Texas’ oil and gas regulator has asked Republican leaders in the state Legislature for a boost of more than $100 million, putting fresh attention on problems linked to underground injections of oil and gas wastewater.
Danny Sorrells, executive director of the state Railroad Commission, said the agency’s current funding is “insufficient to protect groundwater and the environment.” In a letter addressed to Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) and state House Speaker Dade Phelan (R), Sorrells cited a growing number of “emergency wells” and a need to study the effects of subsurface injections.
“The Commission takes immediate action to control and plug actively leaking emergency wells without regard to the impact of the well plugging budget,” Sorrells wrote. “The number and cost of emergency wells has significantly increased over the last five years making this practice unsustainable.”
The letter comes as groundwater officials in West Texas and critics of the commission have raised concerns about the Railroad Commission’s oversight of Class II injection wells, which oil and gas companies use to inject wastewater created through fracking and other oil and gas activities deep underground.
