Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
This is the first of a three part series. Next week’s article will cover the environmental concerns.
THERMOPOLIS – Well over 100 concerned citizens attended the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (WDEQ) meeting about the proposed Moneta Divide Gas Field discharge permit Tuesday, May 21, in the Hot Springs County High School auditorium, with many leaving unsatisfied with the few answers that were given.
The meeting was to receive public comment and provide information regarding to the renewal of WDEQES permit WY0002062 to expand the discharge of produced water from the Moneta Divide Gas Field operated by Aethon Energy. The discharged water is the cause for concern for Thermopolis residents, as the water will be discharged into minor waterways that flow into Boysen Reservoir, possibly polluting the waterways and Boysen.
According to the WDEQ documents the proposed permit renewal would change the permit to include the following:
— Increased allowable facility-wide load for total dissolved solids (TDS) and add a monthly load limit for chloride.
— Add concentration limits for TDS and chloride, based on historic discharge concentrations from the facility.
— Add a compliance schedule for chloride effluent limits to protect Badwater Creek.
— Add outfall 016.
— Add instream monitoring locations and new sampling requirements to include: Alkali Creek, Badwater Creek, Badwater Bay in Boysen Reservoir and Wind River Canyon.
— Add routine monitoring requirement at Neptune Treatment Unit.
— Add routine sampling requirement for benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene (BTEX) at the outfalls and at the downstream monitoring point on Alkali Creek.
— Add whole effluent toxicity testing and limits.
— Revised language regarding access to the facility.
— Add nutrient monitoring requirements for total nitrogen, total ammonia-nitrogen, nitrate plus nitrite-nitrogen, total phosphorus and orthophosphate-phosphorus in support of Boysen Watershed nutrient management planning.
The meeting started with a PowerPoint presentation for attendees in the hopes of alleviating public concern. Instead the presentation caused more concerns than people arrived with, causing many people attending to walk out early or in one citizen’s situation to yell out his question, only to be silenced, as it wasn’t his turn. The citizen stated in a loud voice that it didn’t matter what the people thought because, they were “going to do whatever the hell they want regardless of public opinion,” before storming out.
Question-and-answer time lasted around 30 minutes, with selected people chosen from the attendees being able to voice their concerns and ask for their questions to be answered. One citizen asked about the elephant in the room: the impact on the environment and what would be done if Aethon didn’t follow the rules and regulations. A question that wasn’t answered except to say that Aethon would receive fines and be forced to comply. There was no information provided regarding what a potential violation would do to the waterways and how much damage might be caused.
One man’s question, that was left unanswered, voiced a concern about the health of Thermopolis residents, whose drinking water comes from Boysen, and whether or not that the fact that human lives were at stake was being considered.
According to one resident the WDEQ had a lot to say but didn’t say anything at all.
After the short question-and-answer period, the WDEQ held an hour-plus long comment period, where questions were not answered, only comments were received. Many people took the time to try and address all the issues they were concerned about from environmental issues to concern over the viability of the gas field as many wells are now depleted and over 40 years old, according to WDEQ documents.
Several citizens refrained from commenting during the comment period as they wanted to make sure that there comments were in writing, recorded and legal in case there is a need to go to court to attempt to stop the permit from being approved.
Public comment is open until July 5 at http://wq.wyomingdeq.commentinput.com/?id=f4gaH.
This is the first of a three part series. Next week’s article will cover the environmental concerns.