Recently the Oklahoman in Oklahoma City reported that an explosion that could be felt two miles away killed a Seminole man who was using a propane torch to thaw a frozen valve on a tanker truck on Jan. 6.

The truck that exploded is the same type of truck that will be delivering saltwater waste to Vian if the proposed well is constructed.

The Oklahoman reported Seminole County Sheriff Shannon Smith said it is standard practice to use a propane torch to heat frozen valves on the trucks. Smith told the Oklahoman that the truck drivers do it all the time and nothing like this has ever happened.

The blast reportedly blew sheet metal off the trucking company where the explosion happened. Windows were also shattered in adjacent buildings according to the Oklahoman.

“Whatever the tanker truck was hauling the day before left fumes that were highly combustible. If the truck was full of the saltwater it wouldn’t have exploded,” Smith said.

School concerns

Vian Board of Education members recently submitted a letter to the OCC expressing their opposition. Board members expressed concerns about the well being placed in the city limits and near the schools.

Vian Superintendent Lawrence Barnes and board members Patrick Sullivan, Joe Paul Simon, James Simmons, Jessie Young and Bill Reynolds signed the letter.

The letter states, “We are concerned whether it is truly in the best interest for our town and the public school system. Our concerns include the close proximity of the well site to our school playgrounds and athletic fields, the heavy truck traffic near the schools, and the potential for unauthorized dumping of hazardous materials at the well site. Our priority is the children of this community, and with good conscience, there is no way we could consider this project an asset for their future.”

“We are concerned about the safety for our children,” Lawrence Barnes, Vian superintendent, said. “We wanted to make OCC aware we as a school are opposing the site.”

Proposed well in Vian

I-MAC Petroleum Services LLC filed an application in July to construct a class II commercial well to inject fluids associated with oil and natural gas production into a zone in the Arbuckle formation at a depth of 1,600 feet at the top and 3,00 feet at the bottom. The well site is near the southeast city limits of Vian. I-MAC claims most of the injected fluid is salt water or brine, which is brought to the surface in the process of extracting oil and gas.

Vian residents have opposed the well since the beginning. Residents have expressed concerns related to the well possibly polluting land and water resources and the possibility of posing a risk to the nearby wildlife refuge.

On Dec. 1 Administrative Law Judge Kathy McKeown recommended I-MAC’s application for the commercial saltwater injection site.

I-MAC seeks to drill a commercial disposal well with the intention of injecting up to 40,000 barrels of salt water a day under 1,000 pounds per square inch of pressure into the Arbuckle formation, which is over 500 million years old. McKeown found I-Mac to be in compliance with all applicable commission rules and regulations.

Judges recommendation report

McKeown reported she listened to concerned citizens’ protests during the area surface and mineral owners protest the matter based on concerns that of a potential underground water contamination could put the town and agricultural industries at risk. She heard testimony from protestors about Vian Public School being 600 feet away from the proposed well and other businesses, the potential loss in real estate values, the potential noise and odor pollutions from trucks hauling and injecting the fluid, the possibility of damaging the nearby Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, the Arkansas River, the Canadian River and Illinois River, and she heard concerns about the potential of a recurrence of contamination similar to that experienced in the area as a result of the Sequoyah Fuels plant injections into the Arbuckle formation.

McKeown reported that although the citizens of Vian concerns were extremely valid, they were outside the jurisdiction of the commission which permits commercial disposal wells based on suitability of the formation, and injection depth analysis of area fresh water and disposal well schematics which demonstrated appropriate protection of groundwater.

On Dec. 11 Cherokee Nation and the town of Vian filed an appeal against the recommendation to allow the well in Vian.

Town attorney, Larry Vickers, stated in his appeal that McKeown failed to recognize and consider the economic detriment that the commercial disposal well could have on the fragile local economy, and she failed to recognize the potential hazards and dangers the proposed site potentially holds for the citizens of the town of Vian and the surrounding areas.

Vickers said the lack of drilling in this area and the unknown aspect of the consequences of drilling could pose a negative affect on the area. He said based on those facts the town request McKeown’s recommendation be reversed.

The appeal by David Thornton, Cherokee Nation Tribal councilor, reports the same concerns as the appeal presented by the town of Vian. Although that appeal reports McKeown failed to consider the judicially-recognized substantial water rights that the Cherokee Nation possess within the historical boundaries of the Cherokee Nation.

