{"id":36908,"date":"2014-05-27T06:30:52","date_gmt":"2014-05-27T11:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/?p=36908"},"modified":"2014-05-30T11:45:21","modified_gmt":"2014-05-30T16:45:21","slug":"silencing-those-who-would-scrutinize-disposal-of-drilling-wastewater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2014\/05\/27\/silencing-those-who-would-scrutinize-disposal-of-drilling-wastewater\/","title":{"rendered":"Silencing Those Who Would Scrutinize Disposal of Drilling Wastewater"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Disposal

Dave Fehling \/ StateImpact Texas<\/p>

Disposal wells like this in South Texas are in high demand with the boom in oil & gas drilling<\/p><\/div>\n

Hugh Fitzimons is a rancher from Dimmit County who also serves on the Wintergarden Groundwater Conservation District<\/a>. Last week, he stood before the three members of the Railroad Commission of Texas<\/a> and gave a stark warning as to why he was concerned about the proliferation of disposal wells.<\/p>\n

With oil and gas drilling booming, so are the number of wells used for wastewater, growing by about a thousand a year since 2009. There are now over 35,000 disposal and injection wells<\/a> in Texas according to the Railroad Commission.<\/p>\n

The wells are used to get rid of the millions of gallons of chemically-tainted wastewater and produced water from oil & gas drilling. The waste is pumped deep underground, far below the aquifers holding water used by cities and ranches.<\/p>\n