OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) An Oklahoma City neighborhood is full of people fatigued and frustrated after they’ve been constantly hearing a loud noise every day and night for the past month.

Kristen and James Perry moved into Southfork at Surrey Hills eight years ago and it was a quiet, peaceful neighborhood until things changed about a month ago.

“We’re not sure what it is, but there’s a generator that runs that runs 24/7,” said Perry. “It’s nonstop, all day long and all night long. Their kids aren’t sleeping. They’re not sleeping. Couples are getting angry and it’s just it’s just unnerving.”

The Perrys live approximately 100 yard away from the neighborhood swimming pool and two gas wells.

“There isn’t a room in my house that I can’t hear this noise. It wakes me up in the middle of the night, and we’re very concerned about it because it’s just irritable.”

The generator causing an uproar in the entire neighborhood.

“The stress level in the community has become almost unmanageable at times,” said Perry.

Another resident, Katherine Kent, lives even closer to the noise.

“There is no escaping it. You can’t turn everything off in your house. There’s no peace and quiet. The walls are vibrating,” said Kent.

We went to talk with the company that owns the wells and they told us they are selling gas to a local Bitcoin mining company, but are aware of the loud noise interrupting the neighborhood.

As discussed, United Production Company does own the well in question, the Standard Life 1-28.  The previous gas purchaser removed their sales meter, due to damage incurred to their gas gathering line that services this well. Unfortunately, a contractor ruptured the takeaway line during construction, which was the only option to sell our gas.  Although we have tried, persistently, to have the sales meter reinstalled by the gas company and the take-away line repaired, our efforts have been unsuccessful.   

As the operator, we are required to produce a well within a reasonable time of it coming offline, or plug the well, according to the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC). The OCC was nice enough to grant us a handful of extensions to turn the well back online while we came up with a reasonable solution. The only reasonable solution at this point for us was to produce and sell our gas to power a local bitcoin mining company. While the tract that our well sits on is not part, nor subject to the HOA, United is making considerable efforts (at our own cost) to mitigate the noise levels of the generators required to power the bitcoin mining equipment.   So far, we have placed walls around the generators inside the tank facility and are currently adding wood picket fencing to the existing fence around the outside of the tank facility, to further reduce the noise.  Although we are not part of the neighborhood, we have been in contact with the HOA president throughout this process and will continue to communicate in good faith.

United Production Company

Residents said they just want their neighborhood back to how they remember it.

“It needs to be moved somewhere, you know, off the off the main path, where we can have some peace and quiet and enjoy the things that we work hard to pay for here,” said Kent.

affiliate KFOR reached out to the City of OKC to ask if the noise violated any ordinances. We are waiting to hear back.