A small 2.8 earthquake struck near Timpson, Texas, very early this morning, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It’s the second earthquake in less than a week in the area. On January 25, a 4.1 quake struck some two miles Northwest of town, around the same time of the morning. That quake reportedly caused one chimney to topple over. A smaller earthquake like the one this morning is unlikely to cause damage.
You can see where both quakes occurred in the interactive map above.
Scientists are linking a growing number of quakes in Texas to wells used to dispose of wastewater from oil and gas drilling, including earthquakes in East Texas and around Dallas-Fort Worth. There was even a 4.8 quake in Timpson last May that caused some damage and one reported injury.
âAt the moment, we are actually linking them [earthquakes] to injection wells that are located close to where the earthquakes are in the Timpson area,â Dr. Wesley Brown, an Associate Professor in the Department of Geology at Stephen F. Austin University told the regional newspaper Light and Champion in December. âWe have one a little bit to the north, and [the wells] are north and south of each other,â said Dr. Brown. âThe volume, especially for the one in the south, is up over 200,000 barrels of water per month.â
State Rep. Lyle Larson (R-San Antonio) says drought restriction enforcement should be uniform throughout the state.
Two billion dollars is a lot of money. Itâs also how much some state lawmakers want to spend to protect Texas from future water shortages.
A lot has been made of that price tag. But when three state lawmakers sat down with StateImpact Texas at a forum in Austin last night, they also talked rulemaking.
State Rep. Lyle Larson, a Republican from San Antonio, said one thing the lege should tackle this session is how drought restrictions are enforced across the state. Â He pointed out that in 2011, when almost all of Texas was in drought, some counties mandated conservation, while others just sort of let it slide.
âAnd so weâve gotta fix that so everybody plays nice,” Larson said. “One county, theyâre not watering their yards. Theyâve got their car washes turned off, and 100 yards away theyâve got a community thatâs got their car washes going.â Continue Reading →
Texas Railroad Commission Chairman Barry Smitherman as seen on his Facebook page
Barry Smitherman, the chairman of the Texas Railroad Commission which regulates oil and gas drilling, said there has been “much interest” by the commission’s staff since he made his proposal earlier this month to offer training for concealed handgun licenses.
But a union organizer said state employees of other agencies have shown little enthusiasm in arming themselves.
The Right to Protect Yourself
In announcing his initiative, Smitherman cited “recent shooting tragedies around the country”. In response to questions from StateImpact, he elaborated in an email: “At the Railroad Commission, many of our employees—such as our field inspectors—often work alone in remote, desolate areas of the state that can pose dangers. It is my position that Commission employees have the right to protect themselves.” Continue Reading →
Update, Jan. 29: On January 29, very early in the morning, another quake struck Timpson, measuring 2.8, according to the USGS.
Original story, Jan. 25:Â A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck about two miles Northwest of Timpson,Texas at around 1:00 AM this morning, shaking doors open, knocking pictures off walls, and causing at least one chimney to reportedly collapse in the small East Texas community. You can see where the quake struck in the interactive map above. It occurred three miles below the surface.
“It was like a rumbling, shaking, knocking-you-out-of-the-bed type feeling. It was very, very intense,” Timpson Municipal Court Clerk Paula Mullins told StateImpact Texas by phone. Mullins said she had heard of a neighbor’s chimney falling over, but no reports of injuries.
Quakes have become a semi-regular feature of life in the area lately. The strongest recent quake registered a 4.8 in May.
Researchers say previous quakes in the area have been caused by the use of disposal wells to store waste form oil and gas drilling. Timpson sits in the drilling area of the Haynesville Shale, one of several areas in Texas experiencing a drilling boom.
âAt the moment, we are actually linking them [earthquakes] to injection wells that are located close to where the earthquakes are in the Timpson area,” Dr. Wesley Brown, an Associate Professor in the Department of Geology at Stephen F. Austin University told the regional newspaper Light and Champion in December. “We have one a little bit to the north, and [the wells] are north and south of each other,â said Dr. Brown. âThe volume, especially for the one in the south, is up over 200,000 barrels of water per month.â
The Railroad Commission of Texas regulates one of the most advanced industries in the world â oil and gas drilling. Yet the commissionâs software systems, many of its rules and even its name are from another era.
As the 122-year-old agency confronts a drilling boom that is altering the state and national economies, an overhaul of its operations is under way. Its old mainframe computer system will be upgraded with modern digital storage, clearing the way for a more user-friendly website. Decades-old regulations are getting updated to reflect the rapid spread of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. And the Legislature may change the commissionâs name to accurately reflect what it does. (The commissionâs railroad duties ended in 2005.)
The push does not go far enough for critics, who charge that the commission is too cozy with the industry it regulates and fails to adequately address environmental problems. Nonetheless, observers say there is a burst of energy, unseen in years, at the sometimes-languid commission.
