## Call Summary Topic: Tribal Unconventional Oil and Gas Operations and Wastewater Management

Date: May 29, 2014
Participants: Lisa Biddle, EPA Office of Water (202

- 566

- 0350; biddle.lisa@epa.gov) Jeff Hunt, Department of the Interior, Assistant Secretary

– Indian Affairs , Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development, Division of Energy and Mineral Development (303

- 842

- 4538; jeffrey.hunt@bia.gov )

Lisa contacted Jeff Hunt regarding t he National Indian Oil and Gas Evaluation Management System (NIOGEMS) application, which is offered by the Division of Energy and Mineral Development. NIOGEMS provides a computer

- based application designed to help Indian Tribes and federal offices develop and manage their energy and mineral resources. It is based on IHS Energy data which includes fields like well info, formations, whether fractured, production volume

, and produced water volume. The data does not provide information about how produced water is managed

. T he data is currently difficult to

access (requiring an onsite installation of the program) though BIA will soon be making it accessible for
remote access

. Since this database does not include information on wastewater management, EPA decided not to pursue access to i t at this time. Jeff was, however, able to provide information about well development and wastewater management practices as they relate to tribal lands. The following summarizes that information. For the purposes of this summary, unconventional oil and ga s (UOG) was defined by EPA to include shale gas, shale oil, tight gas and tight oil.

**•** Fort Berthold

– This reservation is located i n the Bakken Shale Oil Play within the Williston Basin and it is t he one tribal land area where there is a great deal of UOG d evelopment currently taking place

. Jeff said th at in this shale oil play all of the hydraulic facturing flowback and produced water (i.e., UOG wastewater) is all disposed of in underground injection control (UIC) wells.

**•** Southern Ute

– Regarding the Souther n Ute, Jeff pointed out that they are primarily working in Coalbed methane (CBM), which doesn’t fall into the scope of EPA’s data collection. He said that there is potential for shale development there, but it is not underway yet. Red Willow is an O&G
oper ator/company owned by the Southern Ute Tribe. Red Willow operates about 12% of the actively producing wells on the Southern Ute Reservation; other oil and gas companies hold Tribal leases and operate the majority of the current oil and gas development.

**•** J icarilla Apache

– S outh of the Southern Ute

, the Jicarilla Apache have potential for UOG development (though it is not underway at this time).

**•** Navajo Nation

– Jeff talked about the Navajo Nation in northwest New Mexico, which is a split estate situation (the land ownership is not continuous and the surface and mineral rights are also divided throughout the San Juan Basin in northwerstern New Mexico ) . There is UOG exploration occurring with in th is area currently (with 1

- 4 rigs) in the Mancos Shale formati on which has shale oil and gas. However they haven’t moved into a phase of significant production.

**•** Northern Ute

– In northeastern Utah the Northern Ute Tribe ha s land over plays with potential for future horizontal drilling within the Unita Basin , but they are just starting horizontal drilling exploration . In that area there is currently quite a bit of produced water generated from conventional oil and gas wells which is all disposed of in UIC wells (that are typically not on tribal lands).

**•** Osage

– The Osag e tribe in Oklahoma is located in the Cherokee Basin which contains the Mississippi Lime Play , in which horizontal drilling exploration has just begun . They have been producing conventional oil and gas for the past 100 years in that area so they may be goo d to talk to about general practices. UIC wells are used for all produced wastewater disposal in this region.