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EPA Orders Hunter Energy, Inc. to Stop Discharging

Release Date: 07/06/2009
Contact Information: Dave Bary or Anthony Suttice at 214-665-2200 or r6press@epa.gov

(Dallas, Texas – July 6, 2009) The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a cease and desist administrative order to Hunter Energy, Inc. of Mineral Wells, Texas, for violations of the federal Clean Water Act.

A June 15, 2009, EPA inspection of the company’s oil field production facility in Palo Pinto County, Texas, found an unauthorized discharge of oil field brine generated by production activities into a tributary of Lake Creek. The inspection also revealed that water located at the discharge point of entry into the creek was contaminated from brine discharges and salts.

Based on these findings, Hunter Energy Inc. has been ordered to cease all discharges of pollutants from the facility, remove all brine and contaminated soils from the facility, and remove all brine from the flow path located between the facility and the discharge point of entry into the tributary of Lake Creek. The company has also been ordered to remove all brine from the tributary of Lake Creek, remove all dead vegetation from the tributary, and within 30 days provide written certification to EPA that these activities have been completed.

More about activities in EPA Region 6: https://www.epa.gov/region6

EPA audio file is available at https://www.epa.gov/region6/6xa/podcast/jul2009.html