Disposal and temporary surface storage of spent geothermal fluids and surface subsidence and faulting are the major environmental problems that could arise from geopressured geothermal water production.

Historical monitoring along Matagorda Peninsula from Brown Cedar Cut to Pass Cavallo records the nature and magnitude of changes in position of the shoreline and vegetation line and provides insight into the factors affecting those changes.

The Bureau of Economic Geology has been conducting regional studies of the Frio Formation along the Texas Gulf Coast to evaluate potential geothermal energy from deep, geopressured sandstone reservoirs (Bebout, Dorfman, and Agagu, 1975; Bebout, Agagu, and Dorfman, 1975).

Historical monitoring along Matagorda Island and San Jose Island records the nature and magnitude of changes in position of the shoreline and vegetation line and provides insight into the factors affecting those changes.