With the start of the 2016 session of the Oklahoma legislature, those wastewater disposal wells believed to be causing earthquakes in the state will get a lot of attention. House Speaker Jeff Hickman is among those legislators wanting to solve the problem, despite the claims of his Democratic opponents in the legislature. He contends the legislature needs to modernize the Oklahoma Corporation Commission.
“The lack of technology at the Corporation Commission is astonishing,” declared Hickman in a recent interview with OK Energy Today. “It’s amazing that in 2016 that salt water disposal well reports still come in by mail or by fax and some are handwritten.”
The Republican leader from Fairview says the commission still has to bring staff in when there’s an earthquake to pull the files on the wells and tally up the volumes of water put into the wells.
“It’s 2016! It should all be in a data program where those commissioners push a button and see exactly in real time or near-real time how much water’s been put in those wells,” added Hickman.
Another bill, as reported earlier by OK Energy Today is HB 3158 which defines the authority the commission has in controlling the hundreds of disposal wells in the state.
“Just to be certain we will make sure that it is very clear in the statute the Corporation COmmission has the full authority to take action in an emergency situaton without so much as a hearing to either shut down or reduce volume in those wells in an emergency situation when an earthquake occurs,” said Rep. Hickman.
He filed the bill after SandRidge Energy in December refused to shut down operation of some of its northern Oklahoma wastewater disposal wells at the request of the Commission. The Oklahoma City-based energy company ended up in negotiations with the Commission and finally agreed to shut down operations of a few wells and cut back operations at others suspected of causing earthquakes in the region.
Listen to Hickman’s comments made in the interview with OK Energy Today.