Official: Ark. natural gas regulations sufficient

A joint session of Agriculture, Forestry, and Economic Development spent nearly seven hours Tuesday discussing a package of Interim Study Proposals concerning natural gas production in Arkansas. The proposals, two of which I’m sponsoring, were first introduced during the 2011 legislation session. Since we met strong opposition, we sent the bills to study. Tuesday’s meeting marked the first step.

From BusinessWeek:

Arkansas’ top environmental official said Tuesday that she believes her department has “sufficient” regulatory authority over natural gas drilling in Arkansas but says she wants to keep additional inspectors funded through an agreement with the Game and Fish Commission.

Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality Director Teresa Marks told lawmakers that she believed the current regulations on natural gas drilling are sufficient. She spoke at a hearing on proposals to increase regulation of natural gas drillers and a process they use called hydraulic fracturing.

A Tainted Water Well, and Concern There May Be More

From The New York Times:

For decades, oil and gas industry executives as well as regulators have maintained that a drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, that is used for most natural gas wells has never contaminated underground drinking water.

The claim is based in part on a simple fact: fracking, in which water and toxic chemicals are injected at high pressure into the ground to break up rocks and release the gas trapped there, occurs thousands of feet below drinking-water aquifers. Because of that distance, the drilling chemicals pose no risk, industry officials have argued.

“There have been over a million wells hydraulically fractured in the history of the industry, and there is not one, not one, reported case of a freshwater aquifer having ever been contaminated from hydraulic fracturing. Not one,” Rex W. Tillerson, the chief executive of ExxonMobil, said last year at a Congressional hearing on drilling.

It is a refrain that not only drilling proponents, but also state and federal lawmakers, even past and presentEnvironmental Protection Agency directors, have repeated often.

But there is in fact a documented case, and the E.P.A. report that discussed it suggests there may be more. Researchers, however, were unable to investigate many suspected cases because their details were sealed from the public when energy companies settled lawsuits with landowners.

Arkansas: Disposal Well Is Ordered Closed

From The New York Times:

The Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission voted Wednesday to close a well used to dispose of natural gas fluids and ban the drilling of others in an area north of Conway where hundreds of earthquakes have struck. The well between Greenbrier and Enola is operated by Deep-Six Water Disposal Services, a subsidiary of Hurst Oil Investments Inc. The moratorium would not affect the drilling of natural gas wells, but it would change how fluids from the process are disposed. Gas companies have tapped natural gas by injecting water and chemicals under high pressure to fracture the shale, a process known as fracking. Those fluids are injected into separate wells for disposal. The commission pinpointed four wells that it said needed to be closed. Operators of three of the wells agreed to close them by Sept. 30. Deep-Six, which operates the fourth, says its disposal well does not cause any seismic activity.

Arkansas Company Cited for Reportedly Dumping Toxic Waste in White County

From KARK:

KARK has learned an Arkansas company has been cited for reportedly dumping toxic waste into the ground in White County.

Photos obtained exclusively by KARK show illegal disposal sites used by Poseidon Energy Services, which has a facility near Pangburn.

According to a report by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, sludge used in natural gas drilling was being dumped in the ground in seven different locations near Pangburn and Searcy.

The company has not been fined and is said to be working with state agencies.