The company told state inspectors that the substance was being used in a way that would exempt it from federal rules regulating hazardous waste. State regulators initially weren\u2019t sure who had jurisdiction to handle the \u201cimproperly disposed of\u201d materials, records show.\u00a0<\/p>\n Federal law exempts some materials created during oil and gas production from hazardous waste rules, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency<\/a>. These materials can still be dangerous to human and environmental health, according to the EPA, but they aren\u2019t required to follow the same cradle-to-grave tracking and disposal standards.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality said it does not track how much waste like this the state receives from out of state each year.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sen. Roland Pederson, R-Burlington, made phone calls to state officials in an effort to push for enforcement.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pederson said residents in his district have had concerns about Nemaha for years. At one point, a local resident sent state regulators photos of animals that the resident said had wandered onto his land, covered in oil.\u00a0<\/p>\n But the smell from the out-of-state waste was \u201cabove and beyond anything that was imaginable,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s unfortunate the people in that area had to deal with that,\u201d Pederson said.\u00a0<\/p>\n State regulators shut Nemaha down in February while they investigated. An administrative law judge for the Oklahoma Corporation Commission eventually recommended a $15,000 fine<\/a> for receiving an unauthorized substance. But the three Corporation Commissioners have not yet voted to approve that recommendation. The agency said in October that there are no open or pending enforcement actions but that the situation remains \u201can ongoing investigation currently in a cleanup phase.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Nemaha is also facing a possible criminal investigation by the Oklahoma Attorney General\u2019s office, according to court documents filed in July. The Attorney General\u2019s office said it could not comment on any pending investigations.\u00a0<\/p>\n The company spent the last several months asking the Corporation Commission to allow it to resume operations, saying it had lost $1.5 million since being shut down. But the company pulled its request at the beginning of October. Nemaha\u2019s lawyer did not return several requests for comment.<\/p>\n Support Independent Oklahoma Journalism<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the Corporation Commission said the agency does not comment on specifics for active cases.<\/p>\n \u201cOCC responded quickly to initiate an investigation following receipt of a complaint in order to safeguard area residents from the potential of possibly hazardous material being improperly disposed at a site for which a permit had neither been requested nor issued,\u201d a statement from the agency says.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ambiguous rules for hazardous waste\u00a0<\/p>\n Less than three miles from Hillsdale, Nemaha Environmental Services\u2019 320-acre property is surrounded by crops and cattle. Nemaha bought the property from another local company in 2014 for $7.5 million, according to county records<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Nemaha said in court documents that the bad smell happened because the caustic wash it had been accepting from out of state was contaminated with a different chemical. The company said this chemical did not pose a risk to human health and safety.<\/p>\n The company got permission from the Corporation Commission in early 2025 to open a recycling facility on site that would be allowed to handle caustic wash. But the facility is not yet open, according to state records.\u00a0<\/p>\n Inspectors with the Corporation Commission initially wrote that Nemaha had received a substance the agency did not regulate. The Corporation Commission told a community resident that the state Department of Environmental Quality would manage the material, according to one state report. The Department of Environmental Quality said Nemaha didn\u2019t have a permit with the agency so it didn\u2019t have jurisdiction over the facility.\u00a0<\/p>\n The chemicals Nemaha received are exempt from typical hazardous waste rules since the company said it had a beneficial use for them, a spokesperson for the Department of Environmental Quality said. For years, Nemaha had issues with oil in its pits and was using the chemicals to break up the oil, the company detailed in a court filing.\u00a0<\/p>\n Madison Miller, deputy executive director for the Department of Environmental Quality, said federal regulations allow for a waste generator to decide whether something is exempt from hazardous waste rules.\u00a0<\/p>\n If a company does not follow guidelines, or if state regulators disagree that something is exempt, they could talk to the company before escalating to other enforcement actions, said Skylar McElhaney, a spokesperson for the Department of Environmental Quality.<\/p>\n Since Nemaha\u2019s waste was exempt, the Department of Environmental Quality, which typically handles hazardous waste issues in Oklahoma, has no authority over the situation beyond offering technical assistance to the Corporation Commission, McElhaney said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Greg Mahaffey, an attorney representing landowners who don\u2019t want Nemaha to reopen, wrote in court documents that Nemaha\u2019s use of caustic wash is \u201charmful to skin, eyes and lungs if contacted or breathed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Mahaffey is also arguing that Nemaha shouldn\u2019t be allowed to open the on-site recycling facility. But he told a Corporation Commission judge in early October that the landowners would give Nemaha until next spring to clean up the site before moving forward with their case.\u00a0<\/p>\n Past problems<\/p>\n Nemaha has a history of regulatory violations and complaints filed against the company, records show.\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2018, an inspector with the Corporation Commission cited the facility for problems with oil films in its pits. Five years passed, and the company still had not fixed the issue in 2023, resulting in a $3,000 fine.\u00a0<\/p>\n Nemaha was also the company responsible for the 2023 oil spill in Garfield County<\/a> where roughly 1,000 barrels of oil<\/a> contaminated a local creek<\/a>. The pit that leaked does\u00a0 not have a permit, regulators found recently, and also doesn\u2019t have a special kind of liner used to prevent chemicals leaching into the surrounding soil and water.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/image-1.jpeg\")
<\/a>A spray-painted sign hangs from a fence outside of Nemaha Environmental Services north of Enid. KAYLA BRANCH\/The Frontier<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/image-2.jpeg\")
<\/a>A creek runs behind Nemaha Environmental Services\u2019 property north of Enid. KAYLA BRANCH\/The Frontier<\/p>\n
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<\/a>Hillsdale is less than three miles away from Nemaha Environmental Services. Residents say they could smell the fumes from Nemaha. KAYLA BRANCH\/The Frontier<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/image-3.jpeg\")
<\/a>Pit #9 at Nemaha Environmental Services has had issues for years. Nemaha added unpermitted chemicals into the pit in an attempt to address these issues, the company said. Photo provided.<\/p>\n