Comment by June 16.

The government of Texas is about to authorize the spreading of treated oilfield wastewater on Texas farmland, ranchland, and near rivers.

Once it’s flowing, you’ll have no way to know if it ended up on the food you’re eating, the hay your cattle ate, or the dust blowing through your kid’s school.

Last year, Texas lawmakers passed HB 49 — making it nearly impossible to sue oil and gas companies for harm from this wastewater, as long as they follow the state’s new rules — which haven’t been finalized yet.

That means whatever state regulators write into the rules are the only protection Texans can count on.

State regulators have to read every comment they get. There’s still time to tell them that Texans care about keeping pollution out of our food. A coalition of citizen groups are calling on them to test the waste streams for oil and gas residues, heavy metals, PFAS and radioactive waste; to require setbacks large enough to protect water and public health; and to release the data that will prove to the public that their rules are safe.

Public comments close June 16, 2026 (11:59 PM Central). Public hearing June 15 in Austin or online.

---

Why This Rule Matters

The new rule creates a program to let oil and gas operators spread treated “produced water” — the chemical-laden waste that comes up with oil — directly onto Texas land.

The industry produces a lot of this waste. In fact, most of what they produce is waste. Texas produces about 5.8 million barrels of oil every day, and with each barrel comes about four barrels of this wastewater. They produce so much toxic wastewater that the deep underground wells they have used for decades to dispose of it are filling up.

But it creates a bigger risk for the public. Despite the long lists of cancer-causing and endocrine-damaging toxins in oilfield waste, the new rules treat produced water like municipal wastewater; allow it to be dumped within a jetliner’s length of private wells; and don’t require companies to specifically test for or remove the most toxic chemicals known to be present in oilfield waste.

This doesn’t just put Texas families at risk — it also creates a serious threat for Texas agriculture, which both needs clean water to produce its crops, and for buyers in other states to trust that our crops are safe.

What to demand from TCEQ

• More time to comment, with hearings held in affected regions.

• Real setbacks — from public water sources, and from schools, churches, residences, and daycares, all scaled to documented spill distances.

• Real testing — for the contaminants known to be in produced water (heavy metals, radium, PFAS, industrial solvents), by independent certified labs.

• Real transparency — public disclosure of chemical contents, application volumes, testing data, and the science behind the rule.

How To Submit

Submit a comment by 11:59 PM Central, June 16:
tceq.commentinput.com/?id=bB4ec365S.
Reference Rule Project Number 2026-006-309-OW.

Attend the public hearing on June 15 in Austin or online. Register by June 11 by emailing Rules@tceq.texas.gov. They’ll send you meeting information.

Read the full breakdown — sources, science, and the full record of what’s being proposed →