{"id":17755,"date":"2013-12-19T06:15:12","date_gmt":"2013-12-19T12:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=17755"},"modified":"2013-12-19T09:19:08","modified_gmt":"2013-12-19T15:19:08","slug":"uncertainty-over-fracking-water-lines-is-being-settled-by-courts-commissioners-and-cowboys-with-chainsaws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2013\/12\/19\/uncertainty-over-fracking-water-lines-is-being-settled-by-courts-commissioners-and-cowboys-with-chainsaws\/","title":{"rendered":"Hazy Guidance Over Fracking Water Lines Confounds Commissioners and Cowboys"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Brandon<\/p>\n

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

Brandon McCamey, a foreman at the Shirley Ranch helps unload a trailer of Red Angus cattle into a pasture near Alva, Okla. The land McCamey manages is surrounded my temporary water lines used by the oil and gas industry, which create headaches for farmers.<\/p>\n<\/div>

Hydraulic fracturing and modern oil and gas drilling use a lot of water, a commodity that\u2019s in short supply in northwestern Oklahoma\u2019s booming oilfield.<\/p>

To get their water, energy companies lay temporary pipelines atop private property, but a county commissioner and a class-action lawsuit are raising questions about the common practice.<\/p>

<\/p>

Driving down a stretch of road in rural Oklahoma, like those in Woods County, it\u2019s easy to ignore the thin strip of land sandwiched between the gravel and the fence line. But the grassy, dusty ditch is important real estate in oil and gas country.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

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

A water line for hydraulic fracturing traverses an oil and gas access road in Woods County.<\/p>\n<\/div>

To unlock the oil and gas trapped in tight shale formations like this, oil and gas producers pump in millions of gallons of pressurized water. To bring freshwater in, and move waste fluid out, the industry strings miles of temporary plastic pipe along the side of the road.<\/p>

Private citizens own the land, but Oklahoma counties have an easement along roads it maintains, which can be used by public utilities. Oil companies fill out a permit, pay the county a fee \u2014 $250 per mile is standard \u2014 and lay the temporary water lines in the counties\u2019 easements.<\/p>

But Randy McMurphy, the District 2 Commissioner in Woods County, where the controversy started, doesn\u2019t think county officials alone can authorize the water lines.<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s not considered a public utility. It\u2019s for private gain,\u201d McMurphy tells StateImpact. \u201cAnything that\u2019s not a public utility or has to do with public transportation needs to have the permission of the abutting landowner and the commissioner.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Woods<\/p>\n

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

Woods County's District 2 Commissioner Randy McMurphy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Temporary Nuisance<\/h3>

Temporary water lines snake throughout Woods County and much of northwest Oklahoma, which is bustling with active rigs pulling oil and gas from the tight Mississippi Lime shale, one of the state\u2019s most productive plays.<\/p>

The water lines\u2019 thick, stiff plastic tubing is a nuisance for landowners like Joe Shirley, who runs Shirley Farms near Alva, which makes money selling seed wheat and running cattle. The farm\u2019s foreman, Brandon McCamey, says the pipelines show up without warning, often blocking entrances to pastures.<\/p>

\u201dWhenever the pipe was there, you couldn\u2019t drive over it,\u201d he says. \u201cYou\u2019d drag it, it\u2019d catch on pickups.\u201d<\/p>

We drive around the county, and McCamey points to water pipes laid across driveways, and ones pulled so tight they’ve broken fenceposts and mailboxes. It\u2019s impossible to mow around the water lines, so the grass between the road and the fence grows tall.<\/p>

\u201cThe cattle would stick through, trying to get the grass on the other side of the fence,\u201d McCamey says. \u201cThey kept pushing through the fence. We had them getting out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Permit Change<\/h3>\n
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