An agenda item for the drilling of additional wells at existing well sites in Newcastle was approved by the City Council but not before a lot of discussion, and not before an agreement that the oil and gas company would erect 16-foot sound walls on three sides of the well site.
The Council, in its regular March meeting, approved a Use Permitted on Review to EOG Resources, Inc. for their Newcastle-located Spitfire and Banshee well sites. Because of the necessity for co-existing within the City limits, the Council is trying to work out the best options they can for both residents and the oil and gas companies, according to Mayor Karl Nail.
“We spent a good amount of time with the Council and City staff discussing how we could do more to control the noise, and talking with EOG’s representatives to try to work out the best options we could find for both the residents and EOG,” Nail said. “It was a long discussion: the goal was to do everything we could to minimize the impact of these six new proposed wells on those residents in the area.”
Nail said this is an existing pad and the company has the right to come back in and drill other wells. He said they will erect 16-ft. walls with sound absorbing blankets on their interior to absorb the sound, rather than bounce the sound.
“In the past, we have allowed companies to utilize shipping containers. They did a good job of keeping the sound from getting to the other side, but the sound still bounced to the opposite side,” Nail said. “ We are hoping this will significantly keep that noise down. It will never go away.”
The Mayor said the City is looking for ways to keep the other noises on the site better, as well. He said the best case scenario would involve keeping the noise on site during the drilling and completion process of the wells, but added that the walls will help keep the noise from compressors and generators from emanating from the site.
Nail said this particular well site has been a learning curve for the Council because it was the first horizontal drilling well to be approved in the City.
“It was very important to Council to address the sound as well as we could. This well was put in under the old guidelines,” Nail said, explaining that previous City code was written for vertical wells and not horizontal drilled wells.
Because of the higher pressure pumps and a short fracking period, there was more noise emanating from the site than would have come with a vertical well.
“This was something we just didn’t know,” Nail said. “We studied other municipalities’ ordinances before we started drawing up new ordinances.”
Because of the time needed for the Council to address the issues, they have already had one special meeting specifically to discuss the newly proposed ordinances, as well as what the City can and cannot do concerning drilling in the City, and they plan to have at least one more special meeting on the topic.
“We want to take however long to work thoroughly through this,” Nail said. “We want our citizens to come out and spend the amount of time we need to focus on a very narrow issue, but we can only do things that fall within reason.”
Nail explained that the state legislature has used the term “reasonable” in order to place restrictions on Oklahoma municipalities when dealing with oil and gas issues.
“If it is something the oil company can’t reasonably correct, we can’t enforce it,” Nail said.
The mayor said the City is very limited in what it can do, but he believes the 16-foot walls with sound absorbing blankets is the best solution that the City could have gotten in order to control the sound.
Nail said there are Newcastle residents who live very close to this site, and the goal is for the City and oil and gas company to do everything they can to limit the decibels coming off the pad.
Local residents impacted by drilling have suggestions
Jody and Andi Scott, residents of 704 N. Rockwell, are near the sites being discussed by the Council. They said they have had difficulties with the oil drilling near their home in the past, and they have two suggestions for Newcastle.
The Scotts believe the City needs to have someone in place that residents can come to with any complaints. As well, they believe the City should have someone who can enforce the City’s ordinances and document any unfollowed guidelines should the City have to take legal action against an oil and gas company.
Jody Scott said when the well was initially drilled, there was a lot of noise. He said they had pictures fall off their walls, and a water line underneath their home broke, and he had to fix it himself.
Scott said at that time he tried to file complaints about the noise and the traffic, but he was always put off on someone else.
“Newcastle wouldn’t enforce the traffic route they put in place, especially the one by my house,” Jody said.
He added that Newcastle police said they have no authority or control over a state highway but he was told by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol that Newcastle can enforce the regulations they put on a highway which goes through a municipality.
Also during the initial drilling, the Scotts filed a noise complaint with the City, but they said nothing was ever done with it.
“If we have regulations, let’s have someone who can enforce these regulations and possibly fine them,” Scott said.
Scott said at least the City Code Enforcement should be able to go on to these sites, and let them know that they must come in compliance or they will receive a ticket. At that time, Scott said they could document what takes place, the noise complaints, and any unfollowed guidelines.
Scott added that he believes city code, in particular 113.015, requires the City Manager to appoint a qualified person whose duty it is to enforce what is in the chapter of code dealing with drilling within the city limits.
At the special meeting on oil and gas, Nail said he doesn’t believe the City has the resources to hire someone full time to only deal with these issues.
As previously stated, the City Council intends to schedule another special meeting specifically to address the drilling of wells in Newcastle, the ordinances that govern it, and how the City will move forward in best practices and balancing out the needs of the residents and the oil and gas companies.
In other Newcastle City Council business
• The Council gave authorization to use revenues from the .5% Capitol Improvement Sales Tax, not to exceed $600,000, and revenue from the General Fund balance, not to exceed $600,000 for construction of the Newcastle Animal Shelter. Mayor Nail said the Council approved these expenditures in order to lessen the amount of borrowing on the new facility. Cost of the shelter is $1.2 million.
• The Council had an open discussion about water consumption by the cities of Tuttle, Blanchard and Goldsby. Nail said all three communities have pass-through water coming from Newcastle, but none have contracts in place. Nail said the City is working with these communities to see how to go forward and put a contract in place similar to the one Newcastle has with Oklahoma City, which ensures that costs are not borne by the residents of Newcastle. There was also discussion about the possibility of a future water trust between the three communities.
Nail said the communities mainly only pull water from Newcastle in the heat of the summer, but he added that Goldsby had not used any in the past 18 months. They have substantial growth, however, and will have future needs.
• A deviation in façade requirements was granted for Jay London on property at 550 N.E. 24th Street where he is building a storage facility business. Nail said the deviation only involves part of the exterior which was not visible from a City street.
Nail said Council members felt like the request was still meeting the intent of the ordinance which governs it.
• Also, an executive session was held for the City Manager’s annual evaluation and contract. No action was taken by the Council. Nail said the Council is extremely pleased with City Manager Kevin Self’s performance.
