New rules for oilfield waste threaten ranchers and environment

To the editor,The Railroad Commission has recently published new rules regarding oilfield waste. Known in the industry vernacular as rule 8, the Railroad Commission seeks to update and strengthen rules regarding waste pits for oil and gas operators statewide. Originally, these revisions would apply to all waste pits, whether used for produced water, workover fluids, or reserve pits for drilling. Reserve pits were omitted from the proposed rules in an attempt to appease industry lobbyists and small oil companies at the expense of landowners and the environment.Advances in technology for drilling led to the development of “closed loop” mud circulating. This keeps the drill cuttings in a container and don’t rely on the old pit method to store the cuttings permanently. These cuttings and associated fluids have high concentrations of chlorides and other bad stuff that is not conducive for regeneration and regrowth of the grass that ranchers depend on for their livelihood.On the ranch that I live on, there are scars from pits that are over 50 years old. They are permanent dead zones because of the salts, chlorides, and chemicals from the drilling mud and cuttings left over from wells drilled for oil and gas exploration. Reserve pits...