[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 166 (Thursday, August 27, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45810-45812]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-22897]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-6151-6]
Underground Injection Control Program: Substantial Modification
to an Existing State-Administered Underground Injection Control Program
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Request for public comment on a Substantial Modification to the
Wyoming 1422 Underground Injection Control Program.
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SUMMARY: The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) establishes the Underground
Injection Control (UIC) Program, which is designed to protect present
and future underground sources of drinking water (USDWs) and to prevent
underground injection through wells that may endanger these drinking
water sources. The SDWA provides for states to apply for and receive
approval from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to administer
their own UIC programs, if the State regulations and statutes meet
EPA's minimum requirements as specified in 40 CFR Part 144, 145, and
146 or the ``protective'' standard specified in Sec. 1425 of the SDWA
for oil and gas related wells. One of these requirements specified in
40 CFR 144.7 is the identification of (USDWs). If an aquifer is a USDW,
injection into it can only occur if it is exempted from this
classification because it is not serving a drinking water system and is
not expected to do so in the future. Therefore, injection into any
aquifer that meets the classification as a USDW can only take place if
it is exempted from the classification as a USDW. Criteria for
exempting aquifers is in Title 40 Sec. 146.4. Certain exemptions are
considered substantial program revisions.
Once the State program receives final approval, subsequent
modifications to the programs can be requested by the State and
accomplished through the specifications under 40 CFR 145.32. Upon
receiving a request for modification of a State program, EPA determines
if the requested modification is ``substantial'' or ``non-
substantial.'' A request for an aquifer exemption is one type of
program modification that can be requested by the State. An aquifer
exemption request often accompanies a draft permit for an injection
well that will inject into a USDW that can be proven to meet criteria
specified in 40 CFR 146.4. If the aquifer exemption is considered a
``non-substantial'' modification to the existing State program, then it
can be evaluated and approved or disapproved by the EPA Regional
Administrator. However, if the aquifer proposed for exemption contains
formation fluids with less than 3,000 mg/l Total Dissolved Solids (TDS)
which is related to any Class I well or is not related to action on a
permit (except in the case of rule authorized enhanced recovery
operations in oil fields), then the aquifer exemption represents a
``substantial'' modification to the State program. In this case,
according to 40 CFR 145.32, the proposed program revision shall be
published in the Federal Register to provide the public an opportunity
to comment for a period of at least 30 days. The authority to approve
or disapprove the proposed change lies with the EPA Administrator. The
proposed substantial revision to the Wyoming 1422 UIC program for which
public comments are being solicited is a request for the exemption of
0.04 square miles of the Lance Formation at an approximate depth of
3,800 to 6,500 feet below ground surface surrounding two non-hazardous
Class I injection wells in the Powder River Basin within Johnson
County, Wyoming.
Public comments are encouraged and a public hearing will be held
upon request. A request for a public hearing should be made in writing
and should state the nature of the issues proposed to be raised at the
hearing. A public hearing will be held only if significant interest is
shown.
DATES: EPA must receive public comment, in writing, on the proposed
modification of the Wyoming 1422 program by September 28, 1998.
ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Valois Shea-Albin, Ground Water
Unit (8P-W-GW), Environmental Protection Agency, Region VIII, 999 18th
Street, Suite 500, Denver, Colorado, 80202-2466, by the deadlines
provided above. Copies of the application and pertinent materials are
available for review by the public between 8:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.
[[Page 45811]]
Monday through Friday at the following locations:
Environmental Protection Agency, Region VIII, Ground Water Unit, 4th
Floor Terrace, 999 18th Street, Denver, CO 80202-2466;
and
Department of Environmental Quality, Herschler Building, 122 West 25th
Street, Cheyenne, WY 82002.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Valois Shea-Albin, US EPA Region VIII,
8P-W-GW, 999 18th Street, Suite 500, Denver, CO 80202, (303) 312-6276.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Introduction
In October, 1997, COGEMA Mining, Inc., (COGEMA) and the Wyoming
Department of Environmental Quality (WDEQ) requested that EPA grant an
aquifer exemption for the Lance Formation in the areas encompassed by a
radius of 1,320 feet surrounding two Class I non-hazardous injection
wells, the COGEMA DW No. 1 and the Christensen 18-3, in Johnson County,
WY. The proposed injection intervals are 3,818 to 6,320 feet and 4,009
to 6,496 feet in depth below ground surface, respectively. The total
area of the Lance Formation included in the proposed exemption is 0.4
square miles.
The Lance Formation fluids contain less than 3,000 mg/l Total
Dissolved Solids (TDS), dictating that this aquifer exemption be a
substantial revision of the WY 1422 Underground Injection Control (UIC)
program according procedures listed in UIC Guidance #34, Guidance for
Review and Approval of State UIC Programs and Revisions to Approved
State Programs. The aquifer proposed for exemption has been determined
by WDEQ to be too deep to be considered as an economically feasible
source of drinking water. EPA has examined the aquifer exemption
request, the accompanying information, and responses from WDEQ and
COGEMA to EPA concerns, and, for reasons described herein, recommends
approval of this aquifer exemption.
II. Background
COGEMA operates the Christensen Ranch in-situ leaching uranium mine
within the Wasatch Sandstone Formation in Johnson and Campbell
Counties, WY. The Wasatch Formation overlies the Lance Formation by
about 2,600 feet at the mine site. The mining operation has comprised
five well fields to date, two of which are currently producing, and
three that have been mined out. The operation has reached the phase
where large scale restoration of the groundwater within the mined out
well fields is being conducted simultaneously with mineral extraction.
