A legislative effort is underway in West Texas, where State Rep. Brooks Landgraf, an Odessa Republican, has introduced a series of bills aimed at mitigating environmental harm from abandoned oil and gas wells. According to a report by theTexas Tribune, the proposed measures would divert tax dollars currently filling the state’s “rainy day fund” to sealing wells that can, and sometimes do, spew toxic substances. With $21 billion currently in the savings account, the plan could significantly change Texas’ economic landscape.
The proposal, named Texas STRONG, calls for allocating 1% of all oil and gas taxes to fund the capping of these neglected wells and another 1% to enhance emission reduction initiatives. As reported by theKSAT, the Texas Railroad Commission, tasked with overseeing the oil and gas industry, cannot keep up with the expense of plugging these wells without additional resources. In the fiscal year between September 2023 and August 2024, tax revenue from oil and gas surpassed $8 billion, a testament to the industry’s fiscal prominence in the state.
The Texas Railroad Commission has admitted to an insurmountable challenge: the plugging of abandoned wells that pose dire threats to the environment and local economies. “These high-priority wells need to be taken care of before they themselves become emergency wells,” the commission’s executive director, Danny Sorrells, told theTexas Tribune. In a plea to state leaders, the commission sought an additional $100 million, asserting that its $226 million budget fails to cover the rising costs of addressing Texas oil fields’ leaking and erupting wells.
Supporters of the bills contend that the benefits stretch beyond environmental protection to address high living costs, strained infrastructure, and education shortfalls in oil-producing regions. “In practice, if enacted, Texas STRONG would address issues like teacher and nursing shortages, road repairs, and enhanced public safety, with additional resources for enforcing commercial vehicle laws,” Landgraf said in a statement obtained bythe Texas Tribune. The legislation, if passed, faces a final judgment by voters in the fall of 2025.
This initiative follows significant outlays for well mitigation efforts in recent years, leveraging funds from the $4.7 billion Congress dedicated to the cause in the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Sarah Stogner, an oil and gas attorney and district attorney-elect of the 143rd judicial district, highlighted that despite these expenditures, wells continue to rupture. At least eight bursts since October 2023 alone, one in Imperial taking over two months and $2.5 million to clean, as Stogner toldKSAT.
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