the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
January 19, 2026
The Permian Basin is a huge oil producing region encompassing parts of Texas and New Mexico. Roughly half of U.S. crude oil is produced there, mainly through fracking. Underground pressures around the oil wells in the Permian Basin are at critically high levels, causing them to burst and spew their toxic liquid.
Chevron, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, to name a few, all operate there to take their filthy share from this bonanza. To extract oil, these companies resort to hydraulic fracturing, a water-intensive process. Fracking involves injecting water laden with chemicals and sand into a horizontal well to crack open the oil-bearing rock and keep it open. The oil is recovered at the surface along with toxic water, which must be disposed of in special wells.
These oil giants generate as many as six barrels of toxic, salty water for every barrel of oil. Last year, about 6.6 million barrels per day were extracted from this oil field. That is, about 40 million barrels of salty, toxic water were brought to the surface every day. Then these companies put this water back underground.
The Permian Basin has been in operation for more than 100 years. Considering that the oil companies have resorted to hydraulic fracturing over the last 60 years, enormous amounts of toxic water have been injected underground. Because no more space is left underground, the increasing pressure from constant injection causes 100-foot-high geysers. Capping one geyser results in another nearby geyser, forcing workers to play whack-a-mole with these holes.
Texas ranchers now worry that this toxic water contaminates groundwater sources and imperils their cattle-grazing fields. “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 Texas rancher in Pecos.
Alarmingly, underground earth movements from such oil extraction operations cause hundreds of earthquakes, some with magnitudes over five, felt as far away as Dallas, El Paso, and San Antonio, damaging buildings.
Now, these oil companies are asking the Texas government to issue permits to dump the toxic water into the rivers. Imagine that.