Groundwater restoration is conducted to return the groundwater
affected by mining to its baseline condition or to a condition
consistent with its pre-mining or potential use upon completion of
mining activities. After the restoration process is completed, the
concentrations of contaminants are reduced to levels below drinking
water standards. For the successful restoration of the groundwater
quality within the mine-out areas of the Wasatch Formation, a
wastewater disposal capacity of 300 to 500 gallons per minute (gpm)
will be required over the next 18 years. Additionally, this type of
operation requires the bleed-off of part of the fluid extracted in
order to keep underground water flow into the mining area and prevent
the contamination of adjacent aquifers in the Wasatch Formation. To
date COGEMA has managed disposal of the fluid wastes under an NPDES
permit to discharge to the surface, and through using evaporation ponds
and limited non-hazardous Class I injection well disposal. The
regulatory reduction of the selenium level permitted under NPDES will
force COGEMA to discontinue surface discharge in the near future. After
evaluating treatment methods to remove selenium from the wastewater in
order to continue surface discharge, COGEMA found that reverse osmosis
was the only method that consistently met the new selenium standard.
The reverse osmosis process would treat 75% of the waste stream
resulting in water of high enough quality for surface discharge.
However, the high volume of remaining concentrated brine produced by
the reverse osmosis process would still require the use of the two
Class I injection wells and the aquifer exemption.
COGEMA was previously granted an aquifer exemption for the above
wells to inject into the Teckla, Parkman, and Teapot Formations
(between 3,000 and 10,000 TDS, containing traces of oil and gas, and
too deep to be an economically feasible source of drinking water). The
original exempted interval for the COGEMA DW No. 1 was 7,500 to 8,470
feet in depth and 7,631 to 8,604 feet in depth for the Christensen 18-
3. Trial injection into these formations revealed they were only
capable of receiving less than 10 gpm instead of the 75 to 150 gpm
anticipated from the evaluation of porosity logs. As a result, the
company has now requested a permit modification to inject into the
Lance Formation, an overlying geologic unit.
III. Injectate
The injectate will consist of operational bleed streams from
commercial in-situ leaching uranium mining operations as well as fluids
from the restoration of the aquifer. The constituents on the injectate
include the following process and restoration bleed streams: normal
overproduction (well field bleed) streams, laboratory wastewater,
reverse osmosis brine, and groundwater sweep solutions. The bleed
streams are defined as non-hazardous, and as beneficiation wastes
exempt from regulation under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
as stipulated by the Bevill Amendment (40 CFR 261.4(b)(7)).
IV. Basis for Approval of Proposed Aquifer Exemption
The information provided by COGEMA in the reports included in the
docket adequately addresses the requirements of 40 CFR 146.4 supporting
approval of the proposed aquifer exemption request for the Lance
Formation.
Approximately 30 miles to the west, the Lance outcrops to the
surface and wells developed there are for livestock use. Five wells
jointly completed in the Lance and Fox Hills formations formerly served
as public water supplies to the municipalities of Midwest and Edgerton,
WY, 30 miles southwest of the proposed exemption area until 1997. At
that time, the wells were abandoned because of low water productivity
(40 gpm sustainable flow) and the expense of treatment that would be
required to continue using these wells as a public water supply. The
towns of Midwest and Edgerton have determined that piping in pre-
treated water 50 miles from Casper is more economically feasible,
especially with the addition of some financial incentives, than
continuing operation of the wells completed in the Lance/Fox Hills
formations, even at the relatively shallow depth of 1,500 to 2,000
feet. Therefore, the Lance is no longer supplying water to a public
drinking water system within 30 miles of the proposed aquifer exemption
area.
The Midwest-Edgerton public water supply scenario should be noted
as the most compelling support for the approval of this aquifer
exemption request and the feasibility of using the Lance Formation as a
public water supply. The five wells were abandoned in favor of piping
in an alternative water supply. The decision to abandon these wells was
based on the economic impact of the need to treat the water and the low
production rates of the wells,
[[Page 45812]]
even though the costs of development had already been expended, and the
wells tapped shallower portions of the Lance Formation compared to the
proposed aquifer exemption area (page 13, April 17, 1998, COGEMA
report).
The Lance Formation will probably never again be considered to be
an economically feasible source of drinking water in the area of the
proposed aquifer exemption because of the great depth, low water
production capacity, and treatment costs that will be necessary based
on the Midwest-Edgerton wells. The cost of developing the Lance
Formation as a drinking water supply within the proposed aquifer
exemption area is high compared to that of developing shallow, more
prolific, and higher quality sources of drinking water. Other regional
aquifers, the Wasatch and Fort Union Formations for example, are better
suited for development in this area as a source of drinking water due
to higher producing capability, significantly better water quality, and
no water treatment costs.
VI. Regulatory Impact
There will be no modification in regulations, either in the Code of
Federal Regulations or Wyoming DEQ Water Quality Rules and Regulations,
as a result of this proposed program modification.
Dated: August 19, 1998.
D. Edwin Hogle,
Director, Groundwater Program, Office of Partnerships and Regulatory
Assistance, Region VIII.
[FR Doc. 98-22897 Filed 8-26-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P