A decision on whether or not a proposed saltwater disposal well southeast of Vian will be opened is now in the hands of Administrative Law Judge Kathy McKeown. A hearing on the proposed well was held by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) Thursday in Tulsa.

Attorneys for the company asking for the well, I-MAC Petroleum Services Inc., and several Vian residents attended the hearing.

Judge McKeown told the courtroom that she would be taking statements from all parties present under advisement before completing a report and sending it to all who had signed in but a decision would not be made Thursday. The parties present would have 10 days to appeal the decision before it goes on to the next level, where it would be referred to a commission referee. If the appeal process continued after that, the judge said it would then be up to the Supreme Court to decide.

Opposition testifies

After being sworn in, several Vian and area residents spoke on behalf of themselves and the community about the consequences of putting in the proposed disposal well.

Steve Carter, District 2 county commissioner, was the first to speak at the hearing, and said he was concerned about the disposal well.

“Our water is a precious commodity and we can’t afford to take the chance of letting this destroy our water system,” Carter said. “When we had the last drought in our state, many other bigger towns and cities looked to our area for additional water supplies for now and in the future. I’m simply here to express my feelings of what this can do to our county and the welfare of the people in my district.”

John Bennett of Sallisaw said that he was there as a citizen of the county and a property owner who had deep concerns about the disposal well and the impact it could have on the area and on local farmers and property owners.

“These wells are subject to failure and must be confronted,” Bennett said. “There have been no extensive studies done on the design and construction of these types of wells and on the fault lines that run through this area.”

Bennett said the town of Vian would receive no gain from well, there would be no local hiring for the well’s construction or operation, no stipends and that the $50,000 surety bond would not even come close to paying for the damage it could leave on the town, area businesses, Sequoyah Wildlife Refuge, landowners or Vian Public School.

“No one will benefit from this well except the companies putting it in and operating it,” Bennett said. “Many people in Vian can’t even afford to start legal proceedings if this contaminates our water or land. All the money they have now is tied up in their land and farms; the economy is suffering and this will only add to their financial and emotional hardships. Plus, we might not see the result of the destructive side of this for 40 to 100 years.”

Bennett said even though a loss of life may be a slim chance, he didn’t think the bond would cover loss of human life by any means if it should happen.

Attorney questions testimony

Bennett continued to report items he had researched until being interrupted by I-MAC attorney Richard Grimes. Grimes told the judge that Bennett’s research shouldn’t be accepted as evidence of concern because Bennett was not an engineer, could not be cross examined and he was simply reading documents relative to studies that were not confirmed as truth.

The judge told Grimes that Bennett had stated numerous times in his testimony that he was not a professional and that she would take his research as a concern about the proposed well. The judge told Grimes she would note his objection and allowed Bennett to continue. She accepted copies of his research readings entered as exhibits in the case.

Tribal opposition

David Thornton, District 3 Cherokee Nation Tribal councilman, also spoke. It was noted that the Cherokee Nation had already sent in a letter to the OCC objecting to the well, following a meeting held at the Vian School auditorium on Sept. 17. The letter, written by Ryan Callison, director of Cherokee Nation Environmental Programs, stated that I-MAC did not demonstrate a proven track record in safely underground injection wells in the area or financial resources to cover the cost of a spill, a sound plan for preventing contamination of drinking water aquifers with injected saltwater or containing and cleaning up spills of saltwater at the ground surface should it occur.

The letter also stated that geological faults in the vicinity of the proposed well, coupled with the history of wastewater injection in the well at Sequoyah Fuels, show there is considerable risk that injection of saltwater into the Arbuckle formation will contaminate wells and water supplies.

Thornton told the judge that his family went back seven generations in Vian and since the 1900s, a saltwater stream, know as Salt Branch Creek, had run through the area and still does today. He also noted that another saltwater creek runs near Tenkiller Dam and that if additional saltwater is pumped into the ground, he felt the pressure would increase the salt water.

“The Cherokee people are opposing every aspect of this well,” Thornton said. “There are 250,000 Cherokees in our tribe and the Cherokee Nation puts a billion dollars into the economy each year. This will not help the Cherokee people, our health or our water resources, such as the Illinois River. This proposed well is not going to help anyone at all. The Cherokee Nation has water, surface and ground rights. We have a responsibility to protect those issues and our Mother Earth to keep our ground and water safe and clean.”

