I’ve been talking about the wells buried beneath Texas since at least the early 2000’s—and all through the attempt to bring oil and gas drilling into the Galisteo Basin. This is why.

Texas has records of some 1.2 million wells, including roughly 300,000 supposedly plugged wells. A new Texas Observer investigation identifies more than 25,000 plugged wells at critical risk of failure. Cement cracks. Toxic brine and gas find their way upward. Companies disappear. Texas, back when, had two inspectors for their entire state, as I recall - just as the fracking boom was starting.

During the Galisteo fight here in Santa Fe, the industry wanted to talk about what might come out of the ground. Selling fracking (without using the word) as ‘modern’ and ‘clean.’ I kept talking about what would be left behind—and who would inherit it after the profits were gone.

Texas is what “later” looks like. And it ain’t pretty.

Via silentLurker on Mastodon.