OSAGE Tribe Reviewing EPA Well Shutdown Plan

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An Osage tribal leader is reviewing earthquake and wastewater injection well plans produced in the wake of the historic 5.8 magnitude earthquake near Pawnee.

At the same time, Everett Waller, Chairman of the Osage Minerals Council is promising to do what he can to protect his people.

“The safety and welfare of our people is foremost important,” he said in an interview with the Journal Record. “But as chairman I have to look at the causes. Until I see the data, I won’t throw anyone under the bus.”

The Environmental Protection Agency is in charge of the wells in Osage County since the tribe owns the minerals in the county. Together with the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, the agency announced this week that 5 of the wells would be shut down. The 5 are among 32 to be closed in a more than 1,100 square mile area around Pawnee where the early-September earthquake had its epicenter.

Originally, the EPA wanted operations at 10 wells in Osage county to cease. But working with state regulators this week, the agency reduced the number to five.

Waller told the Record he will have the tribe’s hydrogeologists and petroleum experts review the plan.