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BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The federal government has taken over regulating underground injection wells in Idaho needed by the state's oil and natural gas industry to economically dispose of wastewater.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday issued a final rule transferring a portion of the state's Underground Injection Control program.
The Idaho Department of Water Resources requested the change after failed attempts by the state to get approval from the EPA to regulate what are called class II injection wells.
The injection wells are used to return water and other fluids to the ground that come to the surface in the process of drilling for oil and gas.
Texas-based Alta Mesa has said its production in Idaho dropped because of the high cost of trucking the wastewater to evaporation ponds.
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