— ENID — A growing number of Major County landowners are opposing a planned crude oil pipeline they say threatens their water source, which also is the primary water source for Enid.

Glass Mountain Pipeline LLC, a joint venture of Tulsa-based SemGroup Corp., Chesapeake Energy Corporation and Gavilon LLC, in May announced plans to construct a 210-mile crude oil pipeline to carry crude from Arnett and Alva collection sites to Cushing.

The Arnett and Alva spurs, each planned to carry up to 90,000 barrels of crude per day, join near Cleo Springs in Major County, atop the Cimarron River Aquifer and near the city of Enid’s largest field of water wells.

From Cleo Springs, the pipeline continues with a capacity of 180,000 barrels of crude oil per day to Cushing. The project also calls for 440,000 barrels of intermediate storage.

Land acquisition contractors for the pipeline company currently are negotiating contracts and crossing rights with landowners in the Cleo Springs area. Some landowners already have signed contracts, while others have pledged to fight the pipeline route in court.

Steve Regier was one of the first landowners in Major County contacted by SemGroup. Regier is trustee for his mother’s land near Cleo Springs, land on which SemGroup plans to merge the two smaller pipelines and construct a large storage facility.

“We were the first ones they contacted around here to do this, because it’s a key part of their deal,” Regier said.

He said he and his mother didn’t want to sell the land, but didn’t feel they had any choice.

“She wasn’t looking to sell, but they were telling us, ‘Sell to us or we’re going to condemn your land and take you to court,’” Regier said. “She’s had to work her entire life to pay for that land, and now she has to sell it. It really bothers her a company can come in and force you to sell your land.”

They signed a contract to sell 34 acres of land — land on which Regier said SemGroup plans to build a storage and pumping facility, including two 158,000 barrel tanks.

Regier said he’s not happy about having to sell the land, but he’s more worried about the water.

“The real issue here is the water,” Regier said. “When you have a pipeline, it’s not a question of if it’s going to leak, it’s when it’s going to leak.

Thirty years from now, if they have a leak in that thing, who’s going to clean it up? That’s what we’re worried about.”

Regier said far more people should be concerned about the pipeline’s placement, because it crosses a water source that feeds not only rural landowners and towns in Major County, but also Hennessey, Kingfisher and Enid.

“Our biggest concern is the pipeline is coming right through the heart of the best of the Cimarron Terrace Aquifer,” Regier said.

According to the Oklahoma Water Resources Board, about 87 percent of Enid’s permitted water production comes from the Cimarron Aquifer, with the largest concentration of wells near the planned pipeline junction.

“The more we learned about this, the more we know we need to protect the water,” Regier said. “All the price issues over the land are really irrelevant if we pollute the water, and all these people out here and the cities don’t have water to drink.”

Danny Ewbank, owner and president of Ewbank Inc. Water Well Drilling, said he has been hearing a lot of concerns over the pipeline from his clients in the Cleo Springs area.

“Naturally, we’re all concerned about groundwater pollution, and they’re running that pipeline right through the most prolific water source in Major County,” Ewbank said. “Water for Enid, Cleo Springs, Fairview, it all comes from right there.”

Ewbank said he, like most people in the area, supports the oil and natural gas industry.

“Oil and natural gas is an important supporter of our economy, and we all know that,” Ewbank said. “But, sometimes dollars and cents override common sense when it comes to the construction details on a pipeline like this.”

Ewbank said the company should consider an alternate route that crosses the Cimarron Aquifer in a less-vulnerable area.

“Rather than run that pipeline through the heart of the Cimarron Aquifer, I would rather they consider running it through an alternate route that might be less susceptible to creating serious problems if they ever have a leak,” he said.

Ewbank acknowledged pipeline design is meant to prevent leaks, “but little chances and no chances aren’t the same.”

“You’re probably never going to have a project like that that has no potential for problems, and you have to get those chances as low as possible,” he said. “Protecting our groundwater has to be a priority. It’s not just an issue of what’s the least cost for them to put the pipeline in.”

Jack Warfield of Cleo Springs said the first large irrigation well in Major County was drilled back in 1952 on his parents’ land, land over which the pipeline now is planned to cross.

Warfield, who holds a degree in ecology and is retired from Arizona Natural Resources, also wants SemGroup to pick a different route for the pipeline.

James Neal is a writer for the Enid News & Press.