Texas is inching closer to adopting revised oil and gas waste management rules for the first time in four decades.
The Railroad Commission of Texas announced the draft rule at its Aug. 15 meeting and is now soliciting public comment. The rule regulates a range of disposal sites for oil and gas drilling wastes, from pits dug next to drilling rigs to large commercial facilities managing toxic waste from numerous drillers. Waste streams that fall under the rule include drilling mud, sludge, cuttings and produced water.
The rule also aims to encourage more recycling of the drilling wastewater, which can be five to eight times saltier than ocean water and, like other oilfield waste, is often laced with fracking chemicals, hazardous compounds such as arsenic, benzene and toluene.
The existing waste rule was adopted in 1984, long before fracking revolutionized the oil and gas industry. Fracking has increased the volume of oilfield waste and changed its composition. In Texas, waste pits have been linked to at least six cases of groundwater contamination and hundreds of violations of state rules.
While the need to modernize the Railroad Commission’s rules is clear, the process has proved contentious. A task force with members of the oil industry and consultants met for two years to provide r