Staff at Oklahoma's oil and gas regulator spent over a year building a case to punish Citation Oil & Gas for pollution violations in June 2023. The company operated injection wells in the Bayou oil field near Ardmore that pumped toxic wastewater underground at high pressures, causing wastewater to gush to the surface and contaminate creeks, farmland, and drinking water sources. The Oklahoma Corporation Commission's oil division asked Citation to cut injection pressures in half. Citation refused. Agency manager Danny Ray emailed colleagues calling it "an emergency situation that needs to be addressed promptly."
The state temporarily shut down the Bayou's 22 injection wells, most owned by Citation. Under state rules, oil and gas regulators can revoke injection permits and issue fines for violations. But agency leadership did not follow staff guidance to punish Citation through the commission's administrative law court. In April 2024, state officials, including oil division director Robyn Strickland, allowed Citation to restart injection at higher-than-recommended pressures.
Citation appears in the Oklahoma Corporation Commission's database of pollution reports and rule violations more than 1,000 times over the past decade, more than any other operator. The commission has no record of ever fining or completing an enforcement case against Citation. Current and former agency employees say top officials treat Citation gently because the company holds aging, low-producing wells that could become a state liability if Citation walked away from them.
Outside Oklahoma, regulators have fined Citation. In 2017, Citation settled with the U.S. Department of Justice for $2.25 million over underpaid royalties on federal land in Wyoming. In 2025, Utah reached a $700,000 settlement with the company after a crude oil and wastewater spill. Texas and Colorado have also fined Citation in recent years.
Strickland left the Oklahoma Corporation Commission to become chief projects officer for the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission. A spokesperson for the Oklahoma Corporation Commission declined to answer questions about its handling of Citation, citing the possibility of future enforcement actions or litigation.