Editor's note: This article was co-authored by Research Director Courtney Bernhardt and Research Analyst Preet Bains.

In the heart of the Permian Basin in western Texas, over a century of oil and gas production has left scars on the land. Thousands of abandoned wells litter the landscape. Spills of salty wastewater from drilling have made soil unfit for plants. Underground injection wells to dispose of that waste have caused sinkholes and geysers.

On December 7, 2023, for example, brine burst from an old oil well in Crane County with enough force to create a 100-foot geyser, releasing as much as 13,000 gallons of wastewater per hour. By the time the flow was stopped 45 days later, the saltwater had killed 30 acres of vegetation.

Incidents like these have become more frequent in Texas’s Permian Basin, where yet another saltwater geyser erupted from a Reeves County oilfield earlier this month, raising concerns among landowners and environmental groups.  

The question from critics is whether the state agency that oversees underground injection of oil field wastes, the Texas Railroad Commission, is fit for the job – and competent enough to handle a proposed major expansion of its authority into a new area of growth.  

The Railroad Commission is facing increased scrutiny from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as the federal agency reviews the state’s application for primary enforcement authority over carbon dioxide sequestration wells, which are receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies as a strategy to combat climate change. That permitting and enforcement responsibility is held today by the EPA, but Texas has applied for this authority, called “primacy.”

In evaluating the Texas application, EPA is looking closely at the commission’s track record when it comes to managing oil and gas wells, like the examples mentioned earlier.  Texas has had primary enforcement and permitting authority since 1982, including both waste disposal wells and those for the injection of water or CO₂ to force out more oil and gas.  Today, Texas has more than 90,000 of these wells. That’s more than any other state.

In March 2024, Commission Shift, a watchdog group, and Clean Water Action, a national nonprofit, petitioned EPA to revoke Texas’ primary enforcement responsibility over its underground oil and gas-related injection well program, called the “Class II” well program. This is different than the carbon dioxide disposal well program, called the “Class VI” program. But critics contend that if the Texas commission has a poor track record of managing the first variety, it should not be trusted with the authority to manage the second.

“How do we know those systemic problems won't persist in the Class VI program when you have the same oversight authority?" said Paige Powell, senior policy manager with Commission Shift, who pointed out that the volumes of CO₂ injection with Class VI wells are even larger than with Class II. "We need to make sure that before the Texas Railroad Commission gets any more authority on higher pressure, higher consequence wells, that they need to know what they're doing."

The petition raises concerns about the harms caused by poorly managed wells, such as earthquakes, sinkholes, well blowouts, and groundwater contamination. It details accidents like wells spilling crude oil and sinkholes swallowing up farm equipment.  

Among the more dramatic examples in the petition: In southwestern Texas, in Pecos County, an abandoned well has been spewing brine for two decades, forming a lake spanning 60 acres and growing with water three times saltier than seawater. The well continues to spit out hundreds of gallons of brine per hour, along with toxic contaminants benzene and xylene, plus gases like hydrogen sulfide, methane, and carbon dioxide.  

Across Texas, an estimated 476,790 oil and gas wells need to be plugged, and over 8,000 of these have delinquent owners and have been inactive for over a year.

The petition asserts that the Railroad Commission has failed to enforce proper well closure procedures and protect groundwater. The petitioners also ask EPA to evaluate the lack of financial assurance collected from drilling companies, which contributes to the growing inventory of orphaned wells in the state and burdens taxpayers with the costs of plugging those wells.  

In response to the petition, EPA agreed to review Texas’ oil and gas-related (Class II) underground injection control program.

The Environmental Integrity Project submitted additional information to EPA in support of the petition earlier this month.  

EIP analyzed the Texas Railroad Commission’s underground injection control database and found that significant noncompliance violations at oil and gas-related injection wells in Texas surged starting in 2011. This was around when hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling took off in the U.S., though there could be other explanations for the sudden increase. The highest number of significant noncompliance violations were logged in 2023, the most recent full year of data available. The commission’s database of violations goes back to 1980.

EIP’s analysis also found that a higher percentage of carbon dioxide-injecting Class II wells have failed one or more mechanical integrity tests relative to other Class II wells. Carbon dioxide can dissolve in water to form carbonic acid, which can cause corrosion issues in wells. However, there could be other explanations for the higher failure rate. EIP asked EPA to examine the underlying causes of the sudden increase in violations and higher prevalence of mechanical integrity test failures in CO₂-injecting Class II wells as part of its review of Texas’ Class II program and its application for authority over Class VI carbon dioxide disposal wells.

The analysis received an almost immediate written response from EPA's Region 6, which covers Texas. The regional administrator, Dr. Earthea Nance, acknowledged receipt of the letter and stated EPA would review the findings and provide a response. EPA’s review is ongoing.

EPA remains in charge of reviewing and issuing permits for carbon dioxide sequestration wells in Texas while it reviews Texas’ application for primacy.  

At least 37 carbon capture and sequestration projects have been proposed in the state. Sixteen projects are currently seeking EPA approval to drill and operate 43 injection wells. Many companies redact their applications, keeping almost all the information about the project confidential until EPA makes a permit available for public comment. However, six projects with known injection capacities would be able to inject 12 million metric tons of CO₂ per year.  

EPA proposed its first three permits for carbon sequestration wells in Texas on September 3. Three draft well permits associated with Oxy’s STRATOS direct air capture facility in Ector County are currently open for public comment, with comments due on November 6. If the well permits are issued, Oxy would be allowed to inject up to 773,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year underground.

Ector county has at least 4,600 inactive oil and gas wells, the most of any county in Texas, including at least 20 abandoned or “orphan” wells, according to Commission Shift. Any well that penetrates the area of carbon injection increases the risk of carbon dioxide leaks.  

There is also a risk that increased injection underground in this part of West Texas will lead to earthquakes, sinkholes, and other hazards. That would mean more of the kinds of problems that have been plaguing residents of the Permian Basin for years, because of Texas’ lax management of the oil and gas industry.

Lead photo: Produced water, a byproduct of oil and gas production, gushes out of the ground in a geyser on Oct. 2, 2024, in Toyah, Texas. (Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle via AP)