Overflow Energy

COMMUNITY SERVICE While saltwater disposal wells are ubiquitous in the Texas Panhandle, our curiosity was piqued when Overflow Energy LLC published its notice of intent for one disposal well in the regional daily Amarillo Globe-News, instead of the newspaper of record for Canadian and Hemphill County, The Canadian Record. We looked closer, and realized that the location of the proposed injection well was just beyond the north edge of Canadian at the congested intersections of Highways 60/83 and Lake Marvin Road, situated perilously atop the shallow water table of the Ogallala aquifer and on the edge of the Canadian River. That’s when we realized that Overflow owner Duwane Skipper’s real intent was to actually avoid the attention of the affected public by publishing his notice in a newspaper 100 miles away. So we decided to make sure our readers got the notice they deserved and which the law intended. That was in January 2014. Since then, The Record has published dozens of stories about Overflow’s plans, including maps and aerial photos of the site, as well as a series of editorials critical of the company’s poor choice of locations and its attempt to undermine both the intent and spirit of public notice laws. We have also encouraged our local effected officials to challenge Overflow’s permit applications with the Railroad Commission, and to write letters to TxDOT expressing their concern for the impact of that heavy industrial site and the resulting influx of traffic on an intersection that has already seen more than its share of accidents. By November of 2014, Mr. Skipper had abandoned the first site—which had already drawn formal protests from affected landowners, and from the county commission, economic development council and groundwater conservation district board—and chosen a different one directly across the highway, closer to the intersection of US 60 and 83, and closer to the river. That decision prompted another editorial in the November 13, 2014, edition of The Record, headlined: “Why did Overflow cross the road?” Despite the growing coalition of individuals and organization protesting Overflow’s application, Canadian’s City Council opted not to join the fight. We covered the meeting in which the issue was discussed, reporting comments like these from our council members: “I’m not concerned about water quality,” said one. “I don’t like it when this entity imposes its feelings of the day on other property owners,” said another. In an interview with the groundwater district general manager, she explained her concerns about the vulnerability of the shallow water table and the river to a saltwater disposal well, and its potential impact on the city’s water supply. “You could go pour Kool-Aid on the river banks and probably, within a short period of time, see it infiltrate and make its way into the river’s waters,” she said, in part. In 2015, we continued to report on the issue. In January, the RRC refused Overflow’s permit request. Mr. Skipper requested that it go to a contested case hearing. Both the water district and the landowners’ group hired attorneys. In June 2015, heavy rainfall in the Texas Panhandle filled area creeks and the Canadian River overflowed its banks for the first time in 74 years, heightening the community’s concerns about the potential for contamination from a saltwater disposal well located within the river’s floodplain. In December 2015, Guthrie asked to be placed on the city council agenda to request that they join the effort to block Overflow’s permit for the well, and to present information she had compiled in support of her plea. The mayor refused her request to be heard. A couple of weeks later, an editorial titled, “Heads in the sand,” called the public’s attention

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