Upton County, Texas – Sinkholes around old oil wells are growing at an incredible rate at Kelton Ranch in West Texas.
Radford Grocery #17 was originally drilled as an oil well in the 1950s and was then converted to a saltwater treatment well, according to state records. The well was blocked in 1977.
The Kelton family, which owns the ranch, was recently surprised as a sinkhole around the well. Water has accumulated at the bottom of the sinkhole. The crude oil then began to migrate underground, forming a dark layer above the water.
By mid-March, the sinkhole was about 200 feet in diameter and 40 feet deep, and was large enough to fit a four-storey building. The rough smell has penetrated the air. The family stopped using water.
We’re hiring!
Check out the new openings in the newsroom.
See Job
At one point, the plug in the Radford Grocery Well broke down, creating a connection between the water table and the underground oil reservoir. The wells have been plugged previously and there are no active operators, so there is no clear company for Kelton to ask for help. The Railroad Commission, which regulates oil and gas drilling and clogging in Texas, has sent personnel to the site. But so far, the Keltons say there is no plan of action from state agencies.
“We can fix that,” said Hawk Dunlap, an integrity expert, looking over the sinkhole on Thursday. “But it won’t be cheaper.”
The sinkhole is the latest in a series of catastrophic events with an old oilwell in the Permian Basin of West Texas, some of which are unblocked. From blowing through sinkholes to permanent leaks, more than a century of oil drilling in the area has made environmental hazards difficult. These emergency situations have been added to a long backlog of wells to connect around the state.
Recognizing the growing challenges, the Railway Commission called for an additional $100 million from Congress late last year. “The number and costs of emergency wells have increased significantly over the past five years,” said Danny Sorrells, RRC’s assistant executive director, wrote to lawmakers in the first letter the Houston Chronicle obtained.
“The issue was reported to the RRC and mentioned site repair,” said Bryce Dubby, an agency spokesman. “Committee staff are monitoring conditions within and around sinkholes and are considering options to address groundwater quality concerns.”
“I suddenly got some oil.”
Kelton Ranch is a few miles from McKayy in rural Upton County. McCamey is one of countless Texas towns that have been formed by the oil boom. Wildcatter George McCamey attacked oil in 1925, and soon several companies were drilling in the area. The town, named after him, quickly grew.
Rodman Noel’s oil fields on the outskirts of McCailey, including Kelton Ranch, were discovered in 1953, according to nearby historical markers.
The Keltons purchased the property in 1963. Kelton remembers the family tradition of drinking well water on foot from the ranch home. The family still has cows on the ranch. They do not own any mineral rights under the petroleum that have been cut off from property rights. This is a general situation in the state.
Upton County is still one of Texas’ top oil-producing counties. However, the area around McCamey is no longer a drilling hotspot. The Texas Legislature called the town “Texas wind energy capital” in 2001, and wind turbines were scattered across nearby Bluffs.
Records show Radford’s groceries are well shown “Caved In” after plugging in in the 1970s. Kelton says the sinkhole has grown significantly over the past 18 months. The well casing fell deep into the hole. They believe the underground layer has been washed away, but I don’t know why. The holes in March were particularly larger than the photos from January 2024.
“All of a sudden it’s way bigger,” Bill Kelton said. “And then, it suddenly got some oil.”
The well of a broken orphan buds across the Permian
The Railway Board has a long-standing state program for plugging in orphan wells, which have no active operators and are not blocked by previous owners. The agency also received large amounts of federal funds to close orphan wells during the Biden administration.
In addition to the Railway Commission’s recent fundraising request, the Republican-backed bill in the Texas Legislature sets a timeline for operators to plug in inert wells in this session.
However, wells like Kelton Ranch pose additional challenges. They are not considered orphan wells as they were previously plugged and did not have an active operator. Legal liability for cleanup in case of a plugged well fails is the subject of a lawsuit against another property 50 miles north as the crow flies.
Ashley Watt, the landowner of Antina Ranch, sues Chevron, saying the failure contaminated her property. Her lawyer, Sarah Stugner, called these situations in the Permian Basin “Zombie Wells,” and has been back in life since venting salt water, oil or dangerous gas.
The problem is that it is mounted monthly. Kelton Ranch is approximately 40 miles from the puncture that took place in Crane County in January 2022 and December 2023. Another blowout in October 2024 made me feel uneasy about the town of Tosa, the town of Reeves County. Last month, another leaking orphanage was identified on the land that rancher Skyler Wight leased for cattle grazing.
The Railway Commission has responded to several recent emergencies. Plug in the well that caused the December 2023 blowout cost $2.5 million. The recent blowout near Toyah was packed by pipeline company Kinder Morgan.
Meanwhile, earthquakes related to wastewater injection wells continue to shake the area. The Railway Commission has restricted deep injections to reduce seismic activity in the region.
Zhong Lu, a geophysicist at Southern Methodist University, published a paper on sinkholes, earthquakes and subsidence in the Permian Basin. His research shows that intensive oil and gas excavation and the combination of limestone and salt layers in the Permian basin made the surface unstable.
Landowners like Kelton are seeking answers as the pockmarked surfaces of the Permian Basin sink, shaking and crumbling.
This story was updated on March 14, 2025 to clarify the questions surrounding the legal liability of wells whose plugs failed.
About this story
Perhaps you’ve noticed: This story, like all the news we publish, is free to read. That’s because Inside Climate News is a 501C3 non-profit organization. Don’t charge a subscription fee, lock news behind a paywall, or disrupt the website with ads. We are free to use climate and environmental news for you and anyone who wants it.
That’s not all. It also shares news for free with many other media organizations around the country. Many of them cannot afford to do their own environmental journalism. We have built a coast-to-coast bureau to report local stories and worked with local newsrooms and joint publications to ensure that this important work is shared as widely as possible.
The two of us launched an ICN in 2007. Six years later, we received the Pulitzer Prize for national reporting. And now we run the country’s oldest and largest dedicated climate newsroom. We tell stories in all of that complexity. We hold the polluters accountable. Exposes environmental injustice. It exposes incorrect information. We scrutinize solutions and encourage action.
Donations from readers like you fund every aspect of what we do. If not yet, will we support our ongoing work, reporting on the biggest crisis our planet is facing, and help us reach even more readers in more places?
Take some time to make a tax-deductible donation. All of them make a difference.
thank you,
Martha Pskovsky
Reporter, El Paso, Texas
Martha Pskowski covers climate change and the environment in Texas from its El Paso base. She was previously an environmental reporter for the El Paso Times. She began her career as a freelance journalist in Mexico, reporting outlets including the Guardian and Yale E360. Martha holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies from Hampshire University and a master’s degree in journalism and Latin American studies from New York University. She is a former Fulbright researcher in Mexico. Martha can be reached by the signal from PSSKOW.33.
