Remember Panola County?
Texas Lawsuit Includes a Mix of Race and Water
Five Years Later, Panola County Citizens Finally Get Clean Water
They’re getting another injection well and 80% of the drilling waste to go in this well will come from Louisiana.
I fresh out of outrage so I’ll let Reverend Hudson’s letter serve.
Letter to the editor:
The public needs to know about a dire environmental situation affecting our public drinking water and private drinking water wells here at the Texas-Louisiana border. Our concern is over a saltwater injection well located 745 feet from Panola-Bethany water supply corporation public drinking water and next door to some of our senior citizens suffering from health issues. EXCO production has submitted an application to the Texas Railroad Commission to convert a private salt-water disposal site into a commercial salt-water operation on U.S Highway 79 North of private road 7336 and we are opposed to granting this permit.
We’ve requested an investigation by the Texas Railroad Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency of saltwater hauler C&S Services, which was hauling for Winchester oil and gas. To date, no investigation has been completed. This company turned a truck over and a poor clean-up was done. Eight of C&S trucks were burned at the salt water disposal site now operated by EXCO production, in a residential neighborhood, and no inspection of toxic waste was done by the Railroad Commission or EPA. This operation is a major pollution disaster in the making.
This isn’t the first issue in the area. The federal Office of Inspector General, EPA, Railroad Commission and commissioners have failed to act on our complaints seeking remediation of pollution and contamination from a closed site on County Road 329 that contaminated private drinking water wells in our community. The contamination remains in the soil, water wells, ponds and springs. The EPA, Inspector General and Railroad Commission have not enforced the laws with respect to clean-up caused by now-closed Basic Energy saltwater disposal operations. And now the same agency the Texas Railroad Commission is poised to rubber-stamp an application for a commercial saltwater operation submitted by EXCO production.
We believe our elected and appointed officials should take immediate action. They should exercise their authority and close this latest saltwater well in the interest of the public. We had a hearing on Dec. 8, 2009, by EXCO production to convert this facility into a commercial site. We are adamantly opposed to this application. No results from this hearing. At the hearing EXCO Production testified that Panola County has more commercial waste disposal sites than any County in Texas and 80% of waste water is trucked in from Louisiana. It is not what’s coming out of the ground that is contaminating our drinking water it is what’s put into the ground.
David Hudson
Pastor Church of the Living God
Family Area Ministry & Education
Director
About Sharon Wilson
Sharon Wilson is considered a leading citizen expert on the impacts of shale oil and gas extraction. She is the go-to person whether it’s top EPA officials from D.C., national and international news networks, or residents facing the shock of eminent domain and the devastating environmental effects of natural gas development in their backyards.
- Web |
- More Posts(5121)
What a shame. Rev. Hudson needs all the help he can get. We are on his side. This well, if permitted, will be a disaster in the making for the residents of Panola County. The state agencies and the EPA MUST do something about this very bad situation in Panola County. Why is it that all the agencies are just sitting on their hands?