PROGRESSIVE VIEWS
Texas has a growing number of orphan wells that have not been properly abandoned and are sometimes leaking, causing contamination of ground water and the land around the well.
Orphan wells are non-producing wells where the owner cannot be found. Oil and gas companies pay permit fees meant to cover Texas Railroad Commission (RRC) administrative costs and some funds for orphan wells, but those funds are inadequate.
In 2023, Texas plugged 1,754 wells using state money and 730 wells using federal money. This is outrageous — industry should pay the entire cost, not Texas taxpayers.
Virginia Palacios, director of Commission Shift, an RRC watchdogs, said, “We have a robust oil and gas industry, the biggest in the country. There’s no reason why a profitable industry shouldn’t be able t o pay for its own cleanup.”
The RRC is charged with protecting the environment and natural resources of the state. It regulates oil and gas operations and pipelines in the state.
Plugging orphan wells and cleaning up the surrounding area and mitigating environmental damage is an important part of that charge.
Oil and gas wells that stop producing are required to be plugged using procedures specified by RRC regulations. They are usually plugged by responsible operators. When they are not plugged, the RRC must step up and hire a contractor to complete the job.
The RRC is doing a good job coordinating the activity but lacks the funding to be aggressive enough to start reducing the number of problem wells.
As of August 2024, 8,347 orphaned wells need to be plugged, an increase of 460 wells over the previous year. The number of wells needing plugging has continually increased over the past 15 years.
The Texas Legislature funds to the RRC. Established by the Legislature in 1984, the Oil Field Cleanup Program has successfully plugged 46,000 wells. The RRC spent $78 million in 2024 to plug wells and cleanup well sites and is asking the 89thTexas Legislature for $100 million to accelerate the work.
Sometimes even plugged wells can leak. Martha Pskowski recently wrote an article for Inside Climate News about a leaking well plaguing an Upton County rancher. A sinkhole around an old well on the Kelton Ranch near McCamey continues to grow.
Recently, oil has shown up on top of water in the sinkhole. The former well operator cannot be found and ultimately the RRC should act. Routine well plugging typically costs $20,000 to $40,000 but re-plugging a well like this could cost a million dollars or more.
A leaking orphan well was recently discovered in Pecos County and others will be discovered, so getting these old wells plugged quickly is essential.
Having wells not plugged or improperly plugged is a common problem in the oil fields. Often a credible operator will sell their old wells to someone who operates at lower cost, sometimes by cutting corners.
This can happen more than once and the final operator may skip out on their plugging and cleanup duties. The RRC will try to find a responsible party; but given the growing number of orphan wells they are not always successful.
In addition to the orphan wells the RRC knows about, they sometimes encounter very old unidentified wells that need to be properly plugged. These wells were often drilled over 100 years ago before proper regulation. In 2024, the RRC plugged 86 old unidentified wells.
There are approximately 435,000 oil and gas wells in Texas. The United States is now producing a record 13.6 million barrels of oil per day with Texas leading the way with 42% of that total.
Our refineries remain fully supplied and there is no shortage of petroleum, yet we are still seeing higher than necessary gasoline prices. Saudi Arabia and Russia are intentionally keeping the price of oil high, and our refining and marketing companies continue to make obscene profits at our expense as a result.
To find out more about how to get involved with the Kendall County Democratic Party, visit www.kcdems.us.
Kevin Henning is a local Democrat
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