A geyser of salty water and oil spews out near a dry hole on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024, near Toyah, Texas.
Elizabeth Conley/Staff Photographer
From the article:
The commission plugs hundreds of wells each year, yet the state’s list of orphaned wells is growing instead of shrinking. The number of known orphans in Texas grew 9% to an estimated 8,600 last year, according to its budget request.
In fact, it appears Texas has more orphans today than it did in 2009, when the state’s diminishing 7,900-well list of orphans was “on track,” according to a 2011 review by the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission.
The commission should do more to hold operators accountable for their own plugging responsibilities, said Virginia Palacios, executive director of the watchdog organization Commission Shift.
“We have a robust oil and gas industry, the biggest in the country,” she said. “There’s no reason why such a profitable industry shouldn’t be able to pay for its own cleanup.”
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