NWAOnline.com
Soil farm proposal faces opposition
By SUSAN HYLTON TULSA WORLD

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

KEOTA, Okla. — An Arkansas company is seeking a permit from the Oklahoma Corporation Commission to construct and operate a commercial soil farm in Haskell County, which has sparked opposition from would-be neighbors near Keota.

The commission defines soil farming as the application of oilfield drilling fluids to the soil for the purpose of disposing of the waste without being a detriment to water or land.

O&G Disposal Solutions LLC of Searcy filed an application with the commission in November. The operation would cover about 83 acres.

Tim Baker, manager of pollution abatement for the Corporation Commission’s oil and gas conservation division, said the agency only approves water-based drilling mud from gas wells to be disposed at commercial soil farms.

Once the mud is trucked to the soil farm, it is placed in storage tanks or unloading pits, which can resemble ponds.

Once a certain volume is reached, Baker said, it is tested to determine how many acres will need to be used when it is spread out on the land. The mud contains clay and piecesof rock and shale and varying levels of salt.

“The most limiting factor is the salt content,” Baker said. “They are required to test it, and that dictates how many acres it is spread out. There are limits on how much [salt] is allowed on the soil.”

Opponents say a company apparently associated with O&G Disposal Solutions already has had environmental problems that shut down a soil farm in Arkansas, and residents don’t want those same problems brought to Oklahoma.

“If they can’t operate in Arkansas, why are we letting them come to Oklahoma?” said Doy Wilkins, who farms cattle on land adjacent to the proposed soil farm.

Wilkins said he is worried about runoff of drilling fluids onto his grazing land.

A petition presented to the Corporation Commission signed by about 200 residents, mostly from Keota and several other Haskell County towns, cites several reasons for opposing the soil farm. The residents oppose the potential truck traffic and odors and fear that spills could contaminate water supplies and endanger livestock.

The petition states that O&G is one of five limited liability corporations with thesame Searcy mailing address.

Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality records show that one of them - the Garner Land Farm - was denied a permit for a land farm last April.

“Persons affiliated with Garner Land Farm have a documented history of violations and noncompliance of state environmental laws that evidence a history of noncompliance or a pattern of disregard for state laws or regulations,” the records state.

According to the records, a breach occurred at a levee on an application field at Central Arkansas Disposal, which has the same Searcy address as O&G.

Arkansas rice farmer Bennie Duch said the breach resulted in large fish kills on his and his neighbors’ properties.

“That’s why everyone got alarmed right away. When the water kills the fish, something’s wrong,” Duch said. “It seems like there’s an oily substance to it. It looks awful black on the water.”

Central Arkansas Disposal’s permit was revoked, but an applicant at the same address called Oilfield Compliance Solutions is applying for a land-farm permit, which is pending.

O&G’s attorney, CheriWheeler, said she didn’t know if her clients are some of the same people in the Arkansas corporations with the pollution violations.

“I believe the stories as to what occurred and didn’t occur in Arkansas vary widely as to the actual facts, but the [Oklahoma Corporation Commission] has very stringent rules when it comes to soil farming,” Wheeler said. “It’s only important to me that my client strictly complies with the rules of the [commission].”

Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality spokesman Aaron Sadler said there was a temporary moratorium on land farms in Arkansas in 2008 because of the influx of natural-gas drilling in the Fayetteville Shale and land-farm permit applications.

Violations were found on all 11 land farms in Arkansas, Sadler said. He said there were runoff problems, and drilling fluid samples revealed high levels of petroleum hydrocarbons.

“They were accepting fluids they shouldn’t have,” Sadler said. “They were oilbased.”

Sadler said Arkansas has since adopted more stringent rules to protect the environment.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 02/23/2010