On Monday, North Dakota regulators endorsed new rules for oil waste pits in an effort to reduce the number of waste pits and disclose the chemical makeup of these fluids being pumped under the ground before rising to the surface.

These new rules, which have been developed in the past few months are likely to cause an increase in production costs, but western North Dakota’s burgeoning oil industry fully accepts these new rules, according to a representative.

The environmental group’s spokesperson said these regulations were not tough enough, and they should require flow monitors be added to the pipelines that are used to dispose of the salt water. A byproduct of oil drilling is brine and this substance has caused contamination to farmlands as a result of spills.

The newest rules do not require all of the disposal lines include these flow monitors, according to Donald Nelson of Keene, who is a the spokesman for the Dakota Recourse Council.

“We simply cannot afford to sacrifice the agricultural production just for the convenience of the oil and gas industry,” he added.

On Monday, the North Dakota Industrial Commission approved the new regulations. Governor Jack Dalrymple sits as the chairman of the commission, which also oversees the Department of Mineral Resources, North Dakota’s oil and gas agency. The commission also includes other members including Doug Goehring, the Agricultural Commissioner, and Wayne Stenehjam, Attorney General.

The new rules still have to undergo a review of the legislative committee overnight. The director of the Department of Mineral Resources is Lynn Helms, she has said that she hoped this would happen in June.

In the last five years North Dakota’s oil production has quadrupled, going from 115,370 barrels per day in November 2006 to 509,754 barrels per day as of November 2011. During this time frame, the number of oil wells in operation also increased from 3,415 to over 6,000.

When drilling into a well, a producer normally digs to open the pit and uses this for dumping of oil-drilling muds, as well as the diesel fuel and the different chemicals needed during drilling. Rock chips are also finely ground by the actual drill. A pit is filled and then reclaimed.

The new rules will ban dumping of liquid drilling wastes directly into any open pit, with the exception if it is less than 5000 feet deep, or if the drilling muds themselves are made up of mostly fresh water. The drilling muds helps to keep the pressure of the well maintained and cools the drill bit as well as clearing the ground up rock chips.

The new regulations will allow producers to continue using the open pits for disposing of solid wastes such as the rock chips.

“There may be a situation that arises where there is a need to open a pit that is below the 5000 feet for a short time,” according Stenehjem said. “This will be the exception rather than the rule.”

The new rules will also have an impact on hydraulic fracturing, which is the process that drives North Dakota’s oil production. Chemicals, grit, and water are pumped underground at a very high pressure to fracture or crack the oil bearing shale rock, which then promotes the oil flow.

After an oil company is done “fracking” a well, the new rules will require them to post the information concerning the chemical composition of the fluids that they have used over the last 60 days, according to Helms.

In addition, every oil well must carry bonds as these are intended to cover any cleanup costs if the wells are abandoned. An individual well has to have at least a $50,000 bond which is an increase from $20,000 under the old rules. The bonds that cover more than one well has to be a minimum of $100,000. Any wells that are used for commercial disposal of any salt water needs to be bonded at $50,000.

Dalrymple delayed the Industrial Commission’s acceptance of the rules last month when he proclaimed that the conditions of the producers was too vague and they would still be allowed to use open pits to dump liquid waste.

The rules were changed “to give guidance to what kind of mud systems were allowed to reserve the pit” according to Helms.

“No high sodium content or diesel fuel contents, which are the two things that were causing issues in the environment,” said Helms.

The president of the North Dakota Petroleum Council, Ron Ness has said the industry is backing the rule changes.

“This is going to add cost to operations, and a substantial investment in new equipment,” said Ness. “These liquids have to be extracted from the well site. They will then have to be hauled off-site….requiring more equipment, more time, and more money.”

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