In Texas, Oil Companies Are So Confident About The Safety Of Reusing Fracking Water That They Want Legal Immunity

[hatrack]

ODESSA — Oil and gas companies are seeking legal shelter as Texas comes closer to using waste brine once considered too toxic for anything other than fracking to replenish Texas’ water shortages. Legislation filed by state Rep. Drew Darby, R-San Angelo, could give them, transportation companies and landowners such protection.

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If legislators fail to assure the industry, companies might not want to treat the water and sell it, said Michael Lozano, who leads government affairs at the Permian Basin Petroleum Association. “Without developing this field with legal certainty, Texas will miss out on millions of barrels of day of treated produced water that could benefit industrial and land application of water uses, which could continue to decrease reliance on fresh water in these sectors,” Lozano said.

Darby’s bill, House Bill 49, says that after an oil company agrees to sell the water for beneficial use by someone else, it is generally not liable if there are consequences later on. Neither are the companies treating the water. The bill also protects landowners who pay to treat the water and sell it, including in cases of personal injury, death, or property damage. Companies can be liable in some cases, including gross negligence, intentional, wrongful acts of omission, breaking state and federal treatment laws, or failing to meet standards under the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the state’s environmental regulator.

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Dan Mueller, an engineer and a produced water expert, agreed that there is not enough data to issue permits. Mueller raised concerns about the capability of the treatment technologies, saying the five pilot projects have not been running long enough to ensure they clean the water reliably. And if the treated water causes environmental or human harm, he said, there are no assurances that the companies that discharge the water can afford to remediate all issues. He says the bill and permits should include financial mechanisms that can cover environmental problems, should they occur. Without these assurances, “the responsibility to clean up any contamination that might occur is going to fall to the state, and ultimately that falls to the taxpayer, who will have to foot the bill,” he said. “That's just not right.”

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https://www.texastribune.org/2025/05/19/texas-legislature-produced-water-legal-protections-oil-gas/

[gab13by13]

1. OMFG

Using that radioactive brine water on roads in Pa. is bad enough.

Cancer rates in Texas going to jump. Not sure about Texas but in Pa. that brine water is full of heavy metals and radioactive.

Someone should ask the frackers why they don't reuse the brine water to drill with? Why do they always have to use fresh water?