Texas Writes the Terms for Plugging Its Oldest Idle Wells; New York Cuts Filings for Banks and Nursing Homes

The bottom line today

Fifteen years idle, 25 years since completion. Those two numbers decide which Texas oil and gas wells lose the cheap extension that has kept them unplugged, and on October 23 the Railroad Commission published the rules that say how an operator keeps one alive [1, 2]. The law is fair. The draft’s terms are tighter than they need to be, and its claim that operators bear no new cost does not survive its own testing section. The rest of today’s documents are relief: a looser bonding menu for Texas carbon storage and two New York proposals that cut paperwork for banks and nursing homes [3, 4, 5].

TX Texas SB 1150 rules: what does a 15/25 well owner have to do?

What it does. SB 1150, by Sen. Middleton and Rep. Geren [6], bars the routine plugging extension for a land well that has been inactive more than 15 years and was completed more than 25 years before the request [2]. The commission may still grant one if the operator has a history of returning idle wells to production, shows financial hardship, puts the well in a compliance plan to plug or restore it by September 1, 2042, or posts a performance bond for the full plugging cost that runs with the well for its lifetime [2]. Hardship and restoration-history extensions do not transfer to a buyer, and a sale of an inactive well needs a joint filing by both operators [1].

The proposed rule fills in the tests [1]. An operator with no more than 10 inactive wells qualifies on history by restoring one well in the prior year; a larger operator must restore 10 percent of its inactive wells [1]. Hardship requires CPA-certified statements for three fiscal years, and approval is warranted when revenue or assets fall short of the full cost of plugging every 15/25 well, when EBITDA falls short of one-fifteenth of that cost, or when paying that fifteenth would mean bankruptcy or a default on material debt [1]. A compliance plan must plug or restore at least the operator’s 15/25 wells divided by the years left to 2042, every year [1]. Bonds must come from a bank authorized to do business in Texas [1].

Where it stands. The Senate passed SB 1150 30-1 and the House 128-0, and it was signed June 20, 2025 [2]. The plugging limit takes effect September 1, 2027; the rules must be adopted by December 31, 2026 [2]. Comments close at 5:00 p.m. on November 13 [1].

Pratt’s read. The commission’s case is simple: fewer wells left idle indefinitely means fewer orphaned wells the state plugs with its own money [1]. That is a legitimate cost to taxpayers, and an operator who never intends to produce a well should not hold it forever on paper. Credit is due for the compliance plan route, which lets a small producer work down a backlog on a schedule running to 2042 [1].

Two terms deserve comments before November 13. First, the “full cost calculation” that sets the bond includes the commission’s own staff time and its indirect administration at the rate it negotiates for federal grants, while excluding the operator’s overhead [1]. The bond, in other words, covers the regulator’s overhead too. Second, the notice states “there will be no additional economic costs” for regulated persons, arguing the extensions are optional and “They are not obligatory costs” [1]. Yet the same rule changes annual fluid level or five-year pressure testing from wells more than 25 years old and idle 10 years to every inactive well more than 15 years old, as the statute’s new reporting section requires [1, 2]. That is a mandated field cost on a larger set of wells, and the agency should count it. The commission does count its own: about $6 million in year one, rising to $14.9 million in year three, with 86 new employees and no general revenue yet appropriated [1].

TX Texas Class VI rules: carbon storage gets more ways to post security

What it does. The Railroad Commission won primacy over Class VI carbon dioxide injection wells from the EPA effective December 15, 2025 [3]. Its proposal would let storage operators meet financial assurance with trust funds, insurance, escrow accounts and other instruments the director approves, not only surety bonds and letters of credit, and combine instruments for a phase of a project [3]. It allows written requests for exceptions to the cemented liner and packer placement requirements, drops in-operation sampling the federal rules require only before injection, separates public meetings from contested case hearings, and requires applicants to engage emergency responders and report a list of community meetings [3].

Where it stands. Proposed October 23; comments close November 23 [3].

Pratt’s read. This is good news for an energy industry Texas wants to keep. Each added instrument can lower the cost of tying up capital for decades of site care. The commission still refuses self-insurance and corporate guarantees, which the federal rules allow, and it gives its reason plainly: “Self insurance also represents the highest financial risk to the public” [3]. It notes that large firms once thought too big to fail have collapsed and left the state the bill [3]. That is a fair worry for the post-injection years, when a well earns nothing. A strong balance sheet is still a real asset, though, and a financial test with a ratings floor would let the best-capitalized developers spend less on premiums. The agency invites comment on exactly that question [3].

NY New York Part 14: fewer filings for banks investing in subsidiaries

What it does. The Department of Financial Services would replace 3 NYCRR Part 14 [4]. A well-managed, well-capitalized bank could open a subsidiary doing activities it has already reported without any notice, and use after-the-fact notice for 33 listed activities drawn partly from the Comptroller of the Currency’s list [4]. Added investments up to 1 percent of capital and surplus in an approved subsidiary would need no filing [4]. Eligibility would turn on management and composite ratings of 1 or 2 rather than freedom from any enforcement order [4]. A new Section 14.4 codifies the department’s practice on tax equity financing, the equity structure banks use to fund projects that generate tax credits, following the federal rule at 12 C.F.R. §7.1025 [4].

Where it stands. Proposed October 21; comments run 60 days, to December 20 by this column’s count [4]. Adoption would fold in and end the department’s May 25, 2025 wild card order [4].

Pratt’s read. Credit, without reservation. The department says the rule aims “to promote competitiveness of the New York banking charter” and expects fewer hours spent on filings, though it puts no figure on the savings [4]. Writing the tax equity terms down matters to developers of any project that runs on tax credits, since a codified rule is easier to plan around than case-by-case approval.

NY New York nursing homes: bed census goes from weekly to monthly

What it does. The Department of Health would amend 10 NYCRR 415.32 so nursing homes report bed census once a month, from a count taken at 12:00 a.m. on the first Wednesday and submitted by 11:59 p.m. the following Tuesday, in a form the department specifies [5]. The administrator, director of nursing, operator or HCS coordinator could file, not only a designated data reporter [5].

Where it stands. Published the same day as the bank rule, with the same 60-day comment window [5]. There is no hearing scheduled [5].

Pratt’s read. Fifty-two filings a year become 12. The department’s own impact statement says the change “will greatly reduce the administrative burden of weekly reporting,” and that it will contact facilities directly if an emergency calls for current numbers [5]. Its flexibility analysis says small and rural homes share in the relief [5].

On the calendar

Comments on the Texas inactive well rule close November 13, with adoption possible from November 22 [1]. The carbon storage comments close November 23 [3]. The commission owes state leaders its first inactive well report by December 1, and its SB 1150 rules by December 31 [2]. Both New York comment periods end December 20, on this column’s 60-day count [4, 5]. The 15/25 limit itself starts September 1, 2027 [2].