Concerns about the Kansas Corporation Commission issuing injection well permits without the proper 30-day protest period haven’t abated.
Lawrence attorney Robert Eye has filed a motion asking the Kansas Corporation Commission to recognize an oil company in Wilson County had published two public notices for applications containing 15-day protest periods instead of 30 days, according to the Lawrence Journal-World. Eye says the 15-day protest window doesn’t give residents enough time to organize a petition, thus violating due process, and it also violates the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, which mandates a 30-day time period.
This comes as the KCC continues to investigate an initial complaint that demonstrated over 2,000 injection well applications were approved across Kansas since 2008 despite those having the shorter protest window available to the public — and with KCC staff recommending that the agency not reopen those applications. Staff at the Kansas Corporation Commission said over 4,300 injection permits and amendments were filed since October 2008, when the protest period for filed applications was expanded from 15 days to 30 days. However, there were just under 1,100 applications for injection authority affecting over 2,100 wells that saw applications published within the 15-day period. Of those, over 1,000 applications were approved.
That list included nearly 80 applications involving over 400 wells in Lyon and surrounding counties:
*Lyon County: 1 application
*Chase County: 0 applications
*Coffey County: 61 applications involving 394 wells
*Greenwood County: 13 applications involving 14 wells
*Morris County: 1 application
*Osage County: 1 application
*Wabaunsee County: 1 application
Injection wells have become a controversial subject in the Flint Hills, especially after a well was approved near the Humboldt fault zone in Morris County last year. Concerns have been increasing about the potential link between injection well activity and earthquakes, and the United States Geological Survey has said the wells are the probable cause for a recent upswing in seismic activity in central Kansas.
The Journal-World says the KCC was set to rule on the matter Thursday before Eye filed his motion. The KCC meets this upcoming Thursday, but it hasn’t said whether it plans to take action on injection well policy with Eye’s motion now filed.