A hearing regarding the appeal is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Jan. 25 at the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) Western Regional Office, Jim Thorpe Building at 2101 N. Lincoln, Oklahoma City.

What’s that smell?

Lacey Horn, Vian resident, who strongly opposes the well created a fact sheet to inform residents about the possible dangers of wells. One of the concerns she addressed on the fact sheet was the possible toxic smell associated with the well.

“Open air sports on our home turf as well as school children’s recesses will become unbearable because of the toxic smell of hydrogen sulfide gas which smells like rotten eggs,” Horn said.

“As we all know water can hold very little H2S. What little is contained in the water can produce a noxious smell,” Charles Lord, Underground Injection Control Program manager with OCC, said.

According to the Web site www.oilsafe.com hydrogen sulfide is a chemical compound with the formula H2S, this colorless, toxic and flammable gas is responsible for the foul odor of rotten eggs. H2S is a poison that can paralyze breathing. It often results from the bacterial break down of the organic matter in the absence of oxygen, such as in swamps and sewers. It also occurs in volcanic gases, natural gas and some well water.

“Again, if the saltwater contains H2S it is at a very minute amount,” Lord said.

Smith said he was aware of three disposal wells around Seminole County. He said the wells in his county are not close to homes, businesses, or towns.

“Sometimes it smells like rotten eggs, but not all the time,” Smith said. “The smell usually comes out when the trucks are unloading the fluid in the wells but it is closed off and the smell isn’t as noticeable.”

Smith said to his knowledge, “Saltwater eats everything that is metal. They’ll be corrosion and possible saltwater spills associated with unloading the trucks.”

He said the three disposal wells that are in the county have been there for 20 years or more.

“I don’t recall a time one of the wells sprung a leak or had a problem with the saltwater coming to the surface,” Smith said.

What’s in wastewater?

Lord said the saltwater I-MAC is proposing to dispose of may be mingled with a little methane but not at a dangerous level. He said saltwater may kill plant material’s —simply because it contains salt.

“These aren’t dangerous wells. There is nothing at a disposal site that could be considered dangerous,” Lord said.

When asked what Lord thought if his own child were to play in puddles of saltwater from a disposal well leak he said, “I guess I would say my child just played in salty water.”

Lord said he is aware of two incidents pertaining to saltwater coming to the surface. One he said was in Lattimore County east of Wilburton. He said it caused a 30-foot area of grass to die.

“We cleaned it up and plugged the well per the judge’s order.”

The other was in Carter County and was a commercial disposal well that was drilled in the 1920s or 30s. Lord said the saltwater reached the surface and plants died in a 30 by 60 feet area.

Horn expressed a concern about sinkholes due to the injection of saltwater into the ground. She said in her research disposal wells have been linked to sinkholes in Texas.

“The geology in Texas is different from Oklahoma’s. I am not aware of any sinkholes in Oklahoma that are associated with disposal gas wells,” Lord said.

“This waste is oily saltwater used in drilling and it contains waste, crude, and sludge from storage pits and tank bottoms, used glycol, amine, hydrogen sulfide scrubber liquid, and more,” Horn said.

“This is not just saltwater they are injecting, it’s frack water,” Horn said. “This is not safe and these are not safe ingredients the well owners are claiming to be disposing of.”

Horn names 14 chemicals she has found during her research into frack water. She states there are at least 26 acknowledged chemicals in frack water waste including arsenic, lead, benzene, mercury, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, radium, sodium, barium, boron, calcium, copper, and iron.

Lord said in the late 1920s to early 30s arsenic was a chemical used but that is not the case any longer.

“All saltwater may contain heavy metals and some benzene but the amounts are small,” Lord said. “This is gas country. There is not a lot of oil production and frackwater mainly is produced from oil wells.”

Geological opinion

Kenneth Luza, a geologist with U.S. Geological Services said, “Saltwater accompanies the oil and gas to the surface and can be disposed of by injecting the fluid into underground porous rock formations.

“The Arbuckle Foundation is over 500 million years old. I can say hypothetically speaking there will be no damage to the Arbuckle,” Luza said. “They will be putting brine, salty water, back into the formation. It’s already there.”

Brine is water that contains more dissolved inorganic salt than typical seawater.