The changes are âvery important. Theyâre long overdue,â said John Hays, a partner at the Austin law firm Hays & Owens, whose clients include oil and gas companies. Continue Reading →
At a Texas Tribune event this morning in Austin, Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst talked with Tribune Editor-in-Chief Evan Smith about a whole host of issues facing the state, such as public education. And of course, they also talked about water.
On Wednesday, State Senator Troy Fraser (R-Horseshoe Bay) announced his support of a plan to take $2 billion from the state’s Rainy Day Fund to start funding water projects. That’s a whole billion more than Dewhurst had proposed in November. Asked today which number he believes is right, Dewhurst said they’re looking into it, but what matters most is that new water projects get the funding they need. “There’s no other option,” Dewhurst said. “We’re going to provide the funds necessary.” Dewhurst also advocated for prioritizing which projects get funding first.
But, Smith asked, does Dewhurst have the votes to get the conservative Senate to withdraw money from the Rainy Day Fund? You can hear Dewhurst’s answer in the video above. And be sure to join StateImpact Texas in Austin Monday for a special panel, âThe Texas Water Crisis: Finding and Funding a Solution.â Youâll have the opportunity to hear from lawmakers firsthand and ask your own questions. Weâll have State Rep. Lyle Larson and others on hand to discuss the issues. We’ll be at the Cactus Cafe at UT Austin Monday, January 28th. Doors open at 5:30 pm and the event begins at 6 pm. You can RSVP on Facebook here.
Funding, like water, can be diverted or even dry up.
The Texas State Water Plan has been described as a $53 billion dollar wish list. Itâs full of local projects, proposed by regional water districts. They are meant to be enough to secure water for Texas for 50 years. But those projects remain largely unprioritized and unfunded.
Now state legislators say they are serious about funding the plan, but what projects may receive money remains a mystery.
On Wednesday two lawmakers, Senator Troy Fraser (R-Horshoe Bay) and Rep. Allan Ritter (R-Nederland) provided some hints at a Public Forum Hosted by the Texas Association of Realtors, the Austin Board of Realtors and the group H204TX.
First off, funding.
Both Ritter and Fraser want to pull $2 Billion dollars from the stateâs rainy day fund. The state would give that money out as loans so that regional entities can jumpstart their water projects. Without money from the fund, Senator Fraser says the whole thing would probably fall apart. Continue Reading →
“Chase Power … has opted to suspend efforts to further permit the facility and is seeking alternative investors as part of a plan of dissolution for the parent company,” Chase Power, LLC CEO Dave Freysinger says in an emailed statement. He says that “while market conditions played a role, the direct regulatory obstacles purposefully erected by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) resulted in the decision to suspend development of the plant.” Freysinger tells StateImpact Texas that the power plant was a “major part” of its portfolio.
Las Brisas was one of just a few coal plants still being planned for Texas. Now there is only one major coal plant still being considered, the White Stallion coal project in Matagorda County, and it, too, faces an uncertain future amid opposition and a market more favorable to natural gas power. Continue Reading →
Join us in Austin Monday, January 28 to hear how Texas legislators are proposing to tackle the state's water issues.
Please join us in Austin tonight, Monday, January 28th, for a panel examining water issues in the state and some of the solutions that the legislature is considering. The panel will feature members of the legislature, including State Senator Glenn Hegar and State Representatives Drew Darby and Lyle Larson. It will be free and open to the public.
The panel will run for one hour and include an audience Q&A.
We’ll be meeting at the Cactus Cafe on the University of Texas at Austin campus. You can RSVP on Facebook, or just show up tonight. Doors open at 5:30 p.m.
A new bill proposed by a Democratic State Senator would prevent HOAs from going after residents who want to use less water for landscaping.
While some Texans have employed water-efficient landscaping as a way of dealing with the ongoing drought, a large group is often left out: those who live in homes belonging to Home Owners Associations, or HOAs. HOAs can have strict restrictions on what kind of grass a homeowner can plant for a lawn (sometimes, the thirsty St. Augustine variety is mandated) and how green it has to be kept, water restrictions be damned. That has resulted in conflict between some homeowners, who wish to switch to drought-resistant grasses, or simply let their lawns die during drought-stricken summers, and HOAs, which have threatened to fine them for doing so.
Entering the fray this week is State Senator Kirk Watson (D-Austin), with a bill that would help homeowners living in HOAs switch to more water-friendly landscaping.
Senate Bill 198 would protect homeowners in HOAs who want to use less water by: using yard trimmings and glass clippings on their lawn for composting; putting in rain barrels or rainwater harvesting systems; installing more efficient irrigation; and/or using “drought-resistant landscaping or
water-conserving turf.” Continue Reading →
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