Oilfield Restoration Commission

OILFIELD WASTE TESTING EMERGENCY RULE EXTENDED THROUGH MONTH OF SEPTEMBER

BATON ROUGE – Officials at the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources today issued an amendment to Statewide Order No. 29-B, extending another 30 days the order requiring "continued waste profile analyses of exploration and production (E&P) oilfield waste prior to shipment to a commercial facility and waste verification testing upon receipt by a commercial facility".

Louisiana Commissioner of Conservation Philip N. Asprodites signed the emergency rule today which goes into effect August 29 and continues through September 30. "This extension should provide us with additional data to strengthen the validity of the previous tests that have been conducted since May 1 when the original emergency rule went into effect," Aprodites said.

DNR Secretary Jack Caldwell said, "Technical experts at LSU who are under contract with DNR to analyze the data have convinced us the extension is prudent and I agree it's best to have more information than less when we're dealing with the health and safety of people and the environment."

LSU scientist Danny Reible, a member of the team working under the direction of Dr. James Wharton to conduct the analyses of the data, sent a memo to DNR that states, "testing during the first 30 to 45 days of the emergency rule suffered from inconsistencies between laboratories and difficulties with the on-site "sniffer" tests. The extension will ensure that close to the desired 120 days of data will be available".

The memo also states that "additional data will strengthen the validity of the inferences as to average concentrations and statistical distribution of concentration in these wastes, especially important for waste streams that are of marginal or uncertain concern".

The memo adds that "some large volume waste types occasionally exhibit higher contaminant levels. At this time, these observations occur too rarely to identify their cause". The extension "will either indicate the rare exceedances observed to date are anomalous or will provide sufficient information to identify what characteristics of these wastes led to the higher levels".

Final analyses of the data will be done when sample gathering is completed September 30. Permanent rules will then be established by DNR that will set safe levels for contaminents in oilfield waste. If levels are exceeded, the waste will require further treatment.

Caldwell said, "Louisiana already has the most stringent oilfield waste regulations in the country today. Under Governor Foster's direction, the testing and analysis we're conducting now puts us on the cutting edge. Oilfield waste has never been tested in this manner before now."

As data is received, it will be made available on the Internet at the Department of Natural Resources website : http://www.dnr.state.la.us/.

Copies of the amendment extending the emergency rule are available at DNR Office of Conservation, Room 257, State Land and Natural Resources Building, Baton Rouge. The amendment is also available on our website.

For more information, please contact Sidney Coffee, DNR Director of Communications, Office of the Secretary, at 504-342-4844.