La. Admin. Code tit. 43 § XVII-203

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 9, September 20, 2024

Section XVII-203 - General Provisions

A. Applicability. The rules and regulations of this Section apply to all owners and operators of proposed and existing Class I hazardous waste injection wells in the state of Louisiana.

B. Prohibition of Unauthorized Injection. Any underground injection, except as authorized by a permit, is prohibited after the effective date of these regulations. Construction of any well required to have a permit under these regulations is prohibited until the permit has been issued.

C. Classification of Class I Wells

1. Class I Hazardous Waste Injection Wells. Wells used by generators of hazardous wastes or owners or operators of hazardous waste management facilities to inject hazardous waste beneath the lowermost formation containing, within 1/4 mile radius of the well bore, an underground source of drinking water.

2. Class I Nonhazardous Waste Injection Wells. Other industrial and municipal disposal wells which inject fluids beneath the lowermost formation containing an underground source of drinking water within 1/4 mile radius of the well bore.

D. Prohibition of Movement of Fluid into Underground Sources of Drinking Water of Outside of the Approved Injection Zone

1. No authorization by permit shall allow the movement of fluid containing any contaminant into underground sources of drinking water or outside the injection zone. The applicant for a permit shall have the burden of showing that the requirements of this Paragraph are met.

2. For Class I hazardous waste injection wells, if any water quality monitoring indicates the movement of any contaminant into a USDW or outside of the injection zone, except as authorized under §209, the commissioner shall prescribe such additional requirements for construction, corrective action, operation, monitoring, or reporting (including closure of the injection well) as are necessary to prevent such movement. In the case of wells authorized by permit, these additional requirements shall be imposed by modifying the permit in accordance with §213 C, or the permit may be terminated under §213. E if the cause exists, or appropriate enforcement action may be taken if the permit has been violated.

3. Notwithstanding any other provision of §203 D, the commissioner may take emergency action upon receipt of information that a contaminant which is present in or likely to enter a public water supply or may present an imminent and substantial endangerment to the health or safety of persons, or may threaten oil or gas deposits.

E. Requirements for Commercial Wells Injecting Hazardous Waste Accompanied by a Manifest. All generators of hazardous waste, and owners or operators of all commercial hazardous waste management facilities, who use any Class I hazardous waste injection well to inject hazardous waste shall comply with all the applicable requirements of the Louisiana Hazardous Waste Management program.

F. Identification of Underground Sources of Drinking Water and Exempted Aquifers

1. The commissioner may identify (by narrative description, illustrations, maps, or other means) and shall protect, except where exempted under §203. F 2, as an underground source of drinking water, all aquifers or parts of aquifers which meet the definition of an underground source of drinking water. Even if an aquifer has not been specifically identified by the commissioner, it is an underground source of drinking water if it meets the definition.

2. After notice and opportunity for a public hearing the commissioner may identify (by narrative description, illustrations, maps, or other means) and describe in geographic and/or geometric terms (such as vertical and lateral limits and gradient) which are clear and definite, all aquifers or parts thereof which the commissioner proposes to designate as exempted aquifers if they meet the following criteria:

a. the aquifer does not currently serve as a source of drinking water; and

b. the aquifer cannot now and will not in the future serve as a source of drinking water because:

i. it is mineral, hydrocarbon or geothermal energy producing or can be demonstrated by a permit applicant as part of a permit application for a Class III operation to contain minerals or hydrocarbons that considering their quantity and location are expected to be commercially producible;

ii. it is situated at a depth or location which makes recovery of water for drinking water purposes economically or technologically impractical;

iii. it is so contaminated that it would be economically or technologically impractical to render that water fit for human consumption; or

iv. it is located over a Class III well mining area subject to subsidence or catastrophic collapse; or

c. the total dissolved solids content of the ground water is more than 3,000 and less than 10,000 mg/1 and it is not reasonably expected to supply a public water system.

La. Admin. Code tit. 43, § XVII-203

Promulgated by the Department of Natural Resources, Office of Conservation, LR 15:978 (November 1989).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated is accordance with R.S. 30:1 D and 4C(16), and 4.1.