The Wink Sink - Odessa American Article

January 03, 2005

Spread of Wink’s sink holes brings calls for study

Cause of sinks and what can be done about them is unclear

By Ruth Campbell
Odessa American

WINK A study must be done sooner rather than later on why sinkholes are forming in Wink and what can be done about it, a UTPB official and an oilfield consultant say.
Wink already has three sinkholes — one formed in 1980, another about 10 years ago, and one about two-and-a-half years ago. The latest one has cracks radiating out from the original sinkhole near State Highway 115. The cracks have exposed a gas line owned by Texas Gas Service, and one crack runs through the middle of a Texas-New Mexico Power substation.
The craters are clustered about a mile-and-a-half outside of Wink, John Bell, an oilfield consultant and independent producer in Kermit, said.
The cause of the sinkholes hasn’t been pinpointed, but they seem to appear wherever there are waterwells used to provide water for the oilfield, Bob Trentham, director of the Center for Energy and Economic Diversification at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin, said. Trentham said it’s not because of oil and gas production, but probably has to do with the water.
Trentham said he is working with the Midland Railroad Commission office, those who own the surface and subsurface in the area, concerned citizens and officials from Wink and Kermit to see what can be done as soon as possible.
Longer-term, Trentham said they will look for state and federal help. Bell said he would like the U.S. Geological Survey to put out monitoring equipment to sense tremors or earth movement. He said he would also like the Winkler County Sheriff’s Office to have an early-warning system in case the ground starts to fall in.
Bell and Trentham said there is no way to guess the timetable of when the ground will give way. “Other sinkholes have occurred overnight,” Bell said.
Winkler County Road 204 was closed about two months ago because of cracks, Bell said. Along with a blazing orange warning sign, one of the gates across the road features a life preserver, apparently to stop people from going down in the Wink sink.
The first crater is about 300 feet across and 75 to 80 feet deep to the water surface. A second crater — referred to as No. 3, but actually the second one that formed — is about 750 feet wide and 900 feet long, Bell said.
The big concerns for Precinct 2 Winkler County Commissioner Robbie Wolf are the exposed gas line and substation. Wolf said the county is doing its best to keep an eye on things.
Johnny King, Permian area operations manager for Texas Gas Service, said his company is in the process of re-routing gas from that line to an El Paso Natural Gas line at the north end of Wink.
“We have a contract signed. Jan. 3, we’ll have a contractor out to start laying line from that tap into Wink,” King said.
Also, if the gas line were to split tonight, King said plans are in place to lay a bypass line around where it broke to get gas back into the Wink system on a temporary basis.
The line, which he said is not high-pressure, became exposed around Oct. 20. “It’s a big enough worry that we’ve got these plans in place in case something does happen,” King said.
One of the cracks also goes through the middle of a Texas-New Mexico Power station near the gas line, Bell and King said.
Tommy Terry, operations coordinator for the West Texas Business Unit of Texas-New Mexico Power, said his company has been monitoring the fissure for the past couple of years. “We have ways we can feed around (it),” Terry said. The substation serves less than 100 customers in all the oilfields around Wink and Wickett, he said.
Glen Larum, public information officer for the Texas Department of Transportation, said an area engineer looked at the cracks along Highway 115 on Dec. 21. Larum said the cracks are of varying length, 6 inches wide and 1 to 3 feet deep. The area has been marked with delineators — short steel posts topped with reflectors — and orange barrels, Larum said.
In the Odessa district, Highway 115 runs from Andrews to Kermit to Wink to Interstate 20, Larum said.
“Our maintenance people in Kermit are certainly aware they’re (the sinkholes) there. We’re trying to stay on top of the situation as it develops,” he said.
U.S. Rep.-elect Mike Conaway said he flew over both sinkholes and looked at the new fissures Dec. 20. Conaway was in Kermit that day for the 75th anniversary of the Winkler County Courthouse, along with Texas Rep. Buddy West and state Railroad Commission officials.
The main purpose of the flyover was to get momentum for a study, Conaway said. He said he plans to look into getting federal funding for a study. He added that U.S. Sen. Stevan Pearce, R-Hobbs, also has a sinkhole in his district in Jal, N.M.
Conaway said he doesn’t know how much a study would cost, but he guessed funding would come from public and private sources.
“We need to know why this is occurring,” Conaway said.

Last Updated: Saturday, January 13, 2007

Home