O&G Disposal Solutions LLC of Searcy, Ark., has applied for the farming facility through the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC). The application was filed Nov. 12, and is for 82.8 acres on a 175-acre site in Haskell County. The application is for disposal of fluids from natural gas or oil drilling.
The property is next to the 82.5 acres owned by Doy Wilkins of Sallisaw. He and other land owners are opposed to the land farm and holding pit where the drilling fluids from natural gas or oil drilling operations would be stored before being disposed of by being spread or worked into the land. Wilkins said the pit could be up to 10 feet deep and measure 150 feet by 150 feet.
Wilkins, who testified at the OCC two-day hearing held last week, said he will be at the continued hearing to continue his testimony against the O&G Disposal Solutions LLC application.
Last week‘s hearing ended with an argument over whether or not Arkansas violations, which cited O&G Disposal Solutions, could be entered into evidence.
David Leavitt, the OCC administrative law judge conducting the hearing, said he would hear arguments on Friday about whether the Arkansas records should be introduced or not. Leavitt also said he would like to read the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality citations against the company, once they are certified.
O&G Disposal Solutions attorney Cherie Wheeler argued Arkansas regulations are different from Oklahoma regulations. In Arkansas the state’s Department of Environmental Quality oversees commercial soil farms. In Oklahoma, the OCC oversees the soil farms.
Camp Bonds, Muskogee attorney representing the landowners, argued that certified copies of the citations should be entered into evidence.
Wilkins said the regulations are not unilateral, and Oklahoma lawmakers should look at changing regulations to control soil farming and pit storage.
“Their operating permits were denied in Arkansas,” Wilkins pointed out.
Wilkins said his and neighboring property is in the flood plain, and the O&G Disposal Solutions land is higher in elevation than his. The O&G Disposal Solutions land is at 550 feet sea level and his property is at 490 feet. That means drainage goes from the higher elevation to the lower. And, since Wilkins land is next to the U.S. Corps of Engineers land along Kerr Lake, the run off will end up in the lake, he said.
On its way to the lake, the runoff will possibly ruin Wilkins’ pond, which is for his cow-calf operation, and a branch of a creek, which runs from O&G’s land, through Wilkins property, and into the lake.
Wilkins said he fears O&G Disposal Solutions will also not dispose properly of the drilling fluids, which are water containing salt and other substances.
“They don’t control the salinity,” Wilkins said, “and they use an irrigation head (to unload fluids), which allows it to pool. They are not supposed to let it pool.”
Wilkins said he doesn’t want his land or pond damaged by the drilling fluids.
“I would have to establish another pond,” he said. “That’s the big problem.”
Wilkins said he would like to see a study done on the need to dispose of oil field or gas well drilling fluids in Oklahoma.
He said, “Accommodating Arkansas is not an Oklahoma requirement.”
The hearing will reopen at 1:30 p.m. Friday in Oklahoma City.
