Company: NINE
Filing Date: 2025-03-06
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001532286-25-000008
Chunk: 31

Company: Nine Energy Service, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-03-06
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1
Chunk 31
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 of North Dakota, Texas, Montana, Wyoming, and Utah challenged the rule. In September 2024, the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota granted a motion prohibiting the BLM from enforcing the rule against those states pending the outcome of the litigation. However, in January 2025, President Trump issued an executive order directing the heads of all federal agencies to identify and begin the processes to suspend, revise, or rescind all agency actions that are unduly burdensome on the identification, development, or use of domestic energy resources. Consequently, future implementation and enforcement of the final rule remains uncertain at this time.

The EPA has also issued effluent limitation guidelines that prohibit the discharge of wastewater from hydraulic fracturing operations to publicly owned wastewater treatment plants. Also, from time to time, legislation has been introduced, but not enacted, in Congress to provide for federal regulation of hydraulic fracturing and to require disclosure of the chemicals used in the hydraulic fracturing process. It is unclear how any additional federal regulation of hydraulic fracturing activities may affect our operations, but additional regulatory burdens on our customers could ultimately result in decreased demand for our services.

Various studies analyzing the potential environmental impacts of hydraulic fracturing have also been performed. For example, in December 2016, the EPA issued a report on the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water resources, which concluded that “water cycle” activities associated with hydraulic fracturing may impact drinking water resources “under some circumstances,” noting that the following hydraulic fracturing water cycle activities and local- or regional-scale factors are more likely than others to result in more frequent or more severe impacts: water withdrawals for fracturing in times or areas of low water availability; surface spills during the management of fracturing fluids, chemicals or produced water; injection of fracturing fluids into wells with inadequate mechanical integrity; injection of fracturing fluids directly into groundwater resources; discharge of inadequately treated fracturing wastewater to surface waters; and disposal or storage of fracturing wastewater in unlined pits. As described elsewhere in this Annual Report, these risks are regulated under various state, federal, and local laws. To date, the EPA has taken no further action in response to the 2016 report.

Some states, counties, and municipalities have implemented, or are considering, increased regulatory oversight of hydraulic fracturing through additional permit requirements, operational restrictions, disclosure requirements, well construction, and temporary or permanent bans on hydraulic fracturing in certain areas. For example, some states have banned the use of high-volume hydraulic fracturing,