county adjacent to ours, they have shut down 3 out of 4 for permit problems, problems with inspections and improper management of the disposal site. The fourth site is full and cannot accept any more waste water. They were aware that the Thumbs Up Ranch disposal site was now receiving waste water from northwestern Arkansas as well as Oklahoma. The ADEQ inspector I spoke with said, "They (meaning Thumbs Up Ranch) were making a killing."

If the water tank trucks hold either 4000 gallons or 6500 gallons, it means there is approximately 800,000 to 1,300,000 gallons of oil & gas waste water a day being dump into the fly ash disposal pit. If they are actually accepting 200 per day as one of the partner said that would mean up to 9,100,000 gallons per week. We have seen a minimum of ten companies hauling water to the site. The water trucks run 24/7.

In January, this year the ADEQ shut down 11 land farm oil & gas waste water disposal sites in their state. At this time many of the Arkansas companies shut down for mismanagement, improper inspections and permit problems are now dumping at Making Money Having Fun fly ash/waste water disposal pit. Having a fly ash problem was bad enough without adding oil & gas waste water into the mix.

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission has oversight of oil & gas waste water disposal sites in Oklahoma. When asked about MMHF, LLC, Tim Baker at the OCC said MMHF had been issued a water permit not an oil & gas waste water disposal permit. With this type permit, the ONLY oversight the OCC has is whether the water in each tanker truck is tested and the salt content/TDS is 5,000 mg/l or less. None of the other oil & gas waste water disposal rules applies. When asked whose responsibility was the waste water, we were told it belonged to the Oklahoma Department of Mines because they permitted the MMHF site. A call to the department of mines revealed the ODM does not do oversight on oil & gas waste water, the OCC is responsible for it. Therefore, it seems for now, no one wants to take responsibility for up to 9,100,000 gallons of oil & gas waste water being disposed of weekly at Making Money Having Fun.

B.E. Cause has taken on the responsibility of ensuring someone is held accountable for the problems in Bokoshe, Oklahoma.

BREAKING NEWS - CESSATION ORDER

Conditions exist on site as follows:

On December 10, 2009 MMHF, LLC was issued Administrative Order (Docket #CWA-06-2010-1748) for violation of the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. § 1251 et seq.) involving unauthorized discharge of pollutants to waters of the United State (tributary of Buck Creek) by the Environmental Protection Agency. It was determined by the EPA that the discharge point of entry into Buck Creek was contaminated from discharges and measured between 900 and 4200 parts per million total soluble salts. EPA has directed MMHF to cease all discharges and remove all contaminants from Buck Creek.

This violation has caused MMHF to be out-of-complaince with ODM’s Coal Combustion By-Product Standards, specifically OAC 460: 30-5-8, requiring MMHF to be in compliance with effluent discharge standards of other enforcement agencies. Until this matter is resolved and subsequent ODM review of documentation from the EPA no more produced water from oil and/or gas wells from any geologic zone or common source of supply shall be brought to the site. This cessation is being ordered because the high levels of salts found in EPA’s sampling and analysis is consistent with the constituents of the produced water being brought to the site. In additional, further permit revisions will be suspended pending resolution of this matter.

The Cessation Order does not prohibit the placement of CCBs on site, and utilizing the water available on location to work the ash or continuing reclamation activities as directed by ODM.

ODM - Oklahoma Department of Mines
 

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