Thornton told the judge, “I get emotional just speaking about this. I pray that you deny this proposal.”

Water concerns

Vian area resident Ruth Cawhorn, who lives one and a half miles from the proposed well site, said she and her husband use well water in their home and she was concerned about their water supply if the disposal well was to go in and of the impact it would have on animals.

“I am a housewife and land owner but I’m also an animal lover and bird watcher who is worried about the oily residue that might come from this disposal well,” Cawhorn said. “We’re also on the Marble City fault line, which scares me because it will probably cause some of this to come up in underground streams and rivers, polluting our well water.

“We were told that a once-a-year inspection and 24-hour-a-day duty on this disposal well site is not always true. They will need someone there to sound an alarm,” Cawhorn told the judge. “And who’s going to do it? By then it will be too late. I hope this proposed well will stop here today and not go any further.”

Geologist testifies

Grimes then had Greg Ripple, an independent petroleum geologist, as his first witness. Grimes said that Ripple had the credibility as a senior and professional geologist to determine the proposed well site was an ideal place for the saltwater disposal well. Ripple told the judge that he had confirmed from his research and studies that there were no wells located within a half-mile radius of the proposed site that would be endangered due to the proposed saltwater injection well and that the site had been selected due to its access to Interstate 40 and idea drilling in the Arbuckle formation.

“The Arbuckle is the oldest and thickest formation in Oklahoma,” Ripple testified. “It allows water to move through in large quantities.”

Grimes entered three area residents’ water tests as exhibits into the case, stating that one of the exhibits was from the water supply of Jerry and Ruth Cawhorn’s home. Ruth Cawhorn immediately stepped up and told the judge that the exhibit must be false because no one had sampled any water from her home, not recently or before the hearing was conducted.

Grimes asked Ripple, “Did you personally take these samples?”

“No, not personally,” Ripple said.

Dr. Sinclair Armstrong of Vian then told the courtroom that his family’s history had been in Vian for many years and that they had actually started the first rural water district in Vian where he was on the board.

Armstrong talked about activities with area water boards and how he was instrumental in developing water plans for Fort Smith, Ark., and other places.

Armstrong also stressed how this injection well could pollute water sources, which is a “precious and natural resource.”

Eddie Henshaw of the Vian area was the last to speak. Henshaw, a former employee of Sequoyah Fuels, brought many props and criteria to the hearing, showing how the natural occurrence of brine water, which is water containing a significant amount of salt or a strong salt solution, puts pressure on the Arbuckle formation, which in turn, pushes more saltwater out.

“The radium content of that water is extremely high and if it’s pushed into the aquifer,” Henshaw said, “we’ve got bad problems.”

Henshaw said he had quit his job at Sequoyah Fuels because of an injection well that was used extensively there even though they (Sequoyah Fuels) knew it was bad.

“I quit my job because I was the one working on it when they had trouble with it,” Henshaw said. “I told them not to go ahead with it and they used it (the well) anyway, and then I stood up publicly against them on the matter. That’s when I quit.”

Henshaw said there were other sources of brine surfacing in old wells, such as the old Sharp family well, which is near U.S. Highway 64 just east of Vian.

“It was in the old Sharp well too and when I went to Charles Lord at OCC, it was surfacing pollution; that’s why it was plugged.

“The main point I have tried to get across is that it was already surfacing (saltwater) and it doesn’t need more pressure,” Henshaw said.

Henshaw also talked about seismic activity that occurs through fault injection and that Vian sits on the Marble City fault line.

From Henshaw’s testimony, 31 items were taken into the hearing and retained by the court for exhibits by the judge. Despite strong protests and contradictive statements from Grimes on the exhibits, the judge said she would take all 31 exhibits into accreditation.

Grimes said he resented the remark made by Bennett earlier that Vian would receive no money from the well.

Henshaw fired back, “The attorneys here are the only ones making money here today.”

At press time, it is unsure when the judge reach a decision to permit or deny the application for I-MAC.