Drillers’ injection of wastewater is creating mayhem across the Permian Basin.
Permian Basin Pressure Cooker
Please note America’s Biggest Oil Field Is Turning Into a Pressure Cooker
Producers in the Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico extract roughly half of the U.S.’s crude. They also produce copious amounts of toxic, salty water, which they pump back into the ground. Now, some of the reservoirs that collect the fluids are overflowing—and the producers keep injecting more.
It is creating a huge mess.
A buildup in pressure across the region is propelling wastewater up ancient wellbores, birthing geysers that can cost millions of dollars to clean up. Companies are wrestling with drilling hazards that make it more costly to operate and complaining that the marinade is creeping into their oil-and-gas reservoirs. Communities friendly to oil and gas are growing worried about injection.
“It’s one of the many things that keep me up at night,” said Greg Perrin, general manager of the groundwater-conservation district in Reeves County, Texas, where companies are injecting some of the largest volumes of wastewater.
Swaths of the Permian appear to be on the verge of geological malfunction. Pressure in the injection reservoirs in a prime portion of the basin runs as high as 0.7 pound per square inch per foot, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of data from researchers at the University of Texas at Austin’s Bureau of Economic Geology.
When pressure exceeds 0.5 pound per square inch per foot, the liquid—if it finds a pathway—can flow to the surface and pose a risk to underground sources of drinking water, Texas regulators have said in industry presentations.
Unintended consequences
In the Delaware portion of the Permian, its most prolific region, drillers crank out between 5 and 6 barrels of water, on average, for every barrel of oil.For years, they pumped the putrid fluids deep into the ground—and triggered hundreds of earthquakes, some with a magnitude of over 5. They caused little damage in the sparsely populated Permian, but they were felt as far as Dallas, El Paso and San Antonio, where a historic building was damaged.
In 2021, the Railroad Commission of Texas, the agency that oversees the oil-and-gas industry in the state, began cracking down on deep disposal. Companies pivoted to shallow reservoirs, which now absorb roughly three-quarters of the billions of barrels of water that they inject in the Permian every year. The shift largely cured the tremors but has created unintended consequences.
In 2022, a 100-foot column of saltwater erupted from an abandoned well in Texas’ Crane County near the unincorporated community of Tubbs Corner. Chevron, which owned the well, plugged it. But nearly two years later, water started to ooze from a different well in the same area, a sign that bottling up the geyser likely repressurized the subsurface and triggered the new outburst, scientists said.
It took the Railroad Commission about 53 days and roughly $2.5 million to plug that leak. Eventually, the agency quietly shut in the injection wells that it said were likely causing the increase in pressure.
Researchers at the Bureau of Economic Geology painted a critical picture of the frenzied injection in a preliminary, informal project proposal shared with the Railroad Commission last year, an open-records request filed by The Wall Street Journal revealed. Operators were injecting wastewater with little concern over how it might travel underground or its impact on reservoir pressure, they said.
Increasingly, Permian landowners find themselves dealing with abandoned well bores that come back to life. In May, a well on the Pecos County property of Laura Briggs started spraying saltwater like a fire hydrant. She said it took the Railroad Commission about four months to get it plugged at a cost of about $350,000.
“You’re working with broken, rotten pieces of stuff,” she said.
Some ranchers worry that wastewater might contaminate sources of groundwater and imperil their operations.
“If it breaks loose in a zone where we’re drawing, say, stock water from, it could put you out of business overnight,” said Brad Gholson, a rancher and the owner of Reeves County Feed & Supply, a livestock feed dealer in Pecos.
Oil-and-gas fields in South Texas, North Dakota and Appalachia also produce briny water but in much smaller volumes than in the Permian. As this basin matures, wells keep getting wetter.
The industry is testing technologies to evaporate the liquid faster and strip it of salt so it can be reused outside the oil patch. Companies are crafting plans to release scrubbed water into rivers. Texas lawmakers have passed legislation to help advance these solutions.
But researchers said these alternatives won’t alleviate the near-term need for injection. Katie Smye, a researcher at the Bureau of Economic Geology, said there are areas of the Permian where injecting wastewater can be done safely and the industry must put more work into delineating these zones.
“If we say no to deep injection due to earthquakes, and we say no to shallow injection due to surface flows, and we’re not taking into account the science of areas where injection is proceeding safely,” she said, “then what?”
Permian Basin Issues AI Synopsis
1. Excessive Wastewater and “Pressure Cooker” Conditions
For every barrel of oil extracted, the Permian produces 3 to 5 barrels of toxic, salt-laden “produced water”.
- Subsurface Overpressurization: To dispose of this waste, operators inject it into deep reservoirs. In 2024–2025, this has led to “widespread increases in reservoir pressure,” creating what experts describe as a “pressure cooker” effect.
- Well Blowouts: High pressure is forcing wastewater through old or improperly plugged wells, creating massive “toxic geysers.” Notable incidents include a 100-foot saltwater geyser in Crane County (January 2022) and another near Toyah, Texas in late 2024 and 2025.
- Ground Deformation: Scientific studies in 2024 revealed that wastewater injection is causing the ground to bulge or “uplift” by as much as 40 cm (16 inches) in some areas before bursting open.
- 2. Induced Seismicity (Earthquakes)
- Wastewater injection has been directly linked to a surge in seismic activity.
- Frequency: The rate of earthquakes (Magnitude 3.0+) has increased significantly since 2017, peaking at nearly 50 per month in some areas.
- Impact: A Magnitude 5.1 earthquake occurred in mid-2024. Such tremors have ruptured natural gas pipelines, leading to explosions and fires.
- 3. Orphaned Wells and Contamination
- There are over 100,000 shut-in or abandoned wells in the basin.
- Methane Leaks: These wells frequently leak methane, a potent greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere.
- Water Supply Risk: Corroding well casings allow toxic brine to migrate into shallow freshwater aquifers, such as the Pecos Alluvium, which provides 55% of the region’s water supply.
- Sinkholes: Abandoned wells, particularly when influenced by nearby injection, can lead to massive sinkholes. The state of Texas has spent millions to reroute highways (e.g., FM 1053) due to these hazards.
- 4. Economic and Regulatory Hurdles
- Rising Costs: As the field ages, the rising “water-to-oil ratio” makes production more expensive. Managing this water is expected to be the defining challenge for Permian producers between 2025 and 2030.
- New Restrictions: In 2025, the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) began enforcing stricter limits on water-injection pressure and expanded the required radius for well-integrity assessments.
- Infrastructure Gaps: Existing pipelines are struggling to handle the massive volumes of gas and water, forcing some companies to temporarily redeploy resources away from the basin.
Discussed this very issue of wastewater in the shale industry with an oilman last year. His opinion is that the tight oil in the Permian and others will cease to be economic by 2029. Wastewater management costs will exceed the R.O.I. of the petroleum products.
A new source of crude will need to be found – a new source such as Venezuela which has the worlds largest oil reserves. Anybody wondering why Trump is taking such an interest in Venezuela?
The future is difficult to predict. He may be correct. If he is, then that provides even more reason to invest in Canadian oil and gas companies.
Nobody In Corporate America Goes To Prison.
One got shot in the back though.
Who got shot in the back?
My boss at the Dayton VA did four years
Fusion power eliminates the need for oil. Coming up shortly! Check out this article:
“Who Killed the Electric Car”
Like Pelosi, when team Trump invests in something, they are doing so with inside info and a strong belief that they will profit nicely.
TAE aims to build its first utility-scale fusion plant by 2026.
What a scam. We have been working to develop nuclear fusion for 70 years, and spent tens of billions on it already. The joke is that we are have been 20 years away from nuclear fusion in all that time, and remain so today.
TAE hopes to “start” construction in 2026, and demonstrate a working reactor by 2031.
Chance of it working by 2031: 0%
Seems like a pretty definite date. Place your bets.
And even if they miss this date, Helion is contractually committed to building an operational fusion plant by 2028 for Microsoft producing 50MW. Site work is currently underway.
So, we will see, said the blind man to his deaf friend.
Yes. We will see.
It reminds me of all the SMR companies and their contractual dates. None have been met. And we have been building SMRs for 60 years. We just can’t do it cheaply enough to commercialize them.
In that same time frame, no one has built a working fusion reactor. Not even close.
I remain skeptical.
Fusion power has been just around the corner for as long as I can remember.
And how many times in your life have you repeated this trite phrase? 1000? It’s not funny, it’s not witty and it doesn’t make you come across as more perceptive. Try to think of something more intelligent to say next time.
If Trump likes Fusion, then it just reinforces how bogus Fusion plans are.
Just another scam to fleece his supporters. Like Trump coin, Trump phone, Trump university, etc
When will the libertarians on this blog acknowledge that so-called capitalism is not capitalism when reliance is on government to clean up the mess. Capitalism needs to be redefined such that corporations are including the costs of cleaning up their byproduct and accounting for related health costs.
I do not know how many here describe themselves as Libertarian, other than Mish. I certainly do not describe myself that way as I do not like labels.
Just like the label “Capitalism”: There is no such thing as “Capitalism” in an ideal sense. And there never will be.
We live in a mish mash world that defies labels.
And while I agree with your statement: “Capitalism needs to be redefined such that corporations are including the costs of cleaning up their byproduct and accounting for related health costs”
I am fully aware that you are tilting at windmills here. Even if every single person who reads this blog “acknowledges” your statement; it is all still as useless as spitting in the wind.
I also acknowledge that we should all strive for peace on earth.
The term ‘capitalism’ was actually coined by Marx.
Capitalism was not a plan or an idea.
Socialize the costs, privatize the profits. America’s motto.
Isn’t this what we do with low cost index funds? Wait… that smells like socialism!
Now you have turned to talking politics.
In New Mexico the feds only required a $20,000 bond to drill on BLM/fed land no matter the number of wells drilled. This was woefully too low to account for later plugging and cleanup costs. Of course, the feds made money on royalties (15% of production) so they allowed it to go on for decades.
Actually your statement is bullshit.
When did Libertarians ever agree with what you suggest?
Love your blog Mish but you have to explain your meaning here. 12 upvotes indicate agreement and socializing losses while privatizing profits is not libertarianism although it seems to be capitalism.
Mish’s argument has been that we’ve never actually had “real” libertarianism. Apparently it’s not a political theory that can exist on a continuum, it’s more of a pie in the sky, all or nothing sort of thing, before it counts as libertarianism. It’s all a bit black and white if you ask me. I think the fatal flaw with libertarianism is that it misunderstands human nature.
Government should certainly have stepped in here already. People don’t police their own behavior when chasing short term gain, when the policing would prevent long term damage. It’s a physiological limitation of the species.
When will read an article about solar panels causing similar problems?
When will read an article about windmills causing similar problems?
Solar and wind have their own issues. Just different issues. There is no perfect energy source. But yes. Solar and wind do not cause groundwater problems.
In addition, solar and wind are used to produce electricity. Oil is not used to produce electricity. So they are not a good substitute for oil at this point.
In addition to fuels, the oil that we refine provides us with the chemicals needed to make tens of thousands of different products that our modern society cannot do without.
🛢️ Major Product Categories Made From Petrochemicals
1. Plastics & Polymers
2. Synthetic Fibers & Textiles
3. Synthetic Rubber & Elastomers
4. Solvents & Industrial Chemicals
5. Detergents & Surfactants
6. Adhesives & Sealants
7. Fertilizers & Agricultural Chemicals
8. Pharmaceuticals & Medical Supplies
9. Cosmetics & Personal Care
10. Packaging Materials
11. Electronics & High‑Tech Components
12. Automotive Components
Almost everything has or can be electrified.
There is a difference between electrifying a process and coming up with the raw materials used in that process. Please explain how you make tires from electricity? How do you make asphalt for roads from electricity? Or any of the other tens of thousands of products that are made using oil as the raw material?
Papa, this time you screwed up with an argument and you need to be called out. TIRES are indeed made from power (Electrical) because the process cannot be done without the Grid. Have you seen a tire made from Rubber that somehow is NOT involving power (Compression Machinery, Heat required – they are not burning Wood to create the compression and liquefying dynamics with which to shape a tire). Tires also include STEEL which is produced with heat derived from the Grid. I simply cannot understand your point.
I never heard such a dumb response. Read before writing. What’s the old quote? Better let people think you are stupid than open your mouth and prove it.
The manufacture of tires has always used electricity.
Tires are primarily made from a blend of natural and synthetic rubber made from petrochemicals, reinforced with steel, textiles, and various chemical additives.
You cannot replace petrochemicals with electricity, however you have always needed electricity to produce petrochemicals.
You misunderstood my point. I was referring to where we get the raw materials needed to make a tire. And those raw materials do not come from electricity.
While there is still some natural rubber used in tire manufacturing, most tires contain 7 gallons of oil, which was used to make the synthetic rubber and the chemical compounds which are needed to produce the tire.
We will continue to need oil for a long time, because it is the raw material for tens of thousands of products we use in our everyday lives.
When people suggest that we can replace oil with electricity, they are not thinking clearly.
But wouldn’t it be great if we used oil just for this beneficial stuff instead of wasting most of it on gasoline?
Yes. For every barrel of oil that is refined, roughly 45% is burned as gasoline, 29% diesel, 10% jet fuel/kerosene, 7% other fuels, 9% Other products from my earlier list. So we burn around 90% of it and add greenhouse gasses to our atmosphere as a result.
The problem is that it will take decades to alter this mix in a meaningful way.
Use gasoline automobiles as an example. There are 1.5 billion automobiles in the world. Every year we produce another 80 million autos and over 80% of them use gasoline. Even as we produce more EVs each year, we are not reducing the number of gas vehicles overall.
Lighter hydrocarbon chains are used in the production of petrochemicals (c2 ethane, c3 propane, c4 butane, c5 pentane).
The lightest hydrocarbon is burned as natural gas (c1 methane).
Heavier hydrocarbons are used to produce gasoline, jet fuel, fuel oil, etc.. (c5-c20)
The heaviest hydrocarbons are used in lubricating oils, bunker fuel, asphalt , diesel, etc..(c20-c65).
Each type of hydrocarbon has a different use.
Yes. Traditional refinery processes produce a lot of fuel, based on the molecules present. At the dawn of refining, the largest output, gasoline, was dumped into rivers since it had no use at the time.
And most refineries in the world today still mostly produce fuels.
However, in both China and Singapore, they have developed a new COTC refinery; crude oil to chemicals; where almost all output is petrochemical, with very little fuel. Saudi is also planning on building a COTC refinery.
As our need for fuel decreases over time, we can build more of these COTC refineries and close the older ones. And we can produce more of the useful petrochemicals instead.
Pedopig is terrified of windmills.
Yes. He says that windmills kill whales, and cause cancer. And now he also says that they are a security concern because they interfere with radar.
He recently reimposed sanctions on 6 windmill projects that were going to produce 6 GW of electricity. Of course, he could just replace that electricity by building 6 new nuclear power plants. Though we would have to wait 20 years for them to be built and they would cost $100 billion
The part I like best, is he is a proponent of AI, yet he keeps killing the energy projects that could provide the electricity they need. Lol!
Meanwhile: China is a leader in developing Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors
Correct. China is a leader in this experimental technology. But it may never become commercial.
Similarly, they are also working on SMRs. But they may also never become commercial.
And of course, like many others, they are working on fusion reactors as well. Which are always 20 years away.
Instead they are building 27 more conventional nuclear reactors based on two different designs:
🔹 1. Hualong One (HPR1000) — China’s flagship reactor
🔹 2. CAP1000 — China’s version of the Westinghouse AP1000
🔹 Other designs (built less frequently now)
📈 Scale of Construction
China currently has:
This makes China the world leader in new nuclear builds by a wide margin.
I do not expect China (or any one else) to be able to make thorium reactors or smrs work better and cheaper than conventional nuclear.
Excellent article Mish.
Oil production from fracking in the Permian has grown from almost nothing in 2010 to 6.8 million barrels per day today. Which is half of all the oil produced in the US.
Some analysts have been predicting the demise of the Permian for several years now for many reasons.
My own opinion is that Permian production will stabilize at 6+ mbpd for the next few years and then begin a slow decline due to a combination of the 6 factors I mentioned. It is possible that production could decline even faster, but that just means fewer exports.
The US currently imports 5-6 mbpd of oil, of which 4-5 mbpd is heavy oil that is needed in our refineries. Most of that oil comes from Canada.
Which explains why most of my oil and gas investments are in Canadian companies, who have breakeven costs of $35 – $45 per bbl. Also, most Canadian production is from oil sands, and conventional wells. Not as much fracking happening in Canada.
Sounds kind of Mad-Max-ish.
Hmm… Looks as though we should remain friendly with some of the Richer Oil Producing Countries. We yapped about all this oil that we have, but now it looks as though we may have spoken too soon perhaps?
What with this utterly foolish idea of sending this crap down the rivers? If it’s not good to inject it, then why the heck would you simply release the flow into our rivers? You do understand rivers go someplace else, and that will then too will become contaminated. What about seepage into the drinking water at some point? Maybe $ is worth more than others lives perhaps? This looks disastrous on the surface, and without knowing the finite details. Glad I don’t live in that area or where those waterways end up going into…
House of Saud is happy to let crude prices drift lower. THey can lean on cash reserves for a while. They wait for NG pads to shutter as cost of extraction along with declining yields turn operations unprofitable. Then Saudis will restrict OPEC’s supply and take full control of global oil prices with the US no longer producing much shale oil. Trump is playing into this trap much more so than most media bother to mention.
I believe the Permian was the last frakking area left in the US which had production still increasing (Bakken and Appalachia are flat at best). I hope they fix whatever challenges they have as we are running out of runway .. again!
Venezuelan oil will be just in time then.
Will take years to fix whatever Venezuela’s dictatorship did to wreck their oil production. And most of the world cant handle that crappy oil. The US can but only cause we couldnt find any oil that was better.
However, long as runway is, there is a brick wall at the end.
We drove through that area a couple years back. It was, frankly, boring. They should keep the geysers going. My wife says everyone loves geysers and it would help with tourism. Also, at night they could do shows with fire dancers surrounding the gas flares.
Also, here in sunny California, in commercial settings we aren’t even allowed to dispose of seawater back into the sea if we removed too much of it. we aren’t allowed to evaporate it either. I will check with our ehs teams and see if it’s feasible to sent it to Permian basin.
Is this post intending to be funny or are you competing for the least intelligent post of 2025?
The collective American IQ has rarely fallen faster than it is presently.
I think we just weren’t measuring it right.
I like your positive energy
You know how this ends, right? Texas is going to come begging for superfund cleanup money even though they have done everything under the sun to promote drilling with a minimum if any regulation.
I would have to agree with that premise. The fact that nothing was done to prevent it from occurring, means they have no way of having anyone, other than the Taxpayers of course, to pay the clean up cost too. All the money made, but none to clean up the mess…
Exactly, and the tax payer will fund it again. How many times do we see this? I’m all for business, but if we can’t do something then we need to stop, reassess, and make a new plan.
Great article Mish.
According to the Railroad Fund Commission website, they have already received over $100 million in Federal Funds. That will likely accelerate as more geysers appear.
Sounds like the feds still owe Texas money after the billions of dollars paid for the stupid crude oil Windfall Profit Tax.
“If we say no to deep injection due to earthquakes, and we say no to shallow injection due to surface flows, and we’re not taking into account the science of areas where injection is proceeding safely,” she said, “then what?”
How about separating the elements used in the fracking water to their original state and return them to their original source? Then they could be reused infinitely for further fracking. But let’s say that the cost of doing this would increase the cost of fracking to the point that it would no longer be competitive with other forms of oil production. Then we have a simple question: is fracking important enough to us as a nation that we are willing pollute vast areas of land and water, essentially forever, or not? I live in Florida, benefit from the marginally lower gasoline prices produced by fracking, and face none of the risks. Without a doubt, I will never move to a place where large scale fracking has occurred. But Texans, North Dakotans, Pennsylvanians seem to have made a different choice. They seem to be okay with living with the consequences. So should I care?
Follow the money, the oil companies are co-owners of the henhouse guards, aka the law makers. They are in collusion with the oil making foxes to loot the henhouse. If you’re under, 35 your naivete is understandable. But sincerely thinking this is stopping before grave environmental consequences are avoided due to our sense of duty to the environment? This is the USA, not an environmentally responsble place.
Sincerely,
The Deepwater Horizon
I think everyone knows that the oil companies own the politicians. But everyone keeps voting for the same politicians anyway. So you can’t say they’re not standing right beside those same oil companies.
Lots of people have jobs in and around the oil/energy business. Would you vote for anyone whose policies might lead to you losing your job?
It’s the same problem with the health insurance/healthcare business. No one employed in the business is going to vote to change it at a risk of becoming unemployed.
Quite to the contrary, I frequently observe in online comments how easily voters are duped into voting against their self-interest. Never overestimate the collective intelligence of the American voting populace.
Unfortunately, if only in this example, Americans are no different from any other westerner.
Fracture treating is a one-time event that is now recycling a large volume, therefore it is a very small percentage of the volume produced and disposed, the issue is with associated water produced with the oil. It is not frac water chemicals that are the problem it is produced water chemicals that are the problem. As for the “geysers”, water should never be disposed above host rock parting pressure to prevent this and this uplifting of nearby surface.
I can envision two potentially viable solutions off the top of my head; first is to inject below parting pressure (pressure required to fracture the rock matrix) into a depleted oil or gas reservoir. By using a depleted reservoir, the operator can be reasonably assured the disposed fluids would be contained as the reservoir once held hydrocarbons. Injecting below parting pressure assures new flow paths for leakage are not created. Another possible disposal pool is matrix rock below the remaining hydrocarbons in a conventional reservoir.
