Preston Maness ☭<p><a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2025/05/19/texas-legislature-produced-water-legal-protections-oil-gas/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">texastribune.org/2025/05/19/te</span><span class="invisible">xas-legislature-produced-water-legal-protections-oil-gas/</span></a></p><p>>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.<br>><br>>...<br>><br>>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.</p><p>No shit. Fracking water contains hundreds of different contaminants. It's literally the most challenging filtration and cleaning project you could design. The suggestion that an anemically funded state consortium has cracked that nut in four years is absurd.</p><p>>Lozano, with the industry trade group, said there are no existing protections for oil and gas companies that treat and sell the water, adding that treatment gives them another alternative for the excess.<br>><br>>“If this segment of the industry cannot develop and mature, it could impact the record production that has occurred in the Permian Basin,” he said.</p><p>Translation: we don't want to have to account for our externalities, and would really rather push those onto the people.</p><p>>Disclosure: Environmental Defense Fund and Permian Basin Petroleum Association have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.</p><p>Well I guess that explains the both-sidesing that the article engages in.</p><p><a href="https://tenforward.social/tags/Texas" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Texas</span></a> <a href="https://tenforward.social/tags/TexasTribune" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>TexasTribune</span></a> <a href="https://tenforward.social/tags/ong" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ong</span></a> <a href="https://tenforward.social/tags/water" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>water</span></a></p>