Official report to the House of Representatives of the 58th Legislature of Texas Page: 28 of 94
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Committee Counsel delivered the following closing statement:
The evidence that has been given before the Committee
in these three days of testimony has shown a shocking
situation. There have been violations of the law on a
wholesale basis for years, with collusion of employees
of the state.
The evidence shows that at least 124 wells have already
been found to be deviated in excess of the tolerance permitted
by law, and tests on other wells are still proceeding.
It has been estimated that 350 wells will ultimately
be found to be illegally slanted in the East Texas Field
alone. These slanted wells have been shown to deviate
as much as 60 from the vertical, and to reach out as far
as 4200 feet horizontally, or more than 3/4 of a mile.
This is astounding when it is considered that the producing
horizon at which these wells were aimed was only about
3600 feet deep, so that the horizontal reach of these wells
was greater than their vertical depth.
The evidence has shown that deviations such as these could
not possibly have been accidental. A well might accidentally
deviate a few degrees, but for the great deviations shown by
this record, it was absolutely necessary that the deviation
be caused intentionally. This meant that all members of
the drilling crew had to know that the well was being intentionally
deviated. When the number of wells is considered,
it is apparent that over the years literally hundreds of men
worked on these deviated wells. This means that this practice
must have been common knowledge in the community, and
flourished for years without action either by local law enforcement
officials or state officials.
The evidence also shows that in most of the cases of slant
wells, records had to be falsified not only by the operator
and drilling contractor, but also by someone in business
of making deviation surveys. And in many cases falpe
electric logs were also made.
Most serious of all, the evidence shows that in many cases
there was collusion by employees of the Railroad Commission,
who made false reports of surveys to substantiate the
false records made by other parties to the conspiracy. And
the evidence shows that thousands of 4q1iars were received
by commission employees as bribes, in one instance more
than $58,000. 00 being received by one man.-27
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Texas Legislature. House of Representatives. General Investigating Committee. Official report to the House of Representatives of the 58th Legislature of Texas, book, 1963; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth5869/m1/28/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .