CASPER, Wyo. (AP) - Wyoming environmental regulators blocked an oil company’s request to discharge higher volumes of wastewater from a proposed project.
Aethon Energy had requested the state to allow them to dispose of more water and pollutants so it could drill more at its proposed wells. The company had proposed to install over 4,000 new wells throughout private, state and federal land about 40 miles (64 kilometers) east of Riverton, the Casper Star-Tribune reported.
The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality ruled last Friday to add new pollutant limits and maintain the same water discharge maximum, effectively blocking Aethon’s request to dump more waste.
The environmental regulator’s new permit limits the amount of wastewater the company can discard to about 2 million gallons (7.57 million liters) per day. It will also require routine water sampling and other regulations to prevent pollutants from contaminating nearby bodies of water. The wastewater’s salt content also cannot surpass 908 tons (824 metric tonnes) per month.
Aethon Energy had already been dumping its wastewater into Alkali Creek, which is a tributary for the Badwater Creek and is located 40 miles (64 kilometers) upstream from a sizable reservoir. Because of the creek’s proximity to multiple waterways, the oil company’s request to dump more wastewater was met with widespread condemnation by conservationists and nearby property owners, the Tribune reported.
Many advocates and landowners feared the pollutants would infest the creeks or flow into the reservoir.
A letter obtained by the Star-Tribune revealed Aethon Energy violated its existing permit by contaminating the nearby Alkali and Badwater creeks. The Department of Environmental Quality found black sediment deposits and oil accumulation in the creeks, according to the December 17, 2019 letter.
Some advocacy groups had requested that environmental regulators reject a new permit for Aethon Energy altogether because of these violations. The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality acknowledged the violations had occurred, but said the infractions did not prohibit Aethon’s permit from being renewed.
“The permittee is working in good faith … to correct outstanding water quality issues, and the permittee has substantially complied with all terms and conditions of the expiring permit,” the agency said.
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