Osage Nation residents worried over lax drilling regs

Among the areas of environmental concern is the unregulated emission of hydrogen sulfide.


PAWHUSKA, Okla. – Although potential policy updates are being considered at the federal level, many local residents and producers are worried about the environmental impact of the lax drilling regulations within the Osage Nation. 

“I have to wonder: will the BIA and DOI enforce these new policies when they’ve failed this far to enforce their old ones?” asked Nona Roach, an independent oil and gas accountant from Avant, Okla., whose Osage County property has been impacted by drill sites.

Managed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Osage Nation’s $4 billion mineral estate is the largest single-owner mineral estate in the country. In 2009 alone, more than 4 million barrels of oil were produced in the county, third most of Oklahoma’s 77 counties.

In addition to the duties assigned to any other BIA agency office, the Osage Agency is also responsible for processing and issuing drilling permits to oil and natural gas producers attempting to do business in Osage County. Established as part of a $380 million settlement of a federal lawsuit alleging mismanagement of the Osage Nation’s 1.4 million acre mineral estate, the Osage Negotiating Rulemaking Committee is part of a two-year process to review and update the policies concerning oil and natural gas drilled within the Osage Nation’s boundaries in northern Oklahoma.

Among the areas of environmental concern is the unregulated emission of hydrogen sulfide. Also called “swamp gas,” it is a natural byproduct of oil and natural gas drilling, as well as wastewater treatment facilities and large concentrations of livestock manure. The average person can identify the colorless gas by its smell, often compared to rotting eggs.

A broad spectrum poison, exposure to moderate concentrations of hydrogen sulfide gas can quickly impact multiple systems in the human body, including the nervous, respiratory and circulatory.  Just a few breaths of air with high levels of hydrogen sulfide can kill. Long-term, low level exposure can lead to fatigue, dizziness, memory loss, irritability, headaches, loss of appetite and loss of sense of smell.

For 76 of its 77 counties, the state of Oklahoma has air quality standards in place for hydrogen sulfide emissions, with the upper concentration limit at 100 parts per billion. The Oklahoma Corporation Commission also has training requirements in place for employees who may be exposed to hydrogen sulfide while on the job. However, those policies do not apply in Osage County.

“There aren’t any regulations on the books regarding hydrogen sulfide emissions,” Osage County Cattlemen’s Association president Jeff Henry said during a Jan. 26 Negotiated Rulemaking Committee meeting. “There isn’t anyone out here trained with how to deal with it when or if it causes a fire, which means it will most likely be a rural fire department answering that call. What do you think is going to happen when those boys come out here in their cowboy boots to answer that call?”

Hydrogen sulfide is generally burned in a flare stack, used to burn off excess gas released by pressure release valves during unplanned over-pressurization of drilling equipment.

Henry, along with several other land owners and producers, have submitted comments and concerns about their experiences with the gas, including anecdotes of trips to the emergency room because hydrogen sulfide was vented several miles upwind.

“There are ways of handling this when it is produced so that it won’t create these kinds of problems,” University of Tulsa environmental engineering professor Kerry Sublette said. “The way many of the producers are doing it now, it almost like homemade flares.

“If you can see smoke off of the top of a flare stack, it (hydrogen sulfide) is not combusting at all and is likely creating fine particulates and carbon monoxide – a triple whammy, especially since many of these flare stacks are near where people live and work.”

In addition to the potentially lethal consequences for Osage County residents, hydrogen sulfide carries long-term impacts for the local environment. When improperly burned in a flare stack, it can send sulfuric acid airborne, one of the primary ingredients in acid rain. That in turn, is carried down to the soil and impacts the ground acidity level. The gas is also lethal to the local wildlife if inhaled.

Despite hearing the concerns of Sublette, Henry and others at its January meeting, the Osage Negotiated Rulemaking Committee declined to form specific subcommittees to address the environmental concerns of landowners. Instead, the committee members urged concerned residents, producers and environmental experts to weigh in via written comments and monthly public meetings. The next one is scheduled for Feb. 25-27 at the Wah Zha Zhi Cultural Center at 1449 W. Main St.

“These conversations are valuable, but we’re just too far down the road for a separate subcommittee,” committee member Stephen Manydeeds said. “We do need to make every effort to include them, though.”

In the meantime, Osage County producers and landowners are left to hope the smell of rotten eggs does not lead to something worse.

“The issue that scares the hell out of me is the hydrogen sulfide,” Sublette said. “I am really afraid someone is going to get killed.

“The BIA knows about it, knew about it before the rulemaking hearings and yet nothing’s been done. When someone dies – hopefully no one does – there is going to be hell to pay.”