THEN & NOW

Current Status and How We Got Here...

After the contested case hearings conducted by State Office of Administration Hearings (SOAH) in 2006 and the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality (TCEQ) permit review hearing held in November 2008, the TCEQ commissioners determined that portions of the technical data and assumptions presented by the opposing parties was contradictory. Before making a final decision on the permit requests, the TCEQ commissioners required TexCom to conduct additional tests in order to clarify the subsurface conditions at the proposed site and to determine the integrity of the existing well. While results of the tests completed in September 2009 confirmed the mechanical integrity of the existing well, it also revealed that the area that could be impacted by the injection activity (the cone of influence) is more than three times broader than was originally contended by TexCom in the earlier hearings. Since the injection well site is located in the old Conroe oil field which is proliferated with hundreds of abandoned oil wells, the expanded cone of influence could now include over 700 of those abandoned wells, many of which neither the exact location nor the manner of closure of the wells is documented. In addition, seismic data presented in the June 2010 SOAH hearings by Denbury Onshore, LLC, the current owner and operator of the Conroe oil field, indicates that there is excessive fracturing and faulting in the area. These subsurface conditions could provide potential pathways for vertical migration of injected fluids to invade the Gulf Coast aquifer which is the primary source of drinking water for Montgomery County, Houston, and potentially 54 counties in Texas.

While the potential risk of contamination of the aquifers and our drinking water supply is our primary concern, there are also other public interest concerns that bear consideration in the review and approval of these permits. Air pollution emanating from the surface facility that will store and process the waste prior to injection is also a major concern. At this time there are no state regulations which address minimum standards or requirements for the construction or operation of surface facilities that receive, process and store Class I materials prior to injection into the well. In the event of a product spill at the surface facility either during transfer of the waste material from a truck to storage tanks or other incident, there is a definite risk of the waste material leaching into the soil and ultimately migrating to abandoned wells in the “cone of influence” area. The potential also exists for this site to become the next Winona, TX disaster http://www.texasobserver.org/article.php?aid=2206, where hundreds of people are currently suffering or have died from cancer caused by a chemical incompatibility explosion at a injection well site affecting people over 10 miles away. Traffic and public safety issues will also be negatively impacted by the operation of this type of facility at this location. It is estimated that there will be at least 150 to 300 trucks per day carrying these “non hazardous” materials which potentially could come from other states on our freeways, roadways and through our neighborhoods close to schools, homes, churches, ball fields, and other recreational facilities where our families live, work and play. The trucks will be crossing the paths of over 20 Montgomery County school bus routes that carry our children to and from school. Montgomery County is currently one of the fastest growing counties in the country. Even if the actual injection well is considered to be “mechanically sound”, the detrimental impact that this operation will have on property values, the slowdown of the economy and resulting decrease in tax base in Montgomery County is significant. Therefore, it is up to each one of us to take responsibility and get involved …….WE URGE YOU TO JOIN OUR GROUP AND TAKE ACTION…

HERE’S WHAT YOU CAN DO………

1. Click on the "Donate" button and make a contribution to help defray legal expenses incurred in the fight to protect the water supply, air quality, public safety, real estate values and economic well being of Montgomery County.

2. Plan to attend the TCEQ public hearing (estimated to be scheduled towards the end of 2010) at which the three TCEQ commissioners will vote to either approve or deny the permits. This hearing is the final round in the permit approval process. We hope to once again fill several buses to attend this meeting just like we did in Nov 2008.

3. CHECK THIS WEBSITE OFTEN FOR UPDATES ON OUR PROGRESS.


Thank you for your support.