In the dusty expanse of West Texas, oil executives are celebrating. Not because they’ve figured out how to protect the climate or help struggling communities—but because they’ve found a faster way to squeeze more oil from the Permian Basin while cutting corners and raising risks.
At the center of this so-called “progress” is Enterprise Products’ Permian-to-Houston pipeline expansion, a project that would funnel even more crude oil from fracked wells in the Permian to Houston’s refineries and export terminals. While oil companies rake in profits, communities and ecosystems are left behind in a mess of pollution, poisoned water, and worsening climate chaos.
This is not a solution. This is a false solution—and we’re here to expose it.
Chevron just announced it will triple-frac half of its new wells in the Permian by 2025. That means three times the amount of hydraulic fracturing in each well, with the goal of speeding up production and lowering costs
(Reuters, April 2025).
But this method requires massive volumes of water and chemicals—and creates even more toxic wastewater. So where does all that waste go? Often into underground injection wells or questionable recycling systems, where it risks leaking into aquifers or triggering earthquakes. Texas has already seen over 100 fracking-related earthquakes in just the last two years.
More fracking means more oil. More oil means more pipelines. And Enterprise’s expansion is part of the machine that makes this possible.
According to the Journal of Petroleum Technology, water management is the Permian Basin’s biggest challenge. Drillers now produce about 4 to 5 barrels of toxic wastewater for every 1 barrel of oil, straining disposal infrastructure and increasing the risk of spills and contamination.
Meanwhile, communities in Texas face chronic drought, shrinking water supplies, and failing infrastructure. Yet the oil and gas industry continues to use billions of gallons of freshwater each year for fracking—much of it in counties already struggling with water scarcity.
This is the opposite of sustainable. This is reckless.
When Enterprise finishes its expansion, all that oil heads straight to Houston—where communities of color and low-income families live next door to refineries that spew out toxic pollutants day and night. These neighborhoods already suffer some of the highest asthma and cancer rates in Texas.
By enabling more oil to flow through these facilities, Enterprise is not just building a pipeline—it’s reinforcing a system of environmental racism.
Enterprise Products claims this pipeline is about “modernizing infrastructure.” But what it really does is lock in:
We don’t need more pipes, more oil, or more empty promises. We need great solutions—like community solar, wind energy, battery storage, and water-smart clean energy jobs that protect both people and the planet.
It’s 2025. We have the technology. We have the workforce. What we lack is the political will to say enough is enough.
It’s time to stand up to Big Oil’s greenwashed expansion and demand a future rooted in justice, health, and true sustainability.
Enterprise’s Permian-to-Houston pipeline is a false solution.
