(Cushing, Okla.) At a special meeting of the Cushing Board of Commissioners held Tuesday evening, commissioners voted to sign and send a letter of support for the continued study of the causation of earthquakes in our area.
The letter, addressed to Governor Mary Fallin, State Representative Lee Denney, State Senator Jim Halligan, the Oklahoma Corporation Commission and the Coordinating Council on Seismic Activity, states:
“The citizens of Cushing are very concerned about the frequency of earthquakes in the Cushing area. Some of these earthquakes have caused significant damage to private and public property. The City Commission is aware of the ongoing work of the Corporation Commission, Coordinating Council on Seismic Activity and others to determine the correlation to oil and gas operations. As the City’s elected officials, we want to encourage additional effort to determine the cause of these earthquakes before more substantial damage is encountered.We understand the significant role the oil and gas industry plays in our local and state economy; however there must be a balance of interests to protect all concerned.”
In other business, commissioners made a trip to the Cushing Regional Airport for an on-site inspection of repairs made to one of the runways. Just prior to voting to approve a final acceptance notice, Commissioner Trace Rowe noted he thought the repairs “look really nice” and it looked like it was a “lasting repair.”
Commissioners voted unanimously to approve the final acceptance notice.
Commissioners also voted to approve an ordinance amending sections 66-72, 66-75, 66-77 and 66-78 of the Cushing City Code – all relating to the permitting, operating, maintenance and restoration of oil and/or gas wells or disposal wells within Cushing city limits.
The amendment was made to coincide with new state legislation relating to drilling within the city limits. City Attorney Stewart Arthurs, with input from the Cushing Fire Department, prepared the proposed amendment to the City’s Oil and Gas ordinance.
The new state law limits the City’s ability to regulate the drilling of oil and gas wells in the City limits. The City is limited to enacting rules and regulations concerning road use, traffic, noise and odors incidental to oil and gas operations.
“We are extremely limited on our ability to control drilling inside the city limits,” Arthurs said. “We spent quite a bit of time on this, weaving our way through things we are still allowed to do after the enactment of the state law.
“We tried to protect citizens as much as we could in terms of conditions of the ordinance and to restrict how close drilling can take place to other properties.”
“The new law puts the onerous on the Corporation Commission,” City Manager Steve Spears said.
Following the approval of the amendment, commissioners discussed an application made by Crown Energy to drill an oil and gas well inside the city limits. A representative of Crown Energy, David Wells, was present to answer questions regarding the company’s compliance to the amended code. In interest of full disclosure, Wells reported there are seven property owners, and of those seven, Crown Energy has six of their signatures. He explained one of the property owners has recently died and they have been “camped out” waiting to get the final signature. He also explained, upon completion, the well site will have fencing and will be “pretty secure.”
“I’ll be honest with you – I’m torn,” Commissioner Don Amon said. “I don’t know how to vote on this and I’m not sure if my vote even matters with this state law, but that’s a whole other issue. I have a problem with the federal government telling the state what to do and I have a problem with the state telling municipalities what to do if you want to know how I feel. That’s how I feel. I’m really torn about this… If we start drilling in town if we start drilling there, then where’s the next one going to go and the next one… Maybe I’m wrong about being torn, maybe I’m wrong that if you can drill there, you can come into my yard and say you need to drill here…I’m just really torn…I just wanted to put that out there.”
“Given the state law is what it is, is it even worth voting to approve or deny?” Rowe asked. “Is it worth us even voting on, if we don’t even have a say anyway?”
“Where we do have a say is in the things we’ve enacted in the ordinance,” Arthurs answered. “What that attempts to do is to protect to the extent possible.” He also explained anyone wishing to drill would need to comply with those things before proceeding to drill.
Commissioners voted to approve the application of Crown Energy to drill an oil and gas well inside the city limits near Full Gospel Assembly of God Church, with a vote of 4 – 1. Rowe cast the lone no vote.
“We’ve all wrestled with this particular issue,” Chairman of the Board Terry Brannon said. “What the statute says is what I hang my hat on. We can just do the best we can.”
The Statute:
Oklahoma Statutes Citationized
Title 52. Oil and Gas
Chapter 3 – Oil and Gas Conservation
Section 137.1 – Authority of Localities to Regulate Oil and Gas Operations – Fracking – Preemption
A municipality, county or other political subdivision may enact reasonable ordinances, rules and regulations concerning road use, traffic, noise and odors incidental to oil and gas operations within its boundaries, provided such ordinances, rules and regulations are not inconsistent with any regulation established by Title 52 of the Oklahoma Statutes or the Corporation Commission. A municipality, county or other political subdivision may also establish reasonable setbacks and fencing requirements for oil and gas well site locations as are reasonably necessary to protect the health, safety and welfare of its citizens but may not effectively prohibit or ban any oil and gas operations, including oil and gas exploration, drilling, fracture stimulation, completion, production, maintenance, plugging and abandonment, produced water disposal, secondary recovery operations, flow and gathering lines of pipeline infrastructure. All other regulations of oil and gas operations shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Corporation Commission. Provided, notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, a municipality, county or other political subdivision may enact reasonable ordinances, rules and regulations concerning development of areas within its boundaries which have been or may be delineated as a one-hundred-year floodplain but only to the minimum extent necessary to maintain National Flood Insurance Program eligibility.
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