Environmental group challenging oil and gas rule
Posted at: 10/07/2009 10:42 AM
By: Reed Upton, KOB.com
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - An appeal filed in state district court contends the state Oil Conservation Commission weakened its oil and gas waste pit rule by allowing a higher level of chloride.
The New Mexico Environmental Law Center appealed the rule, which went into effect in June.
The rule is aimed at safeguarding groundwater supplies from thousands of oil waste pits in the state.
The law center appealed on behalf of the Oil and Gas Accountability Project, contending the change in the chloride standard was "arbitrary and capricious."
The Oil Conservation Commission increased the level allowed based on testimony from scientists in its Environmental Bureau.
The bureau's acting chief, Glenn von Gonten, says studies found the higher levels, coupled with new design standards in the rule, wouldn't contaminate groundwater for 2,000 years.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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