LARAMIE – The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality recently revealed that it has slapped the Beren Corporation with a Notice of Violation for dumping oily wastewater into a tributary of the South Fork of the Powder River. The violation occurred at the Beren Irvine Brothers Federal C #1 oil well, about 10 miles north of the town of Powder River. Large quantities of wastewater were being dumped from a polluted reserve pit at the wellsite into a nearby stream in Okie Draw.

“The reserve pit was just gushing water from an overflow pipe, staining the rocks black,” said Erik Molvar of Biodiversity Conservation Alliance. Molvar and BCA wilderness inventory worker Carl Hemphill discovered the problem while surveying the edge of a large roadless area for wilderness qualities in late June. The violation was immediately reported to the Wyoming DEQ, who then issued a Notice of Violation for the well. Beren must now submit a plan of action for cleanup to DEQ by August 15.

“This was some of the nastiest pollution I’ve ever seen, with oil slicks spreading across the water’s surface, and it was flowing straight into the creek at Okie Draw,” added Molvar. “I guess it’s lucky that we happened to be there to notice this violation, but it makes you wonder how many other major problems go unnoticed out there. Drilling on public lands has become a runaway train, and nobody can keep an eye on all the wells to make sure that development is being done responsibly.”

An independent report from the Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan research branch of Congress, recently concluded that government enforcement of drilling permits is decreasing, even as the number of drilling permits issued has skyrocketed over the past several years. This report is available online at www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-418.

Photo available for publication follows: Polluted water from Beren oil well outfall flows into the streamcourse at Okie Draw (visible in background) - Biodiversity Conservation Alliance photo
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