The Mississippi State Oil and Gas Board (MSOGB), an independent agency, promulgates and enforces rules to regulate and promote oil and gas drilling, production, and storage so as to protect the coequal and correlative rights of all owners of interests, and promulgates and enforces rules to regulate the disposal of nonhazardous oil field waste in an environmentally safe manner consistent with federal and state regulations. Otherwise, the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ), through its Office of Pollution Control (OPC), administers the environmental protection laws.

Contact

Mississippi State Oil and Gas Board
500 Greymont Avenue, Suite E
Jackson, MS 39202-3446
(601) 354-7142 (phone)
(601) 354-6873 (fax)

Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality
Office of Pollution Control
P.O. Box 20305
Jackson, MS 39289-1305 (mailing address)

2380 Highway 80 West
Jackson, MS 39204 (shipping address)
(601) 961-5171 (phone)
(888) 786-0661 (toll free)

Produced Water Management Practices and Applicable Regulations

The Mississippi State Oil and Gas Board Rule Book contains the statewide rules and regulations governing underground injection control as well as the drilling rules for offshore wells (through the table of contents one can click and choose the exact rule that one wishes to view). The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) has promulgated regulations governing, among others, hazardous waste, non-hazardous waste, land, and water.

• Statewide Rules and Regulations: Pollution of Air, Surface Waters and Soils by Waste is Prohibited (Rule 45)
  • The following conditions govern Temporary Salt Water Storage Pits (Rule 45, Section II-E-3):
• The pit shall be lined with an impervious material acceptable to the Supervisor or his field representative. It shall be constructed so that salt water stored will not cause waste by pollution of fresh waters or contamination of soils beyond the confines of the pit. The pit shall be protected from surface waters by dikes and by drainage ditches.
• A representative of the State Oil and Gas Board must be given an opportunity to inspect a pit prior to use.
• The fluid level shall never rise to within one foot of the top of the pit walls or dikes and shall be kept below this level by emptying the pit of fluids in accordance with regulatory requirements.
• Only produced water shall be intentionally placed in the pit. Such water shall contain no more than the traces of oil remaining after separation with normal field facilities.
• The pit shall be identified with a sign containing the name of the operator, the location of the pit (section, township, range, and county), and the permit number issued by the Supervisor.
• When the use of the pit is to be discontinued, the Supervisor shall be notified in writing. When abandoned, the pit shall be emptied of fluids, backfilled, leveled, and compacted.

• Statewide Rules and Regulations: Underground Injection Control for Disposal and Enhanced Recovery (Rule 63)
  • Injection not authorized by permit or rule is prohibited (Rule 63, Part 1).
  • Produced fluid disposal wells must meet regulatory requirements governing application (Rule 63, Part 5), construction (Rule 63, Part 6), mechanical integrity (Rule 63, Part 7), operating (Rule 63, Part 8), monitoring and reporting (Rule 63, Part 9), plugging and abandoning (Rule 63, Part 10), notification of down-hole work (Rule 63, Part 11), annular disposal (Rule 63, Part 12), and exemption of aquifers (Rule 63, Part 13).
  • The Board, after notice and hearing, is authorized to grant exceptions to the construction and operating provisions (Rule 63, Part 16).
  • Operators must file monthly fluid injection reports (Rule 47).
• Form No. 14

• Statewide Rules and Regulations: Transportation of Crude Oil or Any Substance Containing Any Quantity of Crude Oil (Rule 65)
  • Any corporation, association, partnership or person in possession of water or brine produced in association with the exploration and/or production of oil or gas, or both, being transported or for transporting from or to any storage, disposal, processing or refining facility shall possess specific documentation that substantiates the right to be in possession of such substance.
    
    
• Drilling Rules for Offshore Wells: Prevention of Waste, Including Pollution, and Waste Disposal (Rule OS-8).
  • Liquid Disposal — Liquid waste materials containing substances that may be harmful to aquatic life or wildlife, or otherwise injurious, shall be treated to avoid disposal of harmful substances into the waters.
     
• Cavern Disposal — While Mississippi stores natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas in caverns formed in salt domes, no caverns have been used for exploration and production waste disposal in the state.
   
• Outer Continental Shelf Discharge Operations— See "Region 4, Final NPDES General Permit for Existing and New Source Discharges in the Eastern Portion of the Outer Continental Shelf of the Gulf of Mexico," available at GMG460000.
  

• State Oil and Gas Board Forms