Big earthquakes ring alarm bells

Texas Railroad Commissioner Jim Wright said Wednesday that Tuesday’s two major earthquakes have heightened his concerns that brine disposal wells for area businesses are the culprits.

“The inspectors went out last night to monitor the pressures on a lot of those wells to see if there were any fluctuations, and they are back today again measuring volumes compared to what it was six weeks ago when we put a notice to the operators,” Wright said in a phone interview from Austin. From injections in that area to 10,000 barrels per day.”

“We may think more of an emergency thing because we are very concerned about those earthquakes and the people who are there. We will make sure that the operators are doing everything they can to reduce that.”

The US Geological Survey reported that earthquakes measuring 3.4 and 3.6 on the Richter scale shook homes and businesses in Odessa and Gardendale minutes before 5 p.m. and then 10 minutes later on Tuesday. The epicenter was 5.5 miles northeast of Odessa from a depth of five miles.

Another earthquake was felt at 4:07 pm Wednesday. According to the US Geological Survey, it was a 3.2 magnitude earthquake, 5.59234 miles southeast of Gardendale at a depth of 4.8467 miles.

Kirk Edwards, an Odessa oilman, said on Wednesday that three wells operated by Oilfield Water Logistics at Parks Bell Ranch, one of whose RRC permits has expired, were the likely cause of the quake.

A call seeking comment for OWL was answered by a woman who ended the line.

OWL and Parks Bell Ranch were not among the companies that received an RRC order on September 23 to reduce injection volumes. Those were Fasken Oil & Ranch, Rattler Midstream Operations, COG Operating, Occidental Petroleum, Pioneer Natural Resources and Wasser Operating.

Spokespeople for Fasken Oil & Ranch, Rattler Midstream and COG Operating said last week that they are committed. Occidental Petroleum, Pioneer Natural Resources and Wasser Oberge did not respond to press inquiries last week either.

“With my knowledge of the oil field, I only see three injection wells at the epicenter, all of which are operated by OWL immediately adjacent to the Bell Gardens split on the north side of Highway 191,” Edwards said. They should close these wells immediately without any further drainage as this is a matter of public safety.

We would be very lucky if we did not see any damage to property or threats to people’s health. The guys are working on a scaffold in a four-story apartment complex near my office and they could have easily been upset about that yesterday.”

Wright also spoke about the Texas Electrical Reliability Council’s ability to avoid statewide blackouts like last February.

Asked if the outage caused by the February 13-17 blizzard could have been repeated, Wright said it would have been less likely if part of the new Senate Bill 3 had not been removed.

To address a power grid outage that knocked out power and killed 700 people, SB 3 requires that power generators be weathered and that generators and transmission lines be upgraded to make them more resilient to harsh conditions through mandatory inspections and fines of up to $1 million for failure compliance, among other measures. An emergency alarm system that will alert citizens to bad weather and power outages.

Wright said that Section 13, which was removed from the bill, would have required wind and solar companies, which ensure at least 20 percent of the state’s power generation business, to pay for alternative energy from other sources when the grid is overburdened. “The wind doesn’t always blow and the sun doesn’t always shine,” he said.

Amarillo Senator Kell Seliger said in mid-August that Texas needs 80,000 megawatts of generating capacity but only has 70,000.

The state’s 92 utility companies are supplied by nuclear power plants in Matagorda and Somerville counties, 14 coal and lignite plants, 50 natural gas plants, five biomass plants, 12 hydroelectric dams, 31 solar farms and 77 wind farms.

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