A candidate for Oklahoma Corporation Commission is critical of a measure passed Monday by the State House of Representatives to clarify the Corporation Commisson’s authority to respond to emergencies such as earthquakes and wastewater disposal wells.
“The Speaker’s bill was a day late and a dollar short,” said Rep. Richard Morrissette, D-Oklahoma City, who announced his candidacy for the Corporation Commission two weeks ago. He said the bill is long overdue but didn’t go far enough.
House Bill 3158 by Speaker Jeff Hickman would give the Commission the power to take “whatever necessary action, without notice and hearing, to promptly respond” to that emergency.
But Rep. Morrissette contends the commission under state statutes already has the “exclusive jurisdiction, power and authority” to regulate the oil and gas industry, including wastewater disposal wells. He pointed to Title 52, Section 139 as well as Title 17, Section 52.
He says the commission could issue cease-and-desist orders directing operators of all disposal wells in all seismically active areas in the state to shut them down entirely.
Rep. Morrissette attempted to amend HB 3158 by including a disclaimer from House Bill 1802, which he contends is languishing in the House Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. The Speaker would not allow his bill to be amended on the House floor.
Morrissette’s amendment would have provided that any permits issued by the Corporation Commisson for oil, gas, injection or disposal wells would bear a disclaimer statement “printed in a conspicuous manner and placed in a prominent location” on each permit. The statement would declare that to respond to emergencies, the commission could take whatever action necessary, including expenditure of funds from the commission’s revolving fund to “promptly respond” to the emergency.
Rep. Morrissette says what is lacking in the Speaker’s bill is a series of penalties, fines or sanctions against any energy company that ignores the commission’s directives.
