Milestone Environmental Services

Environmental accomplishments: 

Milestone Environmental Services helps energy companies mitigate environmental risk and reduce their carbon impact. The company’s slurry injection process helps customers reduce their carbon footprint by permanently sequestering waste from upstream operations, thousands of feet below the earth’s surface, effectively reducing their Scope 1 emissions.

Where waste is left on location to biodegrade in an open reserve pit or land farm, fugitive emissions will occur over time through interaction with the atmosphere. And as landowners are increasingly aware, even closed reserve pits pose the longer-term risks of soil contamination and groundwater pollution. Conversely, Milestone’s process protects the air, land and water. Milestone permanently sequesters hydrocarbons deep beneath the earth’s surface, preventing them from volatilizing or otherwise degrading into future emissions, and eliminating the potential for soil and groundwater contamination.

As a result of the company’s process, and with the largest operational slurry injection capacity in the U.S., Milestone sequesters far more carbon than it generates through its operations. In fact, Milestone has a materially negative carbon footprint. 

In 2020 the company sequestered 279,000 MT CO2e, the equivalent of removing 61,000 vehicles from the road. The same operation prevented 232,000 MT CO2e of customers’ Scope 1 emissions that otherwise would have occurred through land application. Milestone achieved a profoundly negative net greenhouse-gas emissions profile of 226,212 MT CO2e, including direct, indirect and value chain emissions, in 2020. Additionally, slurry injection sites use about 1% of the land surface area of a typical E&P landfill. As a result, Milestone’s footprint has saved more than 11,000 acres from development since its inception.

Societal efforts: 

Milestone maintains a remarkable safety record. Through its proactive safety program, the company achieved zero OSHA recordables in 2020. The company’s safety training, procedures and routine site inspections have helped establish a safe culture. A strong emphasis is placed on eliminating or mitigating risks and establishing key performance indicators to measure and refine the company’s programs.

Milestone believes that the future of energy will continue to include more sustainably derived fossil fuels as a major part of the mix for generations to come. The company engages with its customers and communities on environmental practices, which not only advance the carbon agenda but make economic sense. 

Milestone also supports a variety of civic causes through volunteering, fundraising and direct donations. Organizations Milestone supports include Oilfield Helping Hands, Boot Campaign, Houston Food Bank, West Texas Food Bank, Museum of the Southwest, and Family Promise of Midland. The company also attends and sponsors a variety of other events year-round, benefitting children’s charities, law enforcement and emergency services.

A fundamental tenet of the company’s success is the principle that all employees are always treated with dignity and respect. Milestone believes the collective sum of its employees’ different life experiences, knowledge, self-expression, capabilities and talent contribute to the company culture and to its reputation and achievements.

Governance achievements:

Milestone’s entire business is focused on sustainability. The company innovates, engineers and builds advanced waste management solutions that help oil and gas producers reduce their environmental impact and their risks. Milestone’s 2020 sustainability report, “Clean Up Energy,” is an inaugural report that outlines how the company is working every day to sequester carbon, protect soil and groundwater from unsafe practices, and support the communities that we serve.

Milestone considers corporate governance to be more than a set of written principles and practices. The management team works in collaboration with the board of directors to develop the overall business strategy and integrate relevant ESG factors into its business processes. Milestone reports on significant ESG issues and provides details of ongoing ESG developments during each quarterly board meeting.