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Landfarms: Spreading Toxic Drilling Waste on Farmland

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UPDATE: the landfarm is operated by XTO and is NOT the Cherry Pit. I am editing the video. My sincere apologies to the owner of the Cherry Pit.

What are the chances that an industry in charge of conducting its own testing to determine waste disposal methods will find toxin levels too high if that means disposal of the waste will be more costly? Not likely… As a recent study in Arkansas revealed, industry takes shortcuts and water and soil gets contaminated. Yet, when it comes to protecting vital Texas resources—soil, water and air—drillers say, “Trust us” and our regulating agency ignores negligence and enables illegal activities. In almost every aspect of waste handling, this industry, with its long history of reckless disregard for public health and safety, is in charge of regulating itself—the fox guarding the hen house.

Hundreds of times I’ve marveled at the patchwork of the blackland fields when driving through Itasca on I-35. I wonder how the farmers know which way to plow the furrows, when to go straight and when to make their rows follow Mother Earth’s fertile curvature. Is that something they learn in AG classes or a secret passed down in farming families? Whatever it is, it’s remarkable and beautiful to see the crops display their various colors and textures in the fields where our food and the food our food eats grows.

”These drilling fluids are black, like oil, smell, and are delivered by trucks with Hazardous Waste Permit Numbers.”

Until recently, I tried to ignore landfarms. I knew they existed, but there’s only so much I can take on a daily basis. Dick Ross forced me to pay attention. I give you the Cherry Pit #1 a Landfarm operated by XTO and a story of arrogance and blatant endangerment of public health and safety:

It‘s no big surprise but this appears to prove the Texas Railroad Commission enables industry to cheat the system. Rather than requiring a Commercial Permit they allowed XTO to divide up the 100 acre landfarm into continuous small sections and permitted each of those small sections under a Minor Permit.

Mr. O’Quinn stated in a email to me, “it possibly should have been a Commercial Site”.

They also allow landfarm operators to do their own testing and don’t even require the results of those tests. When it’s discovered that the required daily tests don’t exist, the regulators just shrug their shoulders in indifference.
From emails:

There is a Landfarm located on FM 934, outside of Itasca, Tx that is a questionable operation. I’ve tried to get a copy of the Landfarm permit from the region 5 service office but was told that they did not have to give that information! I spoke to the asst director, Mr. Mike Vanderworth [Asst. Director TRC, Region 5&6]. He said they were in compliance and did not care what I had to say. I then spoke to Charlie Ross in Austin at the Texas Railroad Commission. He said he would check into it, but I have not heard back. I’m requesting an onsite inspection which included a water sample from water being dumped and mud samples. I want to make sure that there is no NORM radiation or Benzene etc. They are dumping a lot at night.

Also, as an adjacent land owner I was never notified of a application for permit hearing. Mr. Vanderworth said they didn’t have to notify me or the other adjacent land owners.

Statewide Rule 8 states: ” The applicant must provide a signed statement with the application that the surface owner and offset operators have been notified. The statement must indicate
the date the notice was mailed or delivered and list the names and addresses of the persons notified. To allow opportunity for protest or inquiry, and application will not be approved sooner than 15 days after receipt by the District Office of the application and signed notice statement.”

Dick Ross, Itasca, TX

Ross made a Freedom of Information request in an effort to determine the level of toxins being dumped near his front door and why proper procedures were not followed.

I’m requesting all information on permits, testing of sites for water, air, soil contamination.
1. Copy of the Minor Permit notification to adjacent land owners notice of hearing showing my name and address and when I was notified.
2. Copy of the Minor Permit renewal permit, since these permits are good for 1 year. First permit should have been issued in 2008.
3. Copies of all Hazard Waste haulers permits, of trucking companies delivering to the site.
4. Copies of all permits to XTO Energy who is generating the Hazardous waste.
I’m requesting this information under the FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT.

And what did he receive:

The TRRC sent me copies of the Off lease Landfarming permits for XTO and the permits for only 2 of the trucking co.’s. They said they did not have the other information! I’M REQUESTING COPIES OF ALL DOCUMENTS LIST UNDER CONDITIONS OF PERMIT ISSUANCE!
PERMIT # 05-3416, JOB # 2009-930
I asked for ALL TESTS ON ALL 30 CELLS!! I only received Cell #7- Old Geiser.

Per XTO’s permit, they are required to test daily and keep records of those tests or lose their permit (see picture from XTO permit below, click to enlarge) but according to the following email, it seems the the Texas Railroad Commission is not enforcing the terms of the permit.

Cc: “Debra Ravel”
Sent: Monday, May 11, 2009 12:50 PM
Subject: Response to Pubic Information Request filed by E-mail on4/25/09; Tests on all Cells; Instructions to Interpret MudProperties Summary

Dear Mr. Ross:

This e-mail is in response to the above-referenced Public Information (Open Records) Request (which appears below). In your e-mail, you request “all tests on all 30 cells.” As stated in response to your previous request for this information (please refer my e-mail to you dated 4/3/09; and the letter e-mailed to you from Debra Ravel on 5/7/09), the Railroad Commission of Texas (the Commission) has no
existing, available information in response to this request. According to staff, these tests must be performed by the operator on a daily basis but the test results are retained by the operator, not the Commission, and are made available to the Commission for inspection or copying only upon request. Our understanding is that, to date, Kilgore District Office staff has not requested any additional testing information on the remaining cells in connection with any Commission business.

