Shocked, Shocked: TX Fracking Geyser Blowing Toxic Wastewater 100' Into The Air

A 100’ geyser is erupting in Texas. The cause isn’t some deeply buried supervolcano. It doesn’t signal some arcane geologic process. However, it is connected to a recent series of earthquakes. Those quakes and the unexpected geyser have the same cause: injection of wastewater left over from fracking.

The water spraying from the geyser isn't clean. It's laced with oil, gas, and the chemicals used when oil companies pump water into the ground to hydraulically fracture (frack) layers of sedimentary rock. It reeks of toxic sulfur dioxide, filling the air with the odor of rotten eggs. How long it will last isn't known, but it's a good bet this jet of stink won't become as beloved as Old Faithful.

The stench geyser is just one of the treats that fracking has delivered to this area of Texas in the last few years. There are also zombie wells where polluted water is burbling from the mouths of old oil and gas boreholes that were supposedly sealed decades ago—except no one bothered to check. Now farmland is being ruined by toxic streams and vast amounts of methane are escaping into the atmosphere. Similar problems have occurred in other areas where fracking has been used.

Then there are the earthquakes. A surge of small earthquakes ranging up to a magnitude of 3.6 had earlier raised concerns about fracking in Oklahoma. But everything is bigger in Texas. There was a magnitude 5.0 quake in 2020, followed by a 5.4 quake in 2022 and a 5.3 quake in 2023. These are not amusing little rumbles. They are serious quakes that can cause structural damage. Anywhere else in the nation, such events would raise huge alarms. The quake that sent people in New York City scrambling for cover earlier this year? That was a 4.8. Because the scale for earthquakes is exponential, the Texas quakes are many times more powerful. The recent series of fracking-related quakes are among the largest quakes ever recorded in Texas and could signal worse to come.

EDIT

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/10/6/2275088/-Toxic-geysers-zombie-wells-and-earthquakes-The-real-cost-of-cheap-gas?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web

A tower of salty water that appears to be laced with oil is shooting roughly 100 feet into the sky just West of Toyah in Reeves County, an area of West Texas plagued by a recent rash of earthquakes linked to wastewater injection.

It was unclear where the water was coming from Wednesday. A Texas Railroad Commission map showed there was a dry hole in the area of the geyser. The Commission, which regulates the state’s oil and gas industry, said Thursday the geyser was coming from a well and that its staff is working to identify who is responsible for it.

Ed. - emphasis above added. Also, "unclear" - uh-huh . . . .

The commission has been working to limit wastewater injection in the area where the geyser was reported. In December, it told operators that it plans to suspend permits allowing the injection of wastewater deep underground, after staff determined that deep injection was “likely contributing to recent seismic activity." Reeves County Emergency Management and representatives from Kinder Morgan were on scene at the geyser just off of Interstate 20 Wednesday afternoon. The smell of oil and rotten eggs — a telltale sign of poisonous hydrogen sulfide gas — wafted through the area. A first responder said he measured 250 parts per million of the gas.

Kinder Morgan said in a statement that its staff investigated and determined the geyser was unrelated to their pipeline operations in the area. Oil and gas attorney Sarah Stogner and well control specialist Hawk Dunlap, working for Antina Ranch, were also onsite Wednesday after hearing reports of the geyser. The pair have become first responders of sorts themselves as the area is affected by so-called “zombie” wells, or wells that should be plugged but are bursting back to life with toxic water.

EDIT

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/texas/article/west-texas-geyser-erupts-19811620.php