GAU Oil & Gas Waste Disposal Well Letter

Required Documents

To request a Groundwater Advisory Unit (GAU) Oil and Gas Waste Disposal Well Letter (No Harm Letter), submit a copy of the following documents:

Completed Form W-14, "Application to Dispose of Oil and Gas Waste by Injection Into a Formation not Productive of Oil and Gas"

Instructions for Form W-14 are located here.
(You must fill out items 1-19, items 33-35, items 40-44 and the signature block. Items 9, 11, 17 and 18 may be left blank if the application is for a new well that has not been drilled yet)

Scaled map showing the well location and surrounding survey lines.
Current Groundwater Protection Determination (Form GW-2) for the well. If you do not have Groundwater Protection Determination or it is older than five years, you must get a current Form GW-2 by following the process outlined on the GAU Home Page.
Electric log(s) that includes the log header and the interval from the land surface through the injection zone for the existing well; or for a nearby analogous well, if you are drilling a new well.

Required GW-2 Letter

A fee is not required for the Oil and Gas Waste Disposal Well Letter. However, a fee is required to get a current Groundwater Protection Determination (Form GW-2), which may be part of the application.

If you do not have a Groundwater Protection Determination for surface casing, submit the required documents as an attachment to the RRC Online System Groundwater Application (Form GW-1). For more information for GW-1 application filing, go to the page “Instructions of Completing the Form GW-1” by clicking the link in the upper right of the page.
If you do have a Groundwater Protection Determination, submit the required documents to the Railroad Commission of Texas via email to gau@rrc.texas.gov, US Mail, or an overnight express service.

Expected Processing Time Frame

Once all required information is received and determined to be administratively complete, the estimated processing time for a Saltwater Disposal letter is seven (7) business days. If a Groundwater Protection Determination application is submitted with a SWD letter application, both letters will normally be issued together within seven (7) business days.