Enhancing area of review capabilities: Implementing a variance program
The Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) has regulated oil-field injection well operations since issuing its first injection permit in 1938. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) granted the RRC primary enforcement responsibility for the Class H Underground Injection Control (UIC) Program in April 1982. At that time, the added level of groundwater protection afforded by an Area of Review (AOR) on previously permitted Class H wells was not deemed necessary or cost effective. A proposed EPA rule change will require AORs to be performed on all pre-primacy Class II wells unless a variance can be justified. A variance methodology has been developed by researchers at the University of Missouri-Rolla in conjunction with the American Petroleum Institute (API). This paper will outline the RRC approach to implementing the AOR variance methodology. The RRC`s UIC program tracks 49,256 pre-primacy wells. Approximately 25,598 of these wells have active permits and will be subject to the proposed AOR requirements. The potential workload of performing AORs or granting variances for this many wells makes the development of a Geographic Information System (GIS) imperative. The RRC has recently completed a digitized map of the entire state and has spotted 890,000 of an estimated 1.2 million wells. Integrating this digital state map into a GIS will allow the RRC to tie its many data systems together. Once in place, this integrated data system will be used to evaluate AOR variances for pre-primacy wells on a field-wide basis. It will also reduce the regulatory cost of permitting by allowing the RRC staff to perform AORs or grant variances for the approximately 3,000 new and amended permit applications requiring AORs each year.
- OSTI ID:
- 146230
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-950333--
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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