By Cyrus Reed
Neighbors living in the Piney Woods region of East Texas breathed a collective sigh of relief when the Railroad Commission of Texas recently denied an application by Common Disposal to operate a vast commercial oil and gas waste facility located near the tributaries of the Neches River just upstream from the Sam Rayburn Reservoir. The denied permit application would have allowed for the disposal of thousands of tons of oil and gas waste liquids and drill cuttings in surface pits, with only minimum berms near the Black Branch and Attoyac Rivers, which empty into Sam Rayburn… In the words of the Railroad Commission, the proposed facility “may contribute to off-site migration of waste into sensitive areas in the event of a waste containment failure.” The Commission also pointed out how most of the area to be leased for commercial disposal was within the 100-year floodplain of the Attoyac River, making the disposal of oil and gas waste a high risk to important wetlands.
The Attoyac River, downstream from the land-farm and before its confluence with Sam Rayburn reservoir (Photo: Adrian F. Van Dellen)
The proposal had raised concerns and outright opposition from neighbors living in the nearby cities of Chireno, Woodville, San Augustine, and Nagocdoches, in addition to organizations including the Sierra Club and Clean Water Action, and local government bodies like the Neches & Trinity Valleys Groundwater Conservation District. While he hasn’t formally opposed the site, State Rep. Travis Clardy (R-Nacogdoches), raised concerns in a letter to the Commission, asking for close scrutiny of the permit.
However, the victory is not final. Under Railroad Commission rules, Common Disposal has until October 11 to appeal the denial. If it chooses to proceed with the permit, it must submit a new permit application that meets the concerns raised by the Commission by October 26. The Lone Star Chapter, which formally opposed the application, and our many members in the area, will continue to track the application and make sure that this bad idea stays dead.
Oil and gas waste needs safe storage sites, but along the banks of a major tributary to the Neches River is not one of them!