The second would be creating huge evaporation ponds. Once a pond is filled and dried, the residue solids could be scraped and processed for the useful products and the rest landfilled appropriately. The latter would likely be the most economical, but it would require dirt work for dykes and displace some snakes and rodents and there would be potential hazards to birds so the environmentalists will not be happy.
The water disposal problem is not insurmountable. As for improperly abandoned wells, that is a long-term problem that can only be solved one well at a time. To get a permit to drill, an operator must provide financial wherewithal to clean up his operation to include properly abandoning all wells. Every well is individually permitted by the operator. Unless the wells are older than the laws, the regulators can identify the well owner via the permit and order him to re-enter the wells and abandon them per current laws and regulations. It is a time-consuming process, but doable.
This problem is presented as being more expensive than it is for the taxpayer, but the state regulators must get off their duff and enforce the regulations. Secondly, law makers and regulators must co-operate with producers and public to determine a path forward concurrent with cleaning up the existing mess. One of the above suggestions or a combination would work.
Thanks for educating me on the distinction between frac water and produced water. I like the idea of disposing of it in depleted wells, though I’m sure every solution comes with its own set of problems and costs.
Something I did not mention as the reply was getting lengthy is water for disposal is hard to keep clean and the particulates plug matrix rock pores requiring costly well servicing to re-establish conductivity to the reservoir. It is cheaper to pay a premium to inject the water at a higher pressure, i.e. above parting pressure
I believe that Exxon has developed newer technologies that are less polluting and more efficient than current methods. Don’t know if its in widespread use yet or how much it will mitigate future damage.
Useless post! Can you give us a hint at these technologies that you allude to and why you put any stock in them?
If he could have he would have
Thanks for this story, MISH.
If they keep castrating children no one will need so much evil oil. All the Dems can ride their donkies.
You haven’t gone Galt yet? Silly guy
The article identifies an enormous and costly environmental problem and your worry is the less than 10 trans athletes playing collegiate sports. The environmental hazards alone will cause astronomically more fertility and child birth defect issues. I don’t believe trans M to F should compete in F sports but I realize this is a tiny issue Trump elevated to scare the less informed and to deflect from real issues.
Try to focus on and identify the topic sentence.
Is this something like an Instant Pot? They’re more convenient than stove top.
Just grasping at what little irony and sarcasm is available. Sad.
I never understood the political split on things like environmental safety. Republicans drink water too, and breathe air. yet they oppose every common sense limitations on emissions, pollutions and other safety measures.
every single time they oppose them, and say it wil ruin this or that industry. i remember they opposed catalytic converters on cars sayin git will kill autos.
Yes. But Democrats would have us all sealed in padded rooms for our own safety, and monitored and supervised by “credentialed specialists.”
so why not have a smart middle ground? and i’d rather have too much of what the Dems overprotection over the Republican positon of trusting corporations to do the right thing.
Anthony – Yes you are correct, as a conservative I support raping the environment and opposing all environmental regulations.
There are many conservatives like myself who support conserving and protecting the environment. There are people on both sides who are extreme.
Yes, it was the “Clean Air Act” (early 70’s) and when they increased the limits, car makers said it would be impossible to meet the new targets. The engineers got it right shortly thereafter (mid 70’s) and they worked wonderfully and eliminated a massive % of crap that would have otherwise spewed into our Air.
read an article shortly after the act was passed. said toyota hired 70 engineers, chrysler hired 70 lawyers in response
It was Nixon, a Republican, who created the EPA. Interesting story here:
This is what America looked like before the EPA cleaned it up
It wasn’t pretty
By Kendra Pierre-Louis
2/24/2017
In 1970, Republican President Richard Nixon signed an executive order creating the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It was a time when pollution made many of our nation’s rivers and streams unsafe for fishing or swimming. Back then, New York City’s air pollution was so thick that you often couldn’t see the city’s iconic bridges. Forty-seven years later, there is serious talk of dismantling the agency, or at least slashing its size by two-thirds.
But what does America look like without the EPA?
From 1971 to 1977 the nascent agency, in an act of prescience, enlisted the services of freelance photographers to help us remember. These photographers captured images of America’s environmental problems before we’d cleaned them up. In 2011, the US National Archives digitized more than 15,000 pictures from the series “Documerica”. Here are some of the most compelling.
…
http://www.popsci.com/america-before-epa-photos
So the AMC, DeLorean, Chrysler and GM bankruptcies don’t count?
I wonder what the folks that worked for T Boone Pickens would say or suggest