Mr. Ross sent formal complaints to XTO and the TRC, EPA and TCEQ with no satisfaction to date.

About Sharon Wilson

Sharon Wilson is considered a leading citizen expert on the impacts of shale oil and gas extraction. She is the go-to person whether it’s top EPA officials from D.C., national and international news networks, or residents facing the shock of eminent domain and the devastating environmental effects of natural gas development in their backyards.

Comments

  1. Anonymous says

    It seems the Texas Railroad Commission is guilty of fraud and racketeering.

  2. PoultryBookstore says

    How anyone can see this and not be outraged is beyond me. If these people aren’t outraged as part of their jobs, they should be as human beings and local residents. Thanks, Sharon, for being the one to step up.

  3. Jeff says

    You are absolutely on the right track here, but I do want to clear up the misinformation in your video. None of the pictures in your video are of any of WFI's facilities. These pictures are of illegally operated commercial landfarms in the Barnett Shale in North Texas.

    The WFI Cherry Pit #1 is not a landfarm; it is a remediated waste pit licensed by the Tx RRC. WFI does operate a legal commercial landfarm in Jim Wells County, but I promise you it does not look anything like your pictures!

    In February 2009, WFI finally was granted a commercial facility pit permit for the Barnett Shale, so that we could combat the illegal and dangerous dumping that is going on in these mud farms. Your pictures show exactly what we are railing against as a commercial disposal operator. Texas has the regulations in place to govern the responsible disposal of oil and gas waste, but in the Barnett Shale, the RRC has ignored (and even endorsed) these mud farms instead of enforcing their own rules.

    WFI is working hard to change that. Our role as an environmental disposal and remediation company is to ensure that oil and gas waste is properly handled and disposed, and it is offensive to us that the mud farming you show in your video is being allowed to continue. So I applaud you for your vigilance and ensure you WFI is working very hard to make sure the RRC ends these practices. I encourage all of you to continue to do the same, including calling Charles Ross at the Austin RRC, as well as your state congress reps. Let them know you want the illegal mud farm disposal operations in the Barnett Shale to stop!

    As for regulatory reporting, WFI is the most responsible in testing, reporting and accountability to the Railroad Commission. If you do your research, you will see for yourself that this is true. We report every ounce of disposal volume we receive to the RRC, and our soils and groundwater are independently tested every quarter to ensure our facilities are in compliance. The neighbor you refer to in the video was not at all concerned with the environment – he was instead trying to illegally obtain the land by invoking "squatter's rights", and had to be sued in court (where he rightfully lost) in order to yield. He has never once requested testing data from the RRC. That you can also verify, as all requests are a matter of public record.

    I am happy to share with your blog through interview, site visits, etc. our operations and our environmental record. WFI has nothing to hide because we pride ourselves on being an environmental solution, not the environmental problem.

    Best regards and keep up the great work,
    Jeff Cannon
    President
    Waste Facilities, Inc.

  4. Jeff says

    One other thing. It appears that you have incorrectly identified the name of the XTO landfarm. It is not the Cherry Pit #1. It is called the Kimbrell land farm. This is what must have caused the confusion and why WFI's name was put in your video. WFI's Cherry Pit #1 is in South Texas, about 75 miles southwest of Corpus Christi, nowhere near the Barnett Shale. The neighbor you refer to must be a neighbor of this XTO Kimbrell mudfarm.

    I would appreciate you amending your blog entry so that the facts are correctly stated.

    Thanks again,
    Jeff Cannon
    Waste Facilities, Inc. (WFI)

  5. TXsharon says

    I will check this out and if there is a mistake I will correct it. However, there are mistakes in your comment. The person who lives across from this landfarm has made MANY requests for test results because I have the copies. Also, your comment about squatter is not up to par with the rest of your comment.

    The papers he sent me had the name Cherry Pit #1 on them. So…I'm checking…

  6. Jeff says

    Yes, that's why I clarified my post. The neighbor you are referring to is the Kimbrell neighbor. The neighbor I was referring to was our neighbor in South Texas.

    WFI's only facility in the Barnett Shale is just northwest of Cleburne, and it is a licensed commercial disposal facility, NOT this XTO mudfarm in Itasca.

    Jeff

  7. TXsharon says

    Jeff, Mr. Ross just called me and confirmed that XTO's landfarm is not the Cherry Pit.

    I disabled the video and I'll edit it asap.

    I am sincerely sorry for this mistake. I would never want to cause trouble to responsible operators.

  8. Jeff says

    No apology necessary – it was an honest mistake. Keep up the great work. If there is anything I can do to help, please let me know.

    We've invested millions of dollars to ensure that responsible solutions are available for the operators' drilling waste, and we will not be satisfied until every one of these mud farm operations are shut down.

    Jeff

  10. Anonymous says

    Drilling mud is not really toxic in a real or metaphorical sense.

    The word is hyperbole and is over used and incorrectly used to stir up fear. Legally drilling mud is a listed hazardous waste subject to RCRA regulations. While the practice is unappealing to some land owners, others see it as a viable and productive use for marginal land.

  11. Lisa from Paradise, TX says

    Thanks for your efforts in exposing how the gas companies are destroying the environment to make a buck (a really big buck). I recently watched the documentary "Gasland" and was truly disturbed by what's going on all around us. I really don't understand why gas companies would be exempt from the clean water and clear air acts – this needs to change and hold these people resonsible for their actions!

  12. TXsharon says

    Hello Lisa,

    So glad you could join us.

    Industry has broad exemptions from 7 of our federal environmental statutes.