Crackdown on Oilfield
Pollution Nets Large Fines

By Max Crocker, SGW Texas County

Everyone can remember the national coverage given to the large Exxon spills a number of years ago and how devastating it was to the wildlife that was swept up in it's path. Well, we don't have tankers bursting and spilling millions gallons of oil stretching over the horizon here in the panhandle but we do have thousands of gas and oil production sites with small spills and open storage facilities that trap and kill wildlife just as efficiently as the big spills.

The most visible and blatant threats to wildlife at these sites are open air improperly covered pits and tanks. The pits are usually completely uncovered and filled with drilling mud that has been mixed with oil as a lubricant while drilling. These pits may also contain freshwater off and are attractants to wildlife, especially waterfowl. en waterfowl land in these pits, a film of oil or petroleum product covering the water renders them flightless. Larger predatory animals may then be attracted to the struggling or dead birds and they themselves become trapped. During periods of large rainfall, these pits may also overflow or seep into streams or rivers affecting miles of a fishery.

The production of gas and oil also produces saltwater as a bi-product. This saltwater/oil mixture is usually stored in tanks. When uncovered or improperly covered, birds are attracted to the water or insects on top of the water/ oil mixture and become death traps. A surprising number of hawks, owls, and small mammals such as raccoons and house cats also end up in the tanks. I believe many are attracted to the birds floundering on top of the oil film in the tanks. Although Oklahoma law does not require these tanks or pits to actually be covered, it does hold the operators liable for all federally protected wildlife that become trapped and die in the uncovered or un maintained sites.

I routinely check these saltwater tanks and open pits for wildlife mortality throughout the year. I also spend a couple of days each year with USFW Special Agents (SA's) Tom McKay, Tom Tidwell, and Tom Ricardi specifically checking gas and oil sites. In a normal year we will find 20 to 30 un maintained sites and will recover 5 to 10 oil-covered birds. This past year was an exception. In early October of 2002, I climbed on top of a large petroleum storage tank to watch for road hunting activity. Below me, I could see several dead birds floating on a thick film of oil in a saltwater tank that appeared to be adequately covered with a net. A closer examination showed large gaps in the wire netting. Since this tank appeared to be adequately netted and probably would not have been looked at too closely, I decided to closely examine all of the gas and oil sites in the area.

Production in the area was slow and many of the saltwater tanks were nearly empty. Birds and small mammals are usually very difficult to detect because they quickly sink to the bottom of the tank unless they are imbedded in the thick film of oil on the surface of the saltwater. But now, with many of the tanks extremely low, I could see birds in the bottom of many of the tanks. In the next 4 or 5 days, I recovered and recorded nearly 200 birds from 15 saltwater tanks. One tank alone had 93 migratory birds in it.

I notified USFW SA Tom McKay of the incident and plans were made to spend a couple of days with SGW Rusty Menefee, SA Tom Tidwell, and SA Jerry Monroe checking additional sites in Texas, Beaver and Cimarron counties. About 20 more oily birds were recovered and all evidence and case information was transferred over to USFW SA Tom Tidwell for federal prosecution.

Tidwell did excellent job and to date, 20 cases have been completed and more than $50,000 has been forfeited.
As a last note, the recovery and recording of evidence and site information are all very important. A camera is necessary to photograph the following items at the site:

1. The sign with the owner/operator name, well number, name and well location.
2. Photo of the unmaintained or uncovered tank, pit or spill.
3. Wildlife mortality.

Other equipment useful in collecting birds and small mammals are a dip net with an expandable handle, a ladder, rubber gloves, rubber boots or waders, an assortment of Ziploc and trash bags, and evidence tags. All birds should be bagged and labeled individually. Good times of the year to look for mortality are in the spring migration and especially the fall migration when many unsuspecting juvenile birds are on the move.