Greening Austin Daily

Industrial Waste Injection Well Approved in the Houston Area

16th November, 2011 - Posted by katherine - No Comments

The Statesman had this article that I saw yesterday but didn’t have time to post.  It’s about a project approved by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality despite  the objections of the Texas Railroad Commission and “every state and local official representing Montgomery County, and in spite of an administrative law judge’s recommendation to deny the permit because the well might pollute groundwater.”  The article goes into a lot of detail about the backers of the project, who are Perry contributors, and what that may have had to do with approval of the project.  The article states:

“These guys are used to getting what they want — you want a project to go through, you donate,” said Rebecca Kaiser, a Conroe-area homeowner opposed to the project. “It’s scary to think that this is going to end up doing something to our drinking water.”

Perry’s presidential campaign opponents have criticized him for “crony capitalism,” the appearance of a pay-to-play culture that gets favorable state government treatment for his campaign donors. Perry also has been criticized for state environmental regulation that appears to put business ahead of environmental quality and safety.

The article goes on to say:

The TexCom project became controversial not just because it was a waste injection well. It was an injection well in the old Conroe oil field where hundreds of oil wells had been drilled since the 1930s, potentially puncturing deep formations where the waste would be injected. Montgomery County homeowners and public officials are concerned that the injection well could pollute the aquifer that provides Conroe and the county with its drinking water.

Check out the whole thing!