Breaking barriers
Cleanup efforts overcome jurisdictional challenges in Osage County
Home to some of the state's oldest oil fields, Osage County has a long history with the oil and natural gas industry.
The state's largest county also has a more complicated regulatory and organizational structure than Oklahoma's other 76 counties.
"It's more complicated, but there is a good reason for it," said Bob Blackburn, executive director of the Oklahoma History Center. "With most regulation, generally if the process is followed and people enter into it with the right spirit, the process works very well."
While the surface rights long ago were divided up and most were sold to private landowners, the minerals beneath the surface throughout Osage County still are owned by the Osage Nation.
"So much of the surface rights the Indians have lost over the years," Blackburn said. "Some sold it. Some were cheated out of it. But so much of the land has gotten out of their hands. But with communal ownership of the minerals, none were alienated from the minerals."
The structure benefited the Osage Nation and its people, making the Osage a century ago the wealthiest people in the country. But it also created jurisdictional challenges that continue today.
Overlaps and gaps
The Oklahoma Corporation Commission is the main regulatory body for the oil and natural gas industry in Oklahoma, but the commission has no jurisdiction in
Osage County. Instead, the industry and others doing business underground in the area are regulated by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality has oversight over some air and water regulations, but there is much overlap between the state, federal and tribal governments.
"When everybody is operating in their lanes where they know what they're supposed to do, that's pretty easy. Everybody does a good job of that," said Mike Teague, Oklahoma secretary of energy and environment. "The complications come when you're either overlapped or there's a gap."
Officials from state, federal and tribal governments are working to better establish who is responsible for what, Teague said.
Besides regulatory issues, Osage County also is a challenging area for oil and natural gas operations because it lacks one of the biggest advantages to oil and natural gas drilling in the United States: buy-in from local property owners.
While land and mineral ownership are not always connected, many of the farmers and ranchers most inconvenienced by oil and natural gas operations also profit by cashing royalty checks. That's generally not the case in Osage County, where the minerals are owned by the Osage Tribe and much of the surface is in private control.
Agencies cooperate
While many challenges and disagreements remain, the various regulators have reached agreement and worked together on at least two key areas.
A magnitude 5.8 earthquake centered near Pawnee in September 2016 required federal regulators in Osage County and the Oklahoma Corporation Commission to cooperate.
Following a common pattern over the past few years, Corporation Commission regulators responded to the Pawnee quake by shutting in or reducing the volume of disposal wells near the epicenter and faults in the area. The effort extended into Osage County, where the Corporation Commission has no oversight. The EPA followed the state agency's recommendation and shut down 17 saltwater disposal wells in southwest Osage County.
"We have closely coordinated our analysis with OCC (Oklahoma Corporation Commission), and we believe the actions we have already taken to reduce and limit injection volumes in Osage County are consistent with OCC's latest directives," the EPA said in a statement following the quake.
Cleaning up
Another area of cooperation among regulators and leaders is the Oklahoma Energy Resources Board's ongoing effort to clean up abandoned oil field sites. OERB has restored 1,000 sites in Osage County and more than 15,000 statewide. The group has identified about 360 other sites in Osage County and estimates there are thousands more yet to be located.
"This is where the oil industry started in Oklahoma," OERB Environmental Director Steve Sowers said. "You see a lot of concrete, trash, debris and erosion from saltimpacted areas. It's similar to what we see in other historical sites."
One major difference, however, is that in Osage County, OERB leaders work with the Bureau of Indian Affairs rather than the Corporation Commission. The efforts have been led by Sowers and Richard Winlock, deputy superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Osage Agency.
At first, rules required written correspondence between the groups.
"We'd send a letter, and then they'd send a letter," Winlock said. "In the end it might take 20 letters to work out a deal."
Winlock and Sowers then worked out a form that streamlined the process.
"It increased our efforts tenfold because it was a faster process," Winlock said.
Funded by a voluntary tax on oil and natural gas producers, the OERB so far has spent about $5.5 million on cleanup efforts in Osage County.
The effort has helped bring together the varying interests in the county, at least for abandoned oil field cleanups, officials said.
"Jurisdictional disputes aside, this is a program that benefits everyone," said Raymond Red Corn, assistant principal chief of the Osage Nation. "This is one area where the state funds are put to good use without a jurisdictional conflict."
The effort also has helped the Bureau of Indian Affairs' relationship with landowners, Winlock said.
"It's created a good relationship between the bureau and the surface owners, and they're grateful for it," he said. "I'm glad we can provide that service and get some of the sites cleaned up. It's been nothing but a win-win.”
Boosting staff
The relationship between regulators and surface owners also has benefited from the bureau's decision three years ago to double the number of field inspectors in the county to 14, Winlock said.
Field inspector Mark Hendricks was born in Osage County and has been a BIA field inspector for 25 years. He regularly receives phone calls at home from landowners and runs into others at church and the grocery store. He praised the OERB for helping his agency better address the needs of surface owners.
"I think it's the greatest program to come through Osage County," Hendricks said. "They have stepped up to take care of these sites."
The effort also has created at least some hope for broader cooperation.
"We've not had a great relationship up here with the state. It's been contentious way beyond my tenure," Teague said. "OERB to me is becoming that great bridge of how you get stuff done if you all work together."