ProPublica is featuring a series on injections wells that are used to dispose supposedly non-hazardous wastes from oil and gas drilling operations. Injection wells have proliferated over the last 60 years and are now in 33 states. Pumping waste into wells is the cheapest way of handling the billions of gallons of industrial waste generated each year in the United States. There are now more than 150,000 Class 2 wells intended for non-hazardous materials. The practice is not without dangers that have been known to industry since the 1960's. Examples of accidents related to injection wells are the explosion that burned two tanker trucks and killed three workers in Rosharon, TX in 2003. An idling tractor engine ignited what was supposed to be a relatively benign mixture of water and salt, but the waste also contained flammable hydrocarbons. Hutchinson, KS was engulfed in flames in 2001 when gas accumulated in a downtown appliance store blew up. The ignition caused injection wells dotted around town to erupt like geysers from hell. Geologists determined, after the disaster that made national headlines, the eruptions were attributable to an underground gas storage field seven miles away. A utility company used subterranean salt caverns as storage space for gas, but the gas leaked out and migrated into abandoned injections wells.
In yet another example of the subsidizes given to the US fossil fuel industry, is the substantial relaxation of regulations governing waste disposal in injection wells. Because of regulatory changes drilling wastes are classified as non-hazardous regardless of what it may contain. In 1980 Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) sponsored legislation that allowed the EPA to delegate authority to states to oversee Class 2 injection wells. Louisiana collects an average fine of only $158 for violation of waste disposal rules. Also in 1980, the EPA made a temporary blanket exemption from federal hazardous waste regulations for oil and gas drilling waste permanent, handing the industry landmark cost savings. Understaffed federal or state regulators often do not monitor injection operations and operators are often ignorant or careless about the potentially hazardous materials they handle. A former EPA technical advisor called the Class 2 system "basically a paper tiger".
The de facto honor system is failing to protect the public and workers. According to ProPublica's investigation more than 1,000 times in a three year period operators pumped waste into wells at pressures they knew could fracture rock and lead to leaks. In 140 cases examined operators injected wells illegally or without a permit. The Rosharon case prompted an EPA investigation that eventually led to Texas Oil and Gathering, a company that planned to pass off hazardous waste as Class 2 material, thus saving it thousands of dollars in fees for Class 1 disposal. The company's owner and operations manager were convicted of conspiring to dump illegally and violating the Safe Water Drinking Act. Unfortunately, it is the exceptional case resulting in a major explosion that gets fully investigated and the culprits convicted. Despite the investigation and successful prosecution, injections wells as Rosharon later failed completely. In February, 2010 thousands of gallons of injected waste fluids bubbled up to the surface in what the Railroad Commission laconically called "a breakout". Whether the fluids that could contain solvents, acids and hydrocarbons reached underground water supplies is not yet known. More disgusting details at ProPublica's website.