The National Park Service has approved a plan to boost oil production from within Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area/NPS file

A decision by the National Park Service to allow a company to force more oil out of existing wells within Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area in Tennessee has drawn criticism from the National Parks Conservation Association.

Under the approved project, ENREMA, LLC was given permission to inject natural gas or water into wells outside the park boundaries with the intent of increasing production from five wells inside the park near the Emory River. While the Park Service owns the land where the five wells are located, the mineral rights are privately held, and the rights to recover oil from the wells were preserved when the government acquired the land, according to the Park Service.

Approval of the project comes less than a year after the Biden administration provided more than $1 million to reclaim orphaned gas wells in the park that straddles the Tennessee-Kentucky border. And it comes as Big South Fork celebrates its 50th anniversary as part of the National Park System. Southeast Regional Director Mark Foust signed off on the project on the park's 50th birthday, March 7.

According to the formal Finding of No Significant Impact, the project lies upstream of a section of the Emory River that is home to the threatened sickle darter; the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed listing that section as critical habitat for the fish. In the FONSI, the Park Service said the approved project is "unlikely .... to adversely modify proposed critical habitat for the sickle darter."

Overall, the document said the project "will create adverse impacts on air quality, fish and wildlife, vegetation, soils and geology, and water quality and hydrology, and, in the unlikely event of a spill, could create additional impacts to those resources and federally and state listed species. ... potential adverse impacts on these resources will not be significant, and mitigation measures, best management practices, monitoring, and spill prevention and control measures will further reduce impacts to the environment."

NPCA staff, though, was not satisfied with the finding.

"Oil and gas development has absolutely no place in our national parks. Unfortunately, at least 12 national park units have active oil and gas development within their boundaries, while another 30 could be open to future development," said Daniel Hart, NPCA's director of clean energy and climate policy. "From groundwater contamination to posing serious public health risks, national parks have borne the harmful impacts of oil and gas drilling.

"Active wells, in particular, contaminate groundwater, pollute the air and threaten wildlife habitat, further exacerbating the biggest threat to our national parks: climate change," he added. :To align with our nation’s climate and conservation objectives on public lands, national parks must be integral to the climate solution, not part of the problem. And it's not just the active wells that can cause harm — the exploration phases within these parks also cause damage, to natural and cultural resources as well as wildlife. We need stronger rules to protect parks vulnerable to oil and gas."

Dr. Eboni Preston Goddard, NPCA’s Southeast Regional director, noted that "Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area is known for its winding rivers and cascading waterfalls, protecting the clean water of the Cumberland River and its tributaries, along with the 125,000 acres of the Cumberland Plateau. It is a refuge for people and wildlife alike. Opening the park to new oil and gas development poses a grave threat to the delicate balance of this ecosystem and its clear waters. The potential for irreversible damage from spills, leaks, and water contamination is something the park cannot afford. From the air pollutants and discharge to the destruction and degradation of habitats, the impact would be insurmountable."

Under the approved action, ENREMA will build two berms at each of the five wellheads: one 2 feet high that encircles the wellhead and pumping units, and a second one 3 feet high in an arc further downslope. The company will also have to:

• Install Hi-Lo pressure sensors at each of the five wellheads to automatically shut off the pump when the sensors detect low pressure in the flow line indicating a possibly breached line;
• Build six-foot high chainlink fences around each well;
• Replace all flow lines from the wells with 2-inch steel pipe and buried 2 feet deep;
• Flowlines are to have check valves every 300 feet allowing the flow direction to move to the central installation but stopping all reverse flow thus limiting a possible spill between check valves to less than 40 gallons of fluid;
• The well site locations will be monitored regularly for impounded precipitation trapped within primary and secondary containment berms; any accumulated waters will be removed promptly as needed via water truck to avoid unnecessary ponding, erosion, or breaching;
• There will be no storage of petroleum containing products greater than 55 gallons at the injection well sites;
• Four locations have been pre-determined as vehicle access points to the waterways "identified as receiving water bodies in the event of a spill in ENREMA’s SPCC Plan. These areas will be used as staging areas for response materials, equipment, and recovered waste if necessary."