The Texas Railroad Commission (TRRC) had been making good progress on cleaning up the abandoned oil field between the Forest Cove Little League fields and the San Jacinto West Fork. Floods from Hurricane Harvey destroyed the field and then the operator, Noxxe Oil & Gas, went bankrupt. The company with a joke name (Exxon spelled backwards) turned out to be anything but a joke. It left behind a toxic legacy on the shores of Lake Houston, the source of drinking water for more than 2 million people.

New Activity Spotted at Site

The property owner recently informed the TRRC that the leaseholder intended to produce some of the wells again. A company called Southcoast Production put a sign up at the entrance and began taking heavy equipment into the site.

From the air, I spotted what appears to be a workover rig pulling pipe at one of the old well sites.

The rig photographed yesterday was apparently pulling corroded pipe.
Photo from May 26, 2021 shows location of new work.

The TRRC indicates that both H.C. House and Foster Lumber Company still own portions of this property.

Huge Improvement, But Some Work Yet to Do

When the TRRC learned that the site would be producing again, it stepped back and turned the cleanup job over to the new operator, according to Peter Fisher of the Railroad Commission. Where TRRC's cleanup effort stopped and Southeast's began is difficult to tell. The cleanup job isn't quite done. But whoever has been cleaning this site up, it looks and smells far better than it did last year.

"Before" photo from June of 2020.
Photo taken 11/1/2021 of same area but with wider lens.The blue/green storage tanks in the upper right are new.

Turning the Pumps Back On

According to the TRRC, Centerpoint recently brought electricity to the site so Southcoast could begin operating pumpjacks again.

It's good to see someone taking responsibility for the site again. In its post-Harvey condition, it was an environmental catastrophe.

Thanks go to the TRRC and to State Representative Dan Huberty for helping to accelerate budget for the cleanup effort.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 11/2/2021

1526 Days since Hurricane Harvey

The thoughts expressed in this post represent opinions on matters of public concern and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.