Lacey Horn, a Vian resident, said the appeal will be heard at 9:30 a.m. Monday in Courtroom A in the Oklahoma Corporation Commission office in Oklahoma City. The courtroom on the first floor of the Jim Thorpe building at 2101 N. Lincoln. (See Lacey Horn’s letter to the editor in this issue of Your TIMES.)
Horn said those opposing the well are urged to attend the hearing. She said over 800 Vian residents signed a petition opposing the well, and she urged all to attend. A spokesman for the corporation commission said if the courtroom is full, the hearing will most likely be moved to a larger room.
A commission spokesman said the referee hearing the appeal is Patricia MacGuigan, a former judge and presiding judge of the Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals. During the hearing an attorney for Vian will have 30 minutes to speak and an attorney for I-MAC will have 30 minutes to speak.
In her letter Horn wrote that the concerns of the Vian residents were about: the proximity — less than 1,000 feet — of the well to Vian School; the possible disturbance of radioactive wastes at Sequoyah Fuels by injecting saltwater waste deep into subterranean shale layers; the pollution of the air, soil and water that may result; pollution from trucks hauling waste in the forms of odor, gas and noise; the origin and content of the substance to be disposed of; and the loss in real estate values.
A corporation commission judge recommended the approval of I–MAC’s application some months ago, and last month it was ruled that I–MAC must also go by the ordinances voted in by the Vian town council.
At that time well owner Charles Brooks said that he was not worried about the ordinances, attached to the recommendation by the law judge, and said he would have to deal with the ordinance somewhere else, most likely in district court.
The Cherokee Nation has joined with Vian and town residents in their opposition to the disposal well.
Matt Skinner, corporation commission spokesman, said last month that no date has yet been set for the commission to make a decision on the recommendation to approve the well.
