Texas weighs allowing treated drilling waste into rivers and rangeland

Texas officials and oil industry leaders are pushing to permit disposal of treated produced water from Permian Basin oil and gas operations into surface waters and land, citing constraints on underground injection capacity that handles near

First covered Aug 20, 2026 · 1:55 AM PT · 1 article · no longer in the live window

Texas weighs allowing treated drilling waste into rivers and rangeland — Image via insideclimatenews.org

Coverage

37d Inside Climate News Pressure Increases for Texas to Allow Treated Drilling Waste Into Rivers and Rangeland — ORLA, Texas—Elected officials and industry leaders warn that Texas is at the “precipice” of running out of underground space to dispose of the nearly 1 billion…

Primary sources

senate.texas.gov Texas Senate Video: Senate Committee on Natural Resources

More coverage from around the web

dallasnews.com Toxic water from Texas oil production is set to be treated and pumped into rivers

texastribune.org In Texas, treated oilfield wastewater releases increasing

greensourcetexas.org Standards still murky for disposing oilfield wastewater in Texas rivers | Green Source Texas

thehill.com Texans grapple with rising toxic pollution as oil, gas production booms

texastribune.org Oil companies want protection as Texas considers allowing treated fracking water released into rivers

Appeared in: 2026-08-20 (#13) · 2026-08-21 (#18)

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