Rule tweaks sought for disposal wells

Arkansas’ environmental regulatory agency plans to request that it start the process of changing its administrative procedures and pollution prevention regulations for wastes produced by saltwater and oil field wells.

The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality will ask the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission to approve initiating the rule changes at its May meeting Friday. The meeting starts at 9 a.m. at the department’s 5301 North Shore Drive headquarters in North Little Rock.

In a two-page memo to commissioners, Caleb Osborne, associate director in charge of the Office of Water Quality, said the changes to pollution prevention regulations are to update definitions, change the name of the program, make typographical changes and eliminate the second permit for owners of disposal wells that are not high volume or commercial disposal.

Fewer than 100 of the 525 permitted wells fit that bill, according to the supporting documents filed with the petition to initiate rule-making. The wells would save $250 per year in permit fees and would be subject only to the permitting program authorized under Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission regulations.

“The proposed rule continues to protect the natural environment because the AOGC permit requirements protect waters of the state by preventing pollution from oil field waste,” department officials wrote. The change would get rid of a “duplicative” permitting process, the department said.

According to supporting documents, the changes to administrative procedures would include adding definitions, lengthening the amount of time an entity has to respond to a notice of violation from 20 days to 30 days and allowing the department administrative law judge to issue a warning order.