{"id":9894,"date":"2012-09-19T11:30:17","date_gmt":"2012-09-19T16:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=9894"},"modified":"2012-12-19T14:54:17","modified_gmt":"2012-12-19T20:54:17","slug":"who-regulates-oklahoma-pipelines-no-one-until-theyre-built-or-broken","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2012\/09\/19\/who-regulates-oklahoma-pipelines-no-one-until-theyre-built-or-broken\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Regulates Oklahoma Pipelines? No One, Until They’re Built or Broken"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Joe Wertz \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n

The Glass Mountain Pipeline would carry crude oil from Arnett and Alva, Okla. to the storage and distribution hub in Cushing.<\/p>\n<\/div>

Landowners in Major County who depend on aquifer water say a planned crude oil pipeline threatens the Cimarron Aquifer \u2014 their primary water source.<\/p>

Rural homeowners use well water from the aquifer, which also feeds nearby towns and comprises about 87 percent of nearby Enid’s permitted water production.<\/p>

Oklahomans in the area are puzzled about the Glass\u00a0Mountain\u00a0Pipeline route,\u00a0the\u00a0Enid News & Eagle<\/em>‘s\u00a0James Neal reports<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Landowners, conservationists and Cimarron Aquifer consumers may wonder why any regulatory agency would approve a pipeline route through the \u201cheart of our aquifer.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>

But no state or federal agency or entity has authority over Oklahoma pipeline projects until construction has started, or until there’s a problem \u2014 like a leak.<\/p>

The biggest pipeline project in Oklahoma, the Keystone XL pipeline<\/a>, is up against federal regulation because it crosses the international border with Canada. The State Department, The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers all have a say in various stages of that crude oil pipeline, which passes through the Cushing storage hub on its way from Canada’s oil sands to refineries along Texas’ Gulf Coast.<\/p>

But intrastate pipeline projects \u2014 like the Glass Mountain Pipeline \u2014 aren’t regulated until construction has started, or until there’s an environmental problem.<\/p>

The Glass Mountain Pipeline \u2014 a joint venture of Chesapeake Energy, Tulsa’s SemGroup and Gavilon \u2014 is a 210-mile pipeline that will carry crude from Arnett and Alva to the Cushing storage hub. The Arnett and Alva pipeline segments will join near Cleo Springs, which sits atop the Cimarron River Aquifer.<\/p>

The pipeline project was\u00a0announced in May<\/a>. The Arnett and Alva pipeline segments are expected to carry about 90,000 barrels of crude each day. The combined pipeline will have a 180,000 barrel-per-day capacity.<\/p>\n

All About the Route<\/h3>

But when it comes to pipelines, route is everything.<\/p>

Keystone XL was\u00a0waylaid\u00a0by environmental concerns in Nebraska, where it was originally planned to cross<\/a> the ecologically\u00a0sensitive\u00a0Sand Hills and parts of the Ogallala Aquifer. The company behind the pipeline, TransCanada, had to reroute Keystone XL, which had become a\u00a0presidential<\/a> campaign issue.<\/p>

Keystone XL has faced other routing issues, including fights with Oklahoma<\/a> and Texas<\/a> landowners over eminent domain, and concern among tribal leaders that construction could unearth unmarked graves<\/a> or expose sacred\u00a0archeological\u00a0sites.<\/p>

But route alone isn’t enough for a pipeline project to be regulated.<\/p>

Oklahoma’s Corporation Commission, which regulates oil and gas drilling, doesn’t have any authority in the early stages of pipeline construction, the Eagle reports:<\/p>\n

Once the pipeline is built, we make sure the line is operated properly and meets material safety rules … but we don\u2019t have much to do with it until it\u2019s built,\u201d said Matt Skinner, spokesman for Oklahoma Corporation Commission.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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