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EPA Orders Thomas Exploration Company to Stop Discharging

Release Date: 12/09/2009
Contact Information: Dave Bary at 214-665-2200 or r6press@epa.gov

(Dallas, Texas – December 9, 2009) The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a cease and desist administrative order to the Thomas Exploration Company of Tulsa, Oklahoma, for violations of the federal Clean Water Act.

An October 13, 2009, EPA inspection of the company’s oil field production and brine disposal facility in Okmulgee County, Oklahoma, found an unauthorized discharge of oil field brine generated by production activities into a tributary of the Deep Fork River. The inspection also revealed that water located at the discharge point of entry into the tributary of the Deep Fork River was contaminated from brine discharges and salts.

Based on these findings, the Thomas Exploration Company has been ordered to cease all discharges of pollutants from the facility and remove all brine and contaminated soils from the flow path located between the facility and the tributary of the Deep Fork River. The company has also been ordered to remove all brine from the tributary and within 30 days provide written certification 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/dec2009.html