Large-Scale Oil Spill Removal and Well Plugging at Lake Oologah, Oklahoma

Abstract

ABSTRACT The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recently forged a cooperative partnership with the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) and the Oklahoma Energy Resources Board (OERB) to address substantial environmental threats posed by hundreds of leaking oil wells near Lake Oologah, Oklahoma. The leaking wells are part of a large, aging, and declining oilfield in and around Lake Oologah. Since the field began production in the early 1900s, many wells have been either incorrectly plugged and abandoned or were not plugged and abandoned at all. As a result, hundreds of wells are discharging or threatening to discharge crude oil into tributaries of the Lake Oologah watershed. Based on the enormity of the site (approximately 26,000 acres or 42 square miles), EPA developed a pilot project to mitigate the threats posed by these wells. As part of the pilot project, EPA identified leaking wells in two 640-acre sections using remote sensing techniques (color infrared aerial survey) and ground truthing. Once the wells were identified, the three agencies began jointly conducting a large removal action. EPA, with assistance from OCC, is plugging and abandoning wells that are discharging or threatening to discharge oil to navigable waters of the United States. In addition, OERB is removing surface equipment, tanks, and flow lines, and oil-contaminated soils.