Vian Board of Trustees members approved emergency ordinances regulating the drilling, equipping and operation of underground injection control wells at a special meeting Monday.

The ordinance was in response to a proposed injection well inside Vian town limits. Approval of the well, proposed by I-Mac Petroleum Services Inc. of Muskogee, was recommended by an Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) judge, but the opposition has appealed that recommendation.

Larry Vickers Jr., Vian attorney, presented the ordinances drawn up by the Cherokee Nation to the Vian Town Council Monday. According to Vickers and the meeting agenda, the council discussed and voted on the status of an emergency existing in regard to the proposed saltwater injection well and other oil and gas related wells being placed within the town’s limits. The council went into executive session at 6:47 p.m. and returned at 7:42 p.m. with a unanimous decision to approve the ordinances.

The Ordinances

The ordinances state that:

•a permit be required to drill or operate an underground injection well (UIW) within the corporate limits of the town and no one can do so without first securing a permit from the Vian Board of Trustees of the town;

•requirements for the permits include that every application for a permit to drill and operate an UIW shall be in writing and signed by the applicant and submitted to the board of trustees for approval;

•the application shall include name and address of applicant and date of application, location of the proposed UIW, including a map of the 640 acres surrounding the drill site, location of the proposed well and the distance to all existing dwelling houses, building or other structures designed for occupancy of human beings or animals within 2,000 feet of any such well;

•the map shall also show the location of proposed roadways and surface facilities associated with the well, names of all surface fee simple and surface leaseholders of property owners within 2,000 feet of the proposed well and surface facilities;

•a copy be submitted of an approved drilling permit from the OCC and written approval from the Cherokee Nation Environmental Protection Commission, including a copy of the staking plat;

•all drilling information must specify, in detail, the depth of the proposed UIW, including amount, size, weight, etc. of all pipe including surfacing pipe and production pipe, the brand and type of pump, capacity of the pump to be placed, planned volume of injection or disposal per day, formation in which the liquids are planned to be injected-pressure per square inch of liquids injected, depth of proposed disposal formation, summary of precautions to be taken to protect the fresh water supply and the methods of monitoring the proposed UIW and the fresh water supply;

•a statement of the provision for water for the drilling operation;

•proof of pollution liability insurance with a minimum of $3 million, and in blanket coverage and bodily injuries coverage of $100,000 per person and $3 million per accident;

•and a bond or irrevocable letter of credit to the benefit of the Town of Vian in the sum of $3 million from a bank or insurance company bonding company acceptable to the town.

Prohibitions are:

•Class I wells for hazardous waste or radioactive waste;

•Class II wells constructed and operated within 2,000 feet of any school or

business;

•Class III wells, or any well that the board finds would create an unreasonable risk of harm to wildlife, human health, natural resources, fresh water supply or other parts of the environment;

•and the ordinance includes an annual fee to operate and usage fee with an annual inspection fee levied upon each well operated and maintained within the town, and the amount of this fee shall be $75,000 per year with the fee made payable to the town on the date of issuance of the requested permit, and no permit shall be considered valid for any year for which the annual inspection fee has not been paid.

In addition, the town shall charge a usage fee on vehicles discharging materials at any site, which is subject to the ordinance in the amount of $100 per vehicle, and said usage shall be used to maintain streets and other infrastructure of the town to compensate for the additional use of the town’s roads/streets by heavy vehicles.

The town shall act upon all completed applications within 60 days of their receipt and the decision of the town’s trustees are final.

The provisions of the ordinances are severe and if any part of the provisions hereof shall be held void the decision of the court so holding shall not affect or impair any of the remaining parts or provisions of the ordinance.

The town has declared an emergency exists by reasons whereof this ordinance shall take effect and be in full force immediately after its passage, approval and publication.

Vickers Speaks on Ordinances

“As far as we know, the hearing is still slated for Jan. 25 in Oklahoma City and no one has appealed it or changed it,” Vickers said. “The ordinances were reviewed Monday night and it was up to the council on whether or not to vote on it.”

Vickers said the ordinances are written so that it attempts to regulate somewhat the process of drilling but the council wouldn’t know all the details of the ordinances or have the authority to pass it until they decided what they wanted to do.

“There were a lot of specifics to cover,” Vickers said.

“The board had the option to pass it or not pass it,” Vickers said. “A lot depended on their versions and details they added to the ordinances. If they are passed in an emergency situation like this, they will take effect as soon as they are placed and published in newspaper circulation just as any other legal publication. The appeal process won’t effect the ordinances’ status and basically, this is where we’re at.”

