American Oil and Gas Reporter - July 2016 - 51

SpecialReport: Private Equity Strategies
wells, more than a mile of rock separates
the waste from the surface or usable
groundwater."
The slurry injection facilities generally require only 5-10 acres at surface, Rio
reports. Because of their low cost and small
footprint, the father and son team that ran
Milestone's predecessor grew the company from one facility in 1993 to four in
2014. At that point, Rio says they decided to seek a private equity partner that
could provide the financial support and experienced managers the company they had
worked so hard to build needed to continue growing.
"Our private equity partner enabled us
to bring in an engineering team to permit
and develop more facilities, expand the
management team to operate those facilities, and modernize our back office and
operations," Rio says. "Since then, we have
added three facilities."
Today, the company operates facilities
in the Haynesville, Eagle Ford and Permian Basin. "Our newest facility and entry
into the Permian Basin is in Pecos, Tx.,"
Rio says. "In building it, we have taken the

best aspects of the other sites to create a
new design that will allow us to get trucks
in and out more quickly and serve a higher volume.
"We are developing processes to minimize or eliminate waste streams that we
cannot inject and would have to haul to a
landfill," he continues. "Eventually, we will
get to the point where we can take solid
waste streams, grind them up, and inject
them into the strata, which will help our
cost structure while broadening the type
of waste we can accept."
For a waste disposal company, customer
service means getting trucks in and out
quickly, Rio says. The company posts wait
times for each facility on its website and
automatically sends e-mails to customers
that want to monitor them, he reports,
adding that it customizes invoices for
each customer and makes sure they are
done right the first time.
Rio emphasizes that environmental
protection is the company's highest priority. "All our wells have high-quality casing and cementing to ensure proper well
integrity," he says. "At the surface, the

waste never touches the ground; it stays in
tanks and processing units that sit on concrete lined with secondary and tertiary containment.
"We stay in touch with our neighbors
and make sure they understand the steps
we take to ensure oil field waste does not
impact the environment they live in and
rely on," he adds. "By showing how committed we are to environmental protection,
we build trust with the members of our
community. They are glad we are there because we allow operators on their land to
drill without using reserve pits or land
farming waste."
❒

Coming In August
Part II of the summer series looks
at how CONSOL Energy is redefining Marcellus horizontal drilling efficiency and achieving record footage
rates of up to one mile a day in a
unique location: the Pittsburgh International Airport!

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American Oil and Gas Reporter - July 2016

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