Foul black water has erupted from another West Texas well in the same area as one that flowed toxic water for weeks and inspired a controversial no-fly zone in December.

Hawk Dunlap shows how the cement in a plug from 2021 has broken and is no longer holding it in place on Antina Ranch on Tuesday, April 25, 2023 near Monahans.

Nothing lasts forever, not even concrete and steel. West Texas ranchers are learning this lesson the hard way, as toxic and often radioactive wastewater is bursting the oil patch at the seams.

Landowners have always known about their property's old oil and natural gas wells. The wellheads stick up like old rusty stumps with cement-filled steel pipes; some are a century old.

Most are labeled and recorded by the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates them. Many, though, are mysterious holes in the ground. Too many are coming back to life, what locals call zombie wells.

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The three elected railroad commissioners are in charge of putting these walking dead safely to rest, but as more concrete disintegrates and allows noxious gases and black water to leak out, the more they want to run and hide. Holding their largest campaign donors accountable is not their style.

To understand why toxic water is bursting from capped oil and gas........

© Houston Chronicle