Activists get potent ally in wastewater well fight
Apache Corp. teams with environmentalists to block a plan to dispose of fracturing byproducts under area of beloved spring
ENVIRONMENTALISTS fighting a series of oil waste disposal wells near Balmorhea State Park in West Texas have uncovered an unlikely ally: the Houston oil company Apache Corp.
Apache, which has almost singlehandedly developed the area for oil and gas drilling, joined with West Texas residents and environmentalists from across the country to quash a plan by NGL Energy Partners to inject oil and gas wastewater deep under the ecologically sensitive region, home to the beloved crystal blue San Solomon Springs.
Scientists have increasingly concluded that some disposal wells, into which operators inject millions of barrels of oil and gas wastewater under high pressures, can cause earthquakes.
Apache said it was more concerned the waste wells could contaminate local aquifers, which irrigate area farms,
provide drinking water, and pump more than 15 million gallons through the state park’s 1.3acre pool each day.
“We’re going to have evidence to show I believe that this is not an appropriate location for such injection because it will, in fact, impact the fresh water,” Brian Sullivan, an Austin lawyer representing Apache, said during a recent hearing of the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates the state’s oil and gas industry.
It’s not unusual for oil and gas companies to protest disposal wells, which can interfere with oil production. But Apache’s public acknowledgement of its opposition was unusual, specialists said, and another sign that oil and gas companies, under attack as major contributors to pollution and climate change, are increasingly concerned about public perceptions.
A contaminated aquifer in Balmorhea could cause Apache serious problems, regardless of who’s at fault.
“Apache is smart,” said Gabriel Collins, an energy fellow studying water use in the oil field for Rice University’s Baker Institute. “They might effectively be blamed for that even if it’s not something they did. So there’s a reputational motive.”
Apache said in a statement that it does not oppose all wastewater wells, and has acknowledged that it uses them itself. But the company said it has done extensive seismic imaging of the region’s underground, and believes that the wells proposed by NGL “did not take into account unique local geological conditions” and could contaminate groundwater.
“Apache shared significant concerns regarding the location of the proposed disposal wells directly with the operator NGL, and we are satisfied with the withdrawal of their applications,” spokeswoman Castlen Kennedy said in a statement.
Environmentalists, however, remain skeptical of Apache.
“They’re admitting that this toxic fracking wastewater will pollute the fresh water,” said Neta Rhyne, who owns a scuba diving and swim shop across the street from the state park and has become a leader of the protest movement there. “They’re just a couple miles down the road fracking and putting this toxic water in the ground.”
NGL, a Tulsa, Okla., company, was scheduled to appear this week at a hearing of the Railroad Commission but pulled its applications after the commission received more than 700 pages of protest letters, including Apache’s. The company did not return calls seeking comment.
Apache announced its West Texas play, Alpine High, in 2016, estimating it held 15 billion barrels of oil and gas on about 350,000 acres in southern Reeves County. Since then, the company has worked to prove it is a responsible corporate citizen.
It has promised not to drill within the Balmorhea city limits or Balmorhea State Park boundaries. It is developing its own wastewater treatment and recycling program. And it has filed multiple protest letters against wastewater well operators to prevent them from soiling the region’s aquifers — and Apache’s project.
As oil flows up and out of the ground, it brings with it millions of gallons of salty, dirty water. Adding to that is the millions of gallons of chemical-laced water used in hydraulic fracturing. All that water has to go somewhere, and the most common practice in Texas is to re-inject it deep underground, into formations that are not likely to produce oil.
But the Balmorhea region is riddled with geologic faults and underground caves. Scientists worry that injected water can migrate up the faults or through the caves and either pollute aquifers or cause earthquakes.
Todd Staples, president of the Texas Oil & Gas Association, lauded Apache’s actions.
“While wastewater disposal wells are safe and an environmentally responsible solution employed by many industries, including the oil and gas industry, they must be properly located, designed and constructed,” Staples said.
Apache may also have a practical concern. As drilling activity has boomed in the Permian, the increase in the number of wastewater injection wells has, in some cases, robbed the underground pressure that forces oil up a well shaft. In other cases, the wastewater is actually migrating into the oil wells, diluting oil and complicating recovery.
Kennedy, the Apache spokeswoman, said the company is now recycling most of its wastewater in Alpine High and trucking the rest out of the area.
“Apache is committed to the responsible development of Alpine High and has been exceedingly careful and purposeful in our development of the area,” Kennedy said in a statement. “Apache hopes all companies operating in the area will hold themselves to the highest standards of safety and environmental stewardship.”