{"id":12196,"date":"2012-12-21T11:31:09","date_gmt":"2012-12-21T17:31:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=12196"},"modified":"2012-12-21T13:16:42","modified_gmt":"2012-12-21T19:16:42","slug":"in-rural-oklahoma-drilling-hits-close-to-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2012\/12\/21\/in-rural-oklahoma-drilling-hits-close-to-home\/","title":{"rendered":"In Rural Oklahoma, Drilling Hits Close To Home"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Joe Wertz \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n

A parade of trucks pass by Jarod Pachner as he stands in the front yard of his former home, which is surrounded by oil and gas wells.<\/p>\n<\/div>

In Oklahoma’s oil and gas country, you can’t build a home near a well. But drilling a well next to a home is perfectly legal.<\/p>

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Nobody knows this better than Jarod and Tanja Pachner.\u00a0<\/strong>Their home in Ellis County was surrounded by active wells being drilled on their neighbor’s land by Chesapeake Energy.\u00a0The couple got none of the royalties, but all of the dust, tractor-trailer traffic and the day-and-night drone of a compressor.<\/p>

\u201cIt pretty much sounded like there was a semi sitting in your driveway, running,\u201d Tanja Pachner says. \u201cA constant engine, just always running.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Joe Wertz \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n

Tanja Pachner watches a tractor-trailer turn into her neighbor's property where it unloaded gravel for a new Chesapeake Energy well, which was being drilled a few hundred feet from their former home.<\/p>\n<\/div>

The home represented the Pachners\u2019 life savings. Their plan, says Jarod Pachner, was to sell the home and use the money to start a livestock business. \u00a0They found a buyer in November, but before they could close on the deal, construction started on another new well — this one just a few hundred feet from the home.<\/p>

The Pachners didn’t want the buyers to be surprised by the change. They called the buyers and encouraged them to come out before the deal was finalized. The\u00a0Pachners ended up letting the buyers out of the contract.<\/p>

\u201cThey have a young family like we do,\u201d Tanja says. \u201cWe didn\u2019t have to, legally.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cBut it was the right thing to do,\u201d Jarod says.<\/p>\n

Setbacks<\/h3>

The Pachners’ situation speaks to a couple of cracks that exist in state and local laws when it comes to drilling near places where people live or work.<\/p>

In Oklahoma, it\u2019s illegal to build a \u201chabitable structure\u201d closer than 125 feet from an active well or 50 feet from related surface equipment.\u00a0The inverse, however, is not true. If the habitable structure already exists, there’s nothing to prevent a company from drilling nearby.<\/p>

The rules also differ between urban and rural areas. Many cities and towns have zoning ordinances that limit drilling near homes and businesses.<\/p>\n

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Joe Wertz \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n

Matt Skinner with the Oklahoma Corporation Commission says the agency tries, on an unofficial basis, to encourage a discussion between rural landowners, energy companies and neighbors impacted by nearby drilling.<\/p>\n<\/div>

\u201cBut when you get out into rural Oklahoma, it\u2019s a different story,\u201d says Matt Skinner, spokesman for the state Corporation Commission.<\/p>

There aren\u2019t any zoning ordinances on the edges of Ellis County, or in the rural areas seeing most of Oklahoma\u2019s drilling boom. Many Oklahomans, like the Pachners, have no say in the placement of wells on their neighbors\u2019 land. And there\u2019s no legal barrier preventing a well from being drilled as close as property lines allow.<\/p>

Drilling rigs often operate 24 hours a day, and safety rules require operators to run bright flood lights during the evening hours. Nuisance laws allowing local governments to fine operators in urban areas are absent in rural Oklahoma.<\/p>

\u201cEvery person who lives next to a well site has to experience this,\u201d Tanja Pachner says. \u201cThere\u2019re no laws against dirt, there\u2019re no laws against noise \u2014 and there should be.\u201d<\/p>

During a mid-day interview with StateImpact Oklahoma in November, more than a dozen tractor-trailers paraded down the gravel road in front of the Pachner home and turned into the lot next door. Dust blanketed the couple.<\/p>

Jarod Pachner \u201cstepped off\u201d the distance from their home and the new well, which he says is 450 feet from the corner of the home and less than 100 feet from the property line.<\/p>

\u201cThat\u2019s just not far enough,\u201d Tanja Pachner says.<\/p>\n

States Have Their Say<\/h3>

But other energy-rich states do have laws that limit drilling near homes.<\/p>\n

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RFF\/Center for Energy Economics and Policy<\/p>\n

Seventeen states have setback restrictions for shale gas drilling, according to research by the Center for Energy Economics and Policy. Click here for their state-by-state review.<\/p>\n<\/div>

Seventeen states set minimum distances between shale gas wells and buildings, according to a survey of state laws<\/a> by researchers at Resource for the Future\u2019s Center for Energy Economics and Policy.<\/p>

In North Dakota, drilling isn\u2019t permitted<\/a> within 500 feet of an \u201coccupied dwelling\u201d unless there\u2019s a compelling environmental or water-access reason.<\/p>

Colorado requires a 150-foot buffer between wells and occupied dwellings in rural areas. Regulators there are considering expanding the drilling setback to the same 350 feet the state requires in urban areas. That proposal has touched off a debate<\/a> between the oil and gas industry, residents, homebuilders and cattlemen. Homebuilders and cattlemen expressed concern that changing the laws could lead to property seizures and land-use disputes. Citizens rights group are worried about health risks from living close to wells.<\/p>

No such changes have been proposed in Oklahoma, says the Corporation Commission\u2019s Matt Skinner.<\/p>\n

Ends Well<\/h3>

Oklahoma takes a more informal approach to drilling near homes and businesses. Inspectors and field managers at the state Corporation Commission try to encourage a dialog between drillers, landowners and neighbors who might be affected, says Skinner.<\/p>\n

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