In arid West Texas, water seeps and bubbles from previous wells, generally carrying oil, brackish water or different pollution to the floor. However the true hazard lies underground — the place oil, salt, and poisonous minerals might migrate into the aquifers that provide water to cities, farms and ranches.
These leaky wells are known as P-13 wells, named for a Railroad Fee type. They’re the results of oil exploration that started almost a century in the past.
Wildcatters looking for oil have punched hundreds of holes into the Texas soil searching for black gold over the previous 150 years. When wells proved unproductive or dry, corporations typically transferred possession to landowners who repurposed them as water wells.
In the present day, the state has recorded 1,915 P-13 wells, however many extra probably exist, undocumented and deteriorating.
Over time, a few of these wells have became environmental disasters. In Pecos County, the 60-acre Lake Boehmer fashioned when an deserted nicely started releasing massive quantities of salty brine water to the floor greater than twenty years in the past — and it’s nonetheless leaking. Stories have discovered that the lake emits hydrogen sulfide, a poisonous fuel that may be deadly at excessive concentrations, and is stuffed with heavy metals like arsenic.
In 2023, Texas lawmakers tried to handle the rising drawback by passing Home Invoice 4256, which created the Leaking Water Wells Grant Program beneath the Texas Fee on Environmental High quality and dedicated $10 million to assist plug leaking water wells in eligible rural counties.
Two years later, none of that cash has been distributed. The TCEQ’s rulemaking course of nonetheless isn’t completed; grants are anticipated to be obtainable by this summer season. Public feedback on this system are open till midnight Feb. 4.
Critics argue that $10 million is a drop within the bucket in comparison with the scale of the issue. Plugging a single nicely can price lots of of hundreds of {dollars}, and in excessive circumstances like Lake Boehmer, the fee may very well be within the thousands and thousands.
Hawk Dunlap, a nicely management specialist for a personal firm who has plugged wells for many years, says sealing P-13 wells is much extra advanced than merely filling them with concrete.
“There’s not going to be a straightforward repair,” he mentioned. “Every nicely goes to be very particular in the way it’s addressed and in my skilled opinion it’s gonna be nearly like flying blind.”
The price of correctly plugging a nicely varies broadly. The TCEQ mentioned the fee is influenced by many components, such because the nicely depth and the native hydrogeology.
“We have no idea how a lot it would price to plug every nicely, so we can not decide what number of wells may very well be plugged beneath this program,” mentioned Ricky Richter, a spokesperson for TCEQ.
Texas has hundreds of orphan oil and fuel wells that want plugging. The Texas Railroad Fee, which regulates oil and fuel wells within the state, defines these as wells which have been inactive for at least 12 months and haven’t any proprietor.
The company makes use of federal funds to plug them, however it doesn’t embrace P-13 wells on its record as a result of they’re not categorized as oil wells.
That stance has led to lawsuits, legislative debates, and frustration amongst native officers and environmental teams.
For instance, the Center Pecos Groundwater Conservation District has repeatedly requested the RRC over time to incorporate 40 wells — a few of that are categorized as P-13 wells — to its record of orphan wells eligible for plugging with federal cash, however the fee denied the request.
“I imply, no person cares about West Texas. It’s simply heartbreaking,” mentioned Ty Edwards, the district’s supervisor. “[Landowners] can not use any [federal] funds to plug the nicely except it’s on that [Railroad Commission] record. Additionally they can’t apply for federal funds except it’s on the record.”
Virginia Palacios, govt director of the watchdog group Fee Shift, says the company is sidestepping its duty to plug the Lake Boehmer nicely and different P-13s.
“It’s loopy, as a result of these are a number of the most intense contamination conditions that we have now within the state proper now, they usually’re simply selecting to not make it their drawback,” she mentioned.
R.J. DeSilva, a spokesperson for the Railroad Fee, mentioned the Boehmer nicely has been out of their jurisdiction since 1951 and isn’t the company’s duty, in contrast to oil and fuel wells they’ve plugged within the area. He added that state regulation clearly states that the company doesn’t have authority over water wells like those that induced Lake Boehmer.
The groundwater conservation district has filed a criticism in opposition to the Railroad Fee, claiming that wells drilled for oil and fuel needs to be plugged by the fee, even when they had been later transformed to water wells. In the meantime, it’s turning to the TCEQ program to get the wells plugged, however Edwards worries that the cash shall be exhausted shortly and solely cowl a small variety of wells.
The TCEQ should use nicely plugging contractors on the Railroad Fee’s authorised record and seek the advice of with the fee to provide you with a plan to verify every nicely is completely plugged.
Palacios, with Fee Shift, says Texas wants a long-term technique.
“We don’t have an ongoing plan for learn how to take care of P-13 wells. We don’t have an ongoing plan for learn how to take care of orphaned wells within the state,” she mentioned. “I imply, persevering with to do the identical factor we’ve all the time achieved goes to result in water contamination.”
And plugging a leaking nicely is just the start, mentioned Adam Peltz, director and senior lawyer for the Environmental Protection Fund’s Power Program.
“It’s not simply the plugging. It’s the remediation of a land that’s been contaminated. That’s so vital and so costly. It’s not achieved if you happen to plug it,” he mentioned. “And delaying it would make it costlier. It’s by no means gonna be cheaper to unravel this drawback than proper now.”
Disclosure: Environmental Protection Fund has been a monetary supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan information group that’s funded partly by donations from members, foundations and company sponsors. Monetary supporters play no position within the Tribune’s journalism. Discover a full record of them right here.
This text initially appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2025/02/04/texas-leaking-abandoned-oil-water-wells-tceq-railroad-commission/.
The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and fascinating Texans on state politics and coverage. Be taught extra at texastribune.org.
Picture: Hawk Dunlap stands on the website of Lake Boehmer, a brine lake that has leaked out of an previous nicely in Pecos County. The Texas Fee on Environmental High quality acquired $10 million from lawmakers in 2023 to plug such wells however has but to spend any of the cash because it completes the rule making course of. Credit score: Pu Ying Huang/The Texas Tribune
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