Well Owner Responds

Vian well owner Charles Brooks said he felt his company had made the town a substantial offer earlier in the year when he offered to donate $50,000 to the town for the first year after the well goes into operation and then a $10,000 donation annually to the town for the next 10 years thereafter.

“We just want to make peace with the town,” Brooks said. “And, we’d still be open to sitting down and letting them know how they could benefit from this well.

“But to propose an annual inspection fee of $75,000 in these ordinances and $100 fee per truck is just over the top,” Brooks said. “I feel like the main purpose or intent of this is to keep us out of there (Vian) and it’s directed at us, that’s obvious. But to my knowledge there is no other industry that has an annual inspection fee of such a staggering amount. I think the OCC’s inspection fee is $1,000 annually, but these fees are totally way out of line. Even the $100 a truck fee is totally exorbitant — just out of the world.

“From our standpoint, the town doesn’t have the expertise to regulate this well and after we had our counselors look at it, we believe it to be unconstitutional, illegal and there are several levels of legalities that are not enforceable,” Brooks said. “We feel like the town is being led down a slippery slope by certain individuals and putting the mayor and town council in a future legal liability. This group of individuals has a different agenda than the rest of us. It’s possible the town could also be liable for any legal fees. How can the town afford this considering they are not financially stable?

“Permitting this is outrageous, it would cost thousands of dollars and the town doesn’t have the staff to enforce this,” Brooks said. “They don’t have any familiarity with saltwater disposal wells.

“We felt the (OCC) judge had a chance to hear everyone’s side and she was valid in her decision, there were no points that weren’t addressed at that time,” Brooks said. “We haven’t been approved by the OCC yet, so I guess we will just wait for their decision.

“I don’t think everyone there (in Vian) hates us,” Brooks said. “And I’m not so sure the whole town feels the same way as this group of individuals are portraying us. We’ve already had calls from people wanting us to use their companies during the construction and I think once we go in, everyone will see how good we will benefit the town. Even the school will benefit greatly from this just on the tax.

“One of my biggest questions is why these ordinances were being kept so secretive,” Brooks said. “Why is the Cherokee Nation drafting these ordinances for the town when the town has an attorney, and why are they trying to prevent this well from being completed when one of their own administrators of environmental programs (from Cherokee Nation) has been quoted in a Cherokee Nation newspaper saying that there’s nothing bad about disposal wells?

“Seems to me like the Cherokee Nation hasn’t even acknowledged or talked to the side that has the knowledge and expertise in this area,” Brooks said.

When asked if he knew of any changes in the Jan. 25 meeting, Brooks said, “As far as I know, it’s not subject to change.”

Before the Meeting

As of Monday, the Jan. 25 appeal hearing in Oklahoma City was still to be held. The appeal was filed by the town and Cherokee Nation on Administrative Law Judge Kathleen M. McKeown’s decision to grant I-MAC Petroleum Service Inc. an application to construct the injection disposal well in Vian’s town limits.

According to Matt Skinner, public information officer for the OCC, offices were closed Monday for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, so no further information on meeting, slated for 9:30 a.m., was available. The meeting will be held at the OCC Western Regional Division Office in the Jim Thorpe Building at 2101 N. Lincoln in Oklahoma City.

“The Jan. 25 date was placed on the calendar to hold the date open as part of normal proceedings,” Skinner said Friday, “but it is still subject to change.”

Town’s Appeal

Vian trustees argue that while the judge acknowledged the location of the proposed site and its close proximity of Vian Public School and local businesses, she failed to recognize the proximity of residences within the same area and did not address the negative impact of the site on any such locations, the economic impact the site could have on a fragile, local economy or the impact of the injected fluids at the Sequoyah Fuels plant that occurred in the same area of the proposed site, and its potential hazards and dangers it could potentially hold for the citizens in the town and surrounding area.

The appeal also argues that while the judge acknowledged the site’s close location to the Sequoyah Wildlife Refuge, and the Arkansas, Canadian and Illinois Rivers, she failed to consider the detrimental effects that the well site could have on these natural resources.

The town and Cherokee Nation, which are fighting the proposed well, are hoping the referee will overturn the judge’s decision and find the well to not be in compliance with rules and regulations set forth by the OCC.

OCC Data

According to data supplied by Skinner, there are a total of 262 commercial disposal wells in Oklahoma, located in 53 counties. Kingfisher County has the most with a total of 15, Major County has 14, and both Beaver and Beckham Counties have 12. Skinner said in the past 10 years there have been six major incidents, meaning a major purge of substance to the surface, of commercial disposal wells.