Alliance action keeps water flowing in Oklahoma oilfields
What do you do when a judge’s ruling inadvertently threatens to shut down drilling and completion operations across the state?
You turn to The Petroleum Alliance.
In 2019, neighbors of a Delaware County poultry farm sued the Oklahoma Water Resources Board, claiming the OWRB incorrectly issued multiple provisional temporary groundwater permits to the farm after the neighbors protested the farm’s initial groundwater permit application.
In 2022, District Judge Barry Denney ruled in favor of the neighbors, saying the OWRB may not use provisional temporary permits to permit the long-term use of water and that the OWRB may not issue more than one provisional temporary permit for a particular use of water at a particular location.
For two years, the OWRB continued to approve provisional temporary permits, especially those for the oil and gas industry, in the same manner the agency had before the court ruling. But a change in OWRB staff in 2024 ushered in agency employees who would not renew 90-day permits, citing the judge’s decision in doing so.
The problem? Companies rely on the use of temporary permits to access water during drilling and completion. The judge’s decision in far northeast Oklahoma in a county that borders Arkansas and Missouri meant that services companies working in western Oklahoma or any other part of the state no longer had the access to water needed and, if not corrected, would essentially shut down drilling and completion work in the state.
Enter The Petroleum Alliance.
Alerted of the issue on May 15 when an Alliance member company’s permit renewal was denied, The Alliance legislative team took action. But, with just two weeks remaining in the 2024 legislative session, lawmakers had little time to move a bill through the legislative process to correct the issue.
With Alliance Senior Vice President of Government Affairs and Public Policy Keith Beall and Director of Regulatory Affairs Bud Ground at the Capitol and assisted by representatives by Alliance member companies, The Alliance contingency found a solution with the help of Sen. Lonnie Paxton and Rep. Dick Lowe.
Paxton, the chair of the Senate Energy & Telecommunications Committee, inserted language into House Bill 2197, authored by Lowe, to exempt the oil and gas industry from the judge’s ruling. The bill was approved by conference committee on May 29, approved on both the House and Senate floor the following day, and was signed into law by Gov. Kevin Stitt on May 31, the final day of the legislative session.
The legislation amends the definition of “provisional temporary permit” so that the executive director of the Oklahoma Water Resources Board can issue 90-day stream-water and groundwater permits and allows those provisional permits to be renewed up to three times by the oil and gas industry.
“This was a Herculean effort,” Alliance President Brook A. Simmons said of the legislation’s passage. “Most bills take months to work through the legislative process. Our team did it in two weeks.
“This is a testament to the impact a unified oil and gas industry has when championing issues, and we are proud of the collaborative effort that made it possible.”