Three state agencies have their hands in its regulation in one way or another. In­spectors can make spot checks or investigate complaints.

But in the end, it comes down to the honor system.

Energy companies self-monitor for NORM, the technologically enhanced, naturally occurring radioactive material that can accumulate on equipment or soil where they mine oil and natural gas.

State agencies rely on that compliance, and rarely does the federal Environmental Protection Agency get involved.

“By default, in oil and gas production, the agency does not have any specific regulations that deal with NORM or any ra­dioactive material,” EPA spokesman Dave Bary said. “Our role is limited to consulting with the state at their request.”

Barnett Shale risk

The risk from NORM accumulations can vary widely, from virtually none to potentially ruinous to human health and the environment. While less common in natural gas fields than oil fields, the Barnett Shale is different. Two decontamination companies have cleaned 25 Barnett Shale sites of about 1,000 barrels of radio­active waste in the past two years.

The hotter the waste, the more expensive it becomes to manage and dispose of. As a result, Kenny Ryan, operations manager for Soloco, and other industry insiders say some operators are slow to clean up because the process is expensive.

After an emergency cleanup of about 105 barrels of NORM-contaminated waste at Devon Energy’s North Tarrant saltwater injection well in October 2006, the Denton Record-Chronicle requested the Texas Railroad Commission reveal, under state open records laws, the type and volume of waste delivered to the well just prior to the leak.

A Railroad Commission rule requires that operators keep those records for three years and make them available to commission inspectors upon request.

However, the rule stops short of requiring the information be filed with the agency, in part because federal law exempts most oilfield waste from a hazardous designation.

Railroad Commission attorney Debra Ravel said the agency would not attempt to collect the records because it would be an unreasonable demand of a private business, and it could be interpreted as using public money to conduct a private investigation.

However, she said that the agency would investigate any complaint of any facility.

“We take complaints very seriously,” Ravel said.

Devon’s safety manager Doug Bridwell said the company had a secondary containment dike where the NORM was being stored and none leaked off the injection site.

Three sets of rules

After the accidental discovery of NORM in oilfields in the late 1970s, a flurry of research, and lawsuits, followed. Texas was one of several states that wrote rules for managing NORM, most in the mid- to late 1990s.

When NORM on equipment and soil are below certain radioactive readings, the Railroad Commission has one set of rules for handling and disposal. Above those readings, the responsibility goes partly to the Texas Department of State Health Services and partly to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

For the hottest waste, decontamination companies must notify the state of the time, place and nature of their work. There are only a dozen licensed decontamination companies in Texas and the details provided in their notifications vary.

Andrews-based Lotus, which has done the most work in the Barnett Shale, and several other companies disclose what is being cleaned and how much waste will be hauled away. But Almac, in Galveston, also names the specific radioactive elements and provides levels.

For smaller accumulations with lower readings, disposal requires neither a permit nor notification to the landowner. For example, operators can dilute NORM and then bury it or spread it across the land where it originated without telling the landowner, according to Railroad Commission spokeswoman Ramona Nye.

But the Railroad Commission does require the landowner’s consent when NORM is disposed of in a well, she said. That practice can complicate re-entry into the well.

In addition, representatives from the three agencies meet quarterly as the Texas Radiation Advisory Board and discuss topics of shared concern.

“The agencies do communicate with each other on particular sites or issues as necessary,” Nye said in an e-mail.

Rules about NORM remained relatively unchanged until the Texas Legislature required contaminated equipment to be clearly labeled “NORM.” That rule took effect in 2004 and the agencies hosted workshops statewide to explain the new rule to the industry.

Railroad Commission representatives told the board that its inspectors would make spot checks for compliance. Yet, Railroad Commission inspectors do not wear personal radiation badges, according to Nye.  

With the new “urban drilling” paradigm, many Denton area residents, both leaseholders and not, have questioned whether the Railroad Commission’s rules do enough to protect human health and the environment. A study by the Society of Petroleum Engineers found that if NORM were strictly regulated, some oil and gas mining would become uneconomic.

The Railroad Commission studied NORM contamination in a statewide random sample in 1999-2000 and found accumulation problems in several geographic areas as well as compliance problems. The agency has not studied NORM since the Barnett Shale boom began.

Nor has the federal Department of Energy funded much research into NORM since 2000.

National Academy of Science researcher John Wiley, an expert on NORM disposal, said the main reason for the slowdown is that the Department of Energy is now managing NORM that its projects have been creating. In addition, he said, companies were starting to meet NORM cleanup and disposal needs in private industry.

In Texas, nearly 400,000 barrels of NORM waste have been disposed of since the mid-1990s.

“Its problems are well known,” Wiley said. “It’s just how to best dispose of it.”

PEGGY HEINKEL-WOLFE can be reached at 940-566-6881. Her e-mail address is pheinkel-wolfe@dentonrc.com .