S.B. 752 Gives More Local Control over Drilling Waste Disposal/Injection Wells

Newly elected Wendy Davis authored SB 752 “An act relating to the authority of a local government to prohibit the Railroad Commission of Texas or the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality from issuing a permit for a disposal well.”

This is a good bill but it comes too late to help Wise County. S.B. 752, if passed, will apply only to permits pending before the RRC. At 30 permitted disposal wells Wise County is number one in Texas for toxic drilling waste disposal.

Too bad Craig Estes didn’t file a bill that would actually help his constituents instead of SB 540 to notify groundwater conservation districts when a disposal well permit is issued. The bill is supposed to give groundwater conservation districts notice so they can monitor water around the disposal well for pollution.

Hello? Senator Estes? The Upper Trinity Groundwater Conservation District that in your district, does not have the authority or the budget to monitor water for pollution. It’s good that the bill give an additional 15 days to protest but that really won’t help Wise County much because we are completely full up on the disposal/injection wells and Montague, also in your district, is right behind Wise. Last year, Senator Estes was unaware that his district has such problems with injection wells.