A state investigation into a single leaking oil well in a San Antonio subdivision is drawing attention to a gap that applies to home buyers anywhere in Texas: nothing in state law requires developers to tell buyers that a plugged or abandoned well sits near the house, and no statewide rule governs building around one.
The case, reported Wednesday by Inside Climate News and the San Antonio Express-News and published by The Texas Tribune, centers on the Thompson Callaway Spears No. 1 well, which sits on a vacant lot inside the Preserve at Medina, a neighborhood of starter homes on San Antonio's southwest side.
Plugged, and plugged again
The well was drilled in 1955, stopped producing in 2004 and was plugged by its operator in 2006. Gas was found escaping near it in 2019, as construction on the subdivision began. Because the last operator was delinquent with the Railroad Commission, the state took over the cost and has replugged the well five times since, most recently in November 2024.
According to the report, the commission has put more than $1 million into the work.
In June, contractors told the commission that methane was migrating underground in the direction of houses, which they warned could set off an explosion. Air and soil monitoring has picked up methane and hydrogen sulfide. A Texas Commission on Environmental Quality spokesperson said the hydrogen sulfide levels found there could cause odors as well as headaches and nausea.
Railroad Commission spokesman Bryce Dubee said the agency is reviewing a plan to plug the well again with a different method and different materials, and that the commission and TCEQ now monitor the area regularly. The agency fenced the lot in 2025 and posted a sign warning of flammable gas. At least three other plugged wells lie within the subdivision, the report says.
Residents told reporters they were never warned. One mother whose house is within 60 feet of the well said she has had headaches from the fumes since 2024. The developers did not answer the reporters, and neither did builders D.R. Horton or LGI Homes.
