Managing Oil & Gas Pits and Impoundments

Adam Peltz, Attorney December 17, 2015

“I'll take an oil spill nine times out of 10 over a production water spill. You have long-term impacts that are really difficult to remediate.”

David GlattNorth Dakota Environmental Health Section Chief

A Case for Waste Management Now• Scale: over 800 billion gallons of

wastewater generated per year

• With more reuse and recycling of produced water:• Changing storage practices• Wastewater stored at larger

facilities, for longer durations, at more locations

• More data and better rules and practices needed to reduce frequency, severity of wastewater storage leaks and spills Vegetation killed as a result of

oil and gas wastewater spill

Attributes for Pits and Impoundments• Siting considerations

(100-year flood plain boundary, proximity to drinking water sources, separation from groundwater, surrounding land use)

• Design, construction, and operation requirements(liners, leak detection, freeboard, fluid level monitoring, spill prevention, operator inspection and maintenance)

• Closure requirements (timing, disposition of fluids and solids, and site restoration)

Managing Oil & Gas �Pits and ImpoundmentsSlide Number 2Slide Number 3Slide Number 4