<\/p>\n
Jackie Chesnutt props up a sign next to a leaking oil well operated by Core Petro on her property near Knickerbocker.<\/p>\n
Paul Ratje\/For Inside Climate News<\/p>\n
Jackie Chesnutt poses for a portrait on her property in Tom Green County. She has documented pollution from oil wells and filed complaints with state regulators.<\/p>\n
Paul Ratje\/For Inside Climate News<\/p>\n
Jackie Chesnutt feels underneath a tank that is rusted out on its base. It\u2019s part of a tank battery operated by Core Petro on Chesnutt\u2019s property near Knickerbocker.<\/p>\n
Paul Ratje\/For Inside Climate News<\/p>\n
Jackie Chesnutt looks through documents pertaining to oil wells located on her property, many of which have leaked.<\/p>\n
Paul Ratje\/For Inside Climate News<\/p>\n
Chesnutt\u2019s dog, Einstein, rests on a sofa at her home in Knickerbocker.<\/p>\n
Paul Ratje\/For Inside Climate News<\/p>\n
A certificate showing Jackie Chesnutt\u2019s registration as a professional engineer sits next to other relics from her career in her home office.<\/p>\n
Paul Ratje\/For Inside Climate News<\/p>\n
A windmill supplies water on Jackie Chesnutt\u2019s property. She worries that pollution from oil wells could pollute the groundwater she relies on.<\/p>\n
Paul Ratje\/For Inside Climate News<\/p>\n
A leaky oil pipe sits on the ground next to a tank battery owned by Core Petro LLC which is in disrepair on Jackie Lynn Chestnutt\u2019s property in Knickerbocker.<\/p>\n
Paul Ratje\/For Inside Climate News<\/p>\n
Jackie Chesnutt points to a leaky oil pipe next to a Core Petro tank battery in disrepair on her property near Knickerbocker.<\/p>\n
Paul Ratje\/For Inside Climate News<\/p>\n
On Sep. 16, 2024, Railroad Commission inspectors documented extensive hydrocarbon pollution at Well #2 on Chesnutt\u2019s ranch. The commission never issued any fines.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Railroad Commission of Texas<\/p>\n
On Sep. 16, 2024, Railroad Commission inspectors documented extensive hydrocarbon pollution at Well #2 on Chesnutt\u2019s ranch. The commission never issued any fines.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Railroad Commission of Texas<\/p>\n
Pictures of the three Railroad Commissioners of Texas hang in the office in San Angelo. From left: Wayne Christian, Jim Wright and Christi\u00a0Craddick.<\/p>\n
Paul Ratje\/For Inside Climate News<\/p>\n
Jackie Chesnutt points to a leaking oil well operated by Core Petro on her property near Knickerbocker.<\/p>\n
Paul Ratje\/For Inside Climate News<\/p>\n
Jackie Chesnutt photographs a leaky oil well on her property in November 2025.<\/p>\n
Paul Ratje\/For Inside Climate News<\/p>\n
Jackie Chesnutt holds a piece of soil hardened from the produced water of an oil well.<\/p>\n
Paul Ratje\/For Inside Climate News<\/p>\n
An aerial view of Jackie Lynn Chesnutt\u2019s property in Tom Green County. She has owned the ranch for nearly three decades and worked to increase tree cover and provide wildlife habitat.<\/p>\n
Paul Ratje\/For Inside Climate News<\/p>\n
TOM GREEN COUNTY\u00a0\u2014 Some Texas oil wells gush hundreds of barrels of oil a day. But many are like those on Jackie Chesnutt\u2019s ranch, which only trickle out a couple of barrels per month.<\/p>\n
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Chesnutt, a retired engineer, says the five wells operating on her West Texas ranch are out of compliance with state rules and should be shut down. Core Petro, the company that runs, them says it\u2019s struggling to break even, let alone pay to plug wells. Besides, it says, all its wells are in compliance with state regulations.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Such situations are not uncommon.<\/p>\n
There are thousands of oil and gas wells like these around Texas: low-producing wells leased by companies operating on a shoestring. About two-thirds of the active oil wells in Texas, or 99,000 wells, produce fewer than 10 barrels of oil a day, according to the state regulator. To remain active, they must produce at least five barrels for three consecutive months or at least one barrel for 12 consecutive months.<\/p>\n
Companies will often maintain a minimal amount of oil production rather than plugging a well, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Landowners like Chesnutt argue the pattern can lead to pollution and burdensome equipment on their land.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Oil industry analysts and environmental advocates say some companies report the bare minimum of oil production to avoid plugging wells.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Advocates of reform say stricter rules are needed to ensure companies plug wells in a timely manner and assume the costs so they don\u2019t become the state\u2019s responsibility.<\/p>\n Texas has more than 159,000 inactive wells. If the operator of one of those goes out of business, the unplugged well eventually becomes an orphan. And Texas already is facing a record high backlog of more than 11,000 orphan wells.<\/p>\n Fighting back<\/p>\n Chesnutt is the rare landowner fighting back against this broken system. The 69-year-old and her now-deceased husband bought the 375-acre property outside San Angelo in 1998. After retiring from a career working at a pharmaceutical company, she now tends goats and sheep on the ranch.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Her complaints to the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates the oil and gas\u00a0industry, have gone nowhere, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe wells on the lease are all producing,\u201d commission spokesperson Bryce Dubee said.<\/p>\n Chesnutt has resorted to shutting off power to the wells because she says they are out of compliance. Core Petro says that it\u2019s\u00a0Chesnutt who is breaking the law by shutting off power and, without electricity, it has no way to produce oil.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re between a rock and hard place,\u201d said Cassie Ohlhausen, who runs Core Petro with her husband, Kent. \u201cWe\u2019re not financially able to plug a bunch of oil wells. That\u2019s not why we\u2019re in this business. We\u2019re in this business to produce oil wells.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Chesnutt\u2019s growing frustration has spilled over into confrontations both with Core Petro and Railroad Commission staff. The commission alleges that Chesnutt physically assaulted staff members and endangered them with aggressive driving. The owners of Core Petro say she has threatened them with a gun. Chesnutt disputes their claims.<\/p>\n The Railroad Commission declined to answer numerous questions about the lease on\u00a0Chesnutt\u2019s ranch. Instead, it provided a letter sent to Chesnutt describing the alleged altercations with staff members. The commission has not issued any fines to Core Petro.<\/p>\n Chesnutt\u2019s ranch is one small window into the vast problem of Texas\u2019 aging oil assets. Existing financial mechanisms are not enough to retire the thousands of low-producing oil wells littered across the state. The problem eventually falls to the state or becomes a thorn in the side of landowners like Chesnutt.<\/p>\n Persimmon Creek Ranch<\/p>\n Persimmon Creek Ranch lies where the desert\u00a0scrubland of the Trans Pecos region meets the rocky woodlands of the Texas Hill Country. About 200 miles northwest of Austin, the ranch gets its name from the native persimmons Chesnutt collects to make preserves.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the biggest things we have focused on out here since we\u2019ve bought the place is water, water, water,\u201d she said. Chesnutt, now widowed, relies on a windmill-operated well to provide water for her residence and animals.<\/p>\n Chesnutt\u2019s home office displays professional mementos, including her diploma from the University of Texas at Austin, where she was an early female graduate of the engineering program. She now applies an engineer\u2019s attention to detail to investigating the drilling operations on her property.<\/p>\n Chesnutt holds 50% of the mineral rights on the property, meaning she receives a share of profits from the wells. It has amounted to only a few hundred dollars in royalties every couple months in recent years. The money is hardly worth the trouble the wells have caused, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n While the lease was previously operated by\u00a0Amor Petroleum, Well #10 had been shut down for lack of production. That left only four producing wells.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Then, Core Petro took over the lease in 2021. Chesnutt says that\u2019s when the problems started.<\/p>\n Once a well is inactive, the operator has 12 months to plug it or obtain an extension. The clock started ticking for Core Petro to get Well #10 producing again. It\u00a0reported a small amount of production at the well to bring it back to active status.<\/p>\n Chesnutt said the company caused numerous spills in their attempts to get oil flowing.<\/p>\n \u201cThey made a big mess of it,\u201d she said, showing photos of spills of oil and produced water, a hazardous byproduct of drilling. Chesnutt fears the spills could contaminate her groundwater and has paid to get her water tested multiple times.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cWe have worked our asses off to make this place wonderful and beautiful,\u201d she said. \u201cI refuse to accept that the next person is going to have this happen to them.\u201d<\/p>\n Reporting discrepancies<\/p>\n The Railroad Commission cited Core Petro for\u00a0unpermitted disposal of oil and gas waste, or spills, at the lease. But each time, the violation was later resolved without the company paying fines.<\/p>\n \u201cRRC records indicate four pollution violations for this lease,\u201d commission spokesperson Dubee said. \u201cIn each instance the operator was notified and upon reinspection all violations have been fixed on the lease indicating compliance.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Core\u2019s Cassie\u00a0Ohlhausen said that some amount of spillage is to be expected and that the company always cleaned up the spills.<\/p>\n But Chesnutt\u2019s frustrations only grew.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat has really blown my mind about this is that we have to follow one set of rules in industry,\u201d Chesnutt said. \u201cBut the oil companies, they allow them to just come out here and do whatever the hell they want.\u201d<\/p>\n By her account, only one of the wells on her property has produced oil in years. But Core Petro reports ongoing production at all the active wells. The Railroad Commission requires well testing to prove they are producing oil. Core Petro\u2019s most recent well testing, in 2025, shows each well producing less than one barrel a day.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Chesnutt claimed the company is falsifying production numbers to keep the wells operating. The company denies that claim.<\/p>\n \u201cThe operators can fill in any information they want and nobody checks them,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s unacceptable. I\u2019m really sad that the Permian Basin and all these areas are like this.\u201d<\/p>\n While the state rules require every well to be actively producing oil, production reports are required only for the entire lease, not individual wells. An analysis found Inconsistencies between public records of oil production and inspections at the lease.<\/p>\n On July 2, 2025, a truck picked up oil from the ranch and recorded the level of oil in the tank afterward, according to a commission inspection report. A Railroad Commission inspector visited the site on Sept. 16. He noted that the amount of oil in the tank hadn\u2019t changed since July 2.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n But in the intervening months, Core Petro reported producing 10 barrels in July and another 15 barrels in August. The company was reporting production on paper, but the volume of the tank did not rise, according to the commission’s inspection.<\/p>\n The Railroad Commission declined to answer questions about the reporting discrepancy, and it does not appear the agency has investigated the discrepancy.\u00a0Ohlhausen said the company uses an auxiliary tank to collect the oil. Once it is full, the oil is transported to the tank battery, a large metal tank that stores oil. She said this could explain why the tank battery did not rise even though oil was being produced.<\/p>\n \u201cThe reporting of production is accurate and is done by a third party who tracks our oil sales and inputs those numbers into the RRC system,\u201d Ohlhausen said.<\/p>\n Only one of the wells on the ranch has an auxiliary tank. That means any oil produced at the other wells would have to flow directly into the tank battery.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Commission documents reveal other inconsistencies. On February 7, 2025, the Railroad Commission issued a violation to Core Petro that said Well #9 was an \u201cinactive unplugged well.\u201d However, the next time the inspector visited the site, the well was determined to be compliant. The Railroad Commission declined to respond to questions about the discrepancy.<\/p>\n Beyond reporting such problems to the Railroad Commission, though, property owners have little recourse. Chesnutt is frustrated by the regulator\u2019s inaction regarding the company operating on her ranch.<\/p>\n Broader problems<\/p>\n Core Petro specializes in operating aging, low-producing wells, Ohlhausen\u00a0explained, saying that her husband, Kent, is called \u201cthe Oil Well Undertaker\u201d because he works with \u201cend of life wells.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re the ones that end up with what they call the stripper wells that have already been stripped of all their oil,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re just producing a bit of oil every day to keep somebody alive.\u201d<\/p>\n Kent Ohlhausen owns several other oil companies. Many of the leases he operates meet the bare minimum requirement of one barrel of oil production a month for 12 consecutive months. For example, Ohlhausen Oil Co.\u2019s Ohlhausen W.T. lease\u00a0reported one barrel of oil production for each month between April 2023 to April 2024. The company\u2019s Barker\u00a0C.P. lease reported one barrel of oil production every month from December 2023 to January 2025.<\/p>\n \u201cWe literally work seven days a week, producing stripper oils,\u201d his wife said. \u201cWe just eke out a little bit of money and that\u2019s just fine with us.\u201d<\/p>\n The company paid a $50,000 bond to the state of Texas to cover plugging costs if they went out of business. But Cassie\u00a0Ohlhausen said that even if they wanted to, they wouldn\u2019t be able to plug all their wells.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes the money is not there,\u201d she said. \u201cWe don\u2019t take investors. We are just Kent and Cassie.\u201d<\/p>\n Texas is dedicating more money than ever to plugging orphan wells. But the number still continues to climb. Many of the marginal wells that continue producing when their owners do not have the means to plug them eventually become orphan wells.<\/p>\n \u201cOperators will often produce a de minimis amount of hydrocarbons to stay out of inactive status,\u201d said Adam Peltz, a senior attorney at the Environmental Defense Fund. \u201cThis is widely abused.\u201d<\/p>\n Peltz said that properly identifying inactive wells is important because it creates an \u201cearly warning system\u201d for regulators.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cEvery marginal well eventually becomes an inactive well. And many inactive wells become orphan wells,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s no reason why the public should bear the risk.\u201d<\/p>\n