Texas County Irrigation & Water Resources Ass'n v. Dunnett

1974 OK 118, 527 P.2d 578
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedOctober 15, 1974
DocketNo. 44989
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 1974 OK 118 (Texas County Irrigation & Water Resources Ass'n v. Dunnett) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Texas County Irrigation & Water Resources Ass'n v. Dunnett, 1974 OK 118, 527 P.2d 578 (Okla. 1974).

Opinions

BARNES, Justice:

Appellant appeals order of Corporation Commission which permitted injection of salt water into the Glorietta Sand pursuant to rules and regulations set forth by the Commission.

There are many producing gas wells located in Texas and Cimarron Counties, Oklahoma, which produce salt water along with gas. This salt water must be disposed of by evaporation or pumped into disposal wells.

The Commission first authorized the disposal of salt water into the Glorietta Formation underlying portions of the Oklahoma Panhandle in April of 1959. Since 1959, there has been an almost continual injection of salt water into the Glorietta [579]*579Formation pursuant to permits issued by the Corporation Commission.

During the period of time covered by the Commission proceedings [April to October, 1970], there were approximately 30 salt water disposal wells injecting into the Glor-ietta.

In comparison to other alternative disposal zones, the Glorietta is shallow. In those areas where the Glorietta is suitable for disposal operations, it is the preferred zone based on economic considerations of oil and gas production. It would cost approximately $40,000 per well to dispose of salt water into the Council Grove Formation.

The Glorietta Formation spreads out under parts of New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. In those portions of Oklahoma’s Texas and Cimarron Counties, where Glorietta disposal operations are being carried on, it averages 200 feet in thickness.

The Glorietta Formation will take water readily on a vacuum. Under normal circumstances, no surface pressure is needed to inject salt water into it.

In Texas and Cimarron Counties, the Ogallala Formation is a fresh water aquifer and overlies the Glorietta Formation. The Ogallala does not exist as a fresh water source in portions of the southeast corner of Texas County or in much of Beaver County.

The Glorietta Formation is not present in all of the area concerned. It pinches out near the Texas County-Beaver County line. It undergoes a facies change in portions of Cimarron County. In those areas, it is not suitable for disposal purposes. The Glorietta Formation is not well suited for salt water disposal in the southern portions of Texas County.

In those portions of the Oklahoma Panhandle where the Ogallala and the Gloriet-ta Formations both clearly exist, they are separated by what is commonly referred to as “Red Beds”. In the area where most of the Glorietta disposal wells are located, the thickness of the intervening Red Beds ranges from 700 to 900 feet. The Red Beds consist of sandstone, shale and evap-orices. The Red Beds are relatively impermeable when undisturbed.

At the time of the hearing before the Commission, the volumes of salt water being injected into the Glorietta disposal wells in Texas and Cimarron Counties ranged from a barrel a day to 490 barrels a day per well. At that time, most of the Glorietta disposal wells were injecting less than 200 barrels of water a day into the Formation.

Two conditions must exist before it is possible for the salt water injected into the Glorietta Formation to pollute Ogallala fresh water: [1] The potentiometric surface of the Glorietta water must be higher than the top [not the base] of the Ogallala water; and [2] A conduit for communication between the two formations must exist. The testimony was in dispute as to whether these conditions existed.

After extended hearings, the Corporation Commission ordered that within 90 days from the date of the order all disposal and injection wells which used the Glorietta Sand in Cimarron, Beaver, and Texas Counties were to be brought into compliance with specific rules and regulations which it set forth in its order. The Commission found that it “would appear the Ogallala aquifer is not being polluted by water being injected into the Glorietta.” It also found that the evidence before the Commission as to salt output is that in most areas the salt and chloride content is such as to make its use as a source of water for irrigation, industry and human consumption impractical at this time, and therefore it would be “unfair” to prohibit the use of the Glorietta as a salt water disposal zone until there was evidence that it could be utilized as a water source. The Commission also found that efforts are underway to conduct more scientific testing and that it would therefore retain jurisdiction over this matter.

Appellant, Texas County Irrigation and Water Resources Association [Asso[580]*580ciation], argues that the finding of the Commission that disposal or injection of salt water into the Glorietta Sand would not pollute the fresh water bearing Ogal-lala aquifer was not supported by substantial evidence.

Intervenors cite St. Louis-San Francisco Ry. Co. v. State, Okl., 262 P.2d 168, for the assertion that if there is evidence which reasonably tends to support the order it must be sustained.

Under Art. IX, § 20, of the Oklahoma Constitution, this Court’s review shall not extend further than to determine whether the Commission’s “findings and conclusions are sustained by substantial evidence.” In City of Edmond v. Corporation Commission of Oklahoma, Okl., 501 P.2d 211, we followed Cameron v. Corporation Commission, Okl., 414 P.2d 266, and quoted the following language therefrom:

“2. The Corporation Commission has a wide discretion in the performance of its statutory duties and this court may not substitute its judgment on disputed questions of fact for that of the Commission, unless the findings of the Commission are not supported by the law and substantial evidence.
“3. The determination whether there is ‘substantial evidence’ to support an order made by Corporation Commission does not require that the evidence be weighed, but only that the evidence tending to support the order be considered to determine whether it implies a quality of proof which induces the conviction that the order was proper or furnishes a substantial basis of facts from which the issue tendered could be reasonably resolved.”

The rule stated in “3” above does not mean categorically that this Court examines only the evidence tending to support a challenged Corporation Commission order, for this could mean [among other things] blinding ourselves to other parts of the record showing admitted or undisputed facts irreconcilable therewith. See Skelly Oil Co. v. Corporation Commission, 183 Okl. 364, 82 P.2d 1009, and Northwest Oil Company v. Railroad Commission [Tex. App.], 462 S.W.2d 371, 378, quoting Railroad Commission v. Shell Oil Co., 139 Tex. 66, 161 S.W.2d 1022. It merely means that we will not consider, for the purpose of determining preponderance or comparative weight, both the evidence tending to support the order, and that which does not, because of our Constitution-mandated limitation of power [Crews v. Champlin Oil & Refining Co., Okl., 413 P.2d 508] and the presumption of correctness that accompanies appeals from that tribunal in matters it frequently adjudicates and in which it possesses expertise. See Ward v. Corporation Commission, Okl., 470 P.2d 993, 996, and Peppers Refining Co. v. Corporation Commission, 198 Okl. 457, 179 P.2d 899, 904.

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El Paso Natural Gas Co. v. Corporation Commission
1981 OK 150 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1981)
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TEXAS CTY. IRRIGATION & WATER RES. ASS'N v. Dunnett
1974 OK 118 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1974)

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Bluebook (online)
1974 OK 118, 527 P.2d 578, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/texas-county-irrigation-water-resources-assn-v-dunnett-okla-1974.