The suit asks the court to vacate the OWRB’s approval of a permit allowing Oklahoma City to withdraw up to 37.5 billion gallons of water each year from Sardis Lake and the Kiamichi River.
The U.S. Department of Justice is also asking the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of appeals to reconsider the decision, after a panel of judges found the Muscogee (Creek) Nation reservation was not disestablished and that the state did not have jurisdiction.
The Oklahoma Water Resources Board is set to consider on Oct. 10 a proposed order that would send around 37.5 billion gallons of water annually from Sardis Lake and the Kiamichi River to Oklahoma City.
The judge’s ruling also gives access to communications between government officials and Tulsa-based New Dominion LLC regarding links between disposal wells and seismic activity.
The state is also third in the nation in amounts of crude oil and other hazardous liquids spilled from pipelines from 2010 to mid-2017.
A little more than half of oil spilled between 2014 and 2016 was recovered, while about two-thirds of wastewater spilled was recovered, the Oklahoma Corporation Commission data shows.
“We don’t want you here speaking,” a protestor carrying a white banner that read “Scott Pruitt” yelled. “You are part of the problem, Scott Pruitt.”
The EPA has told Oklahoma officials they aren’t doing enough to protect the state’s drinking water and citizens from induced earthquakes.
