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DAISETTA, Texas -- The talk