Changes to the “pit rule” debated, decision due by the end of the week

From Capitol Report New Mexico.com - For environmentalists, the “pit rule” that passed in 2008 is a common sense measure ensuring that oil and gas producers don’t damage groundwater and/or the land in New Mexico when they drill. But for the oil and gas industry, the rules are full of unnecessary regulations that drive up their costs and hobbles the state’s economy in the Four Corners and the Oil Patch. It’s Round 2 for the two sides and the Oil Conservation Division is hearing arguments all week long in Santa Fe. Lawyers for the industry and their witnesses say they’re not looking to completely overturn the pit rule but want “revisions and modifications to the pit rule to make the rules easier to understand,” attorney William F. Carr said in his opening statement Monday morning (May 14). This week’s hearings are scheduled to run through Friday (May 18). It takes a majority of the commission members to adopt any changes. The regulation is called the “pit rule” because it requires producers to deposit the waste and mud that’s extracted from the earth during drilling to be placed in a pit lined with protective coating. In some cases, operators also have to build enclosed tanks to hold produced water and chemicals. The rules also ban pits if they’re close to water wells and require oil and gas producers to haul the waste materials to a different site for disposal. Read more

Changes to the “pit rule” debated, decision due by the end of the week