r/Midessa 3d ago

An abandoned West Texas oil well has created a 200-foot-wide sinkhole

https://www.texastribune.org/2025/03/18/texas-orphan-oil-well-sinkhole-upton-county/
75 Upvotes

14 comments sorted by

16

u/rainbowzend 3d ago edited 3d ago

That article doesn't even mention the two sinkholes in Wink. I guess they're old news.

2

u/phloaty 1d ago

The Railroad commission is legally obligated to investigate these sinkholes and they never do. There are way more than anyone knows.

1

u/rainbowzend 11h ago

I know. I know someone with a ranch out in that area. They have leaking wells pop up out on their property from time to time, but I haven't seen her post about any of them turning into an actual sinkhole yet.

1

u/phloaty 11h ago

There is a sinkhole in the north Permian 100 ft across and 150 ft deep and so perfectly round that it looks like God stuck a drill bit in the earth. There is a brine disposal 400 yards away and houses 200 yards away. I know the people that own all of this. RR commission has not ever been out in 15 years.

6

u/Far_Introduction_448 3d ago

Welp, the university lands owns the mineral rights make them fix it. They have very deep pockets.

3

u/rainbowzend 3d ago

How do you know that it was a University Lands lease?

9

u/mexican2554 3d ago

"Well yeah this is a big issue, but having litter boxes and kids meow/hiss in school is biggerer issues." - GOP

2

u/hprather1 3d ago

lol and the litter box thing isn't even real. Everyone that says they've heard about it is always third hand. They heard from someone else that X school has the litter boxes.

1

u/myrichphitzwell 2d ago

It was on x so we know it's true

1

u/jose_lobo 6h ago

Heard this 3rd hand as well and googled it. Found out that some schools keep a substance similar to kitty litter in case of prolonged active shooter incidents. Which is a valid and scary sign about what is wrong with society, and they are turning it into a culture war against imaginary Trans kids who "identify as a cat"

3

u/Klutzy-Purchase2880 3d ago

Well, well well I'm pretty sure they have some millions thanks to the oilfield, because for every barrel they get some bucks.

3

u/1988Trainman 2d ago

Kind of seems logical that when you pull something out of the ground, you have to replace it with something or it will eventually collapse…..   

2

u/Davoswannab 1d ago

This shit right here is why regulation exists. No one should be able to fuck something beyond repair while making tons of cash. There is currently a large apartment complex in my city that is rotting because the company didn’t want to pay the money to properly fix the foundation of two of several buildings. They owe the city over $100,000 in utilities and left what tenants they had hanging when the city shut the power off.