Abandoned Oil-Field Cleanup

Actvities related to oil production in Texas and other oil-producing states produce a variety of materials that have potential to harm the environment including oil, large volumes of salt water, and various chemicals (heavy metals?) used in drilling mud. Current practices strictly limit the amount of contamination that can occur to soil or water, however in the past, operators and regulators of oil production activities were not as aware of environmental issues. Significant contamination by spilled oil, salt water, and heavy metals continue to negatively impact human use and environmental quality.

Two projects have been undertaken to confront this problem. One involves hydrologic investigations of abandoned oil field sites and the other soil remediation at commercial drilling fluid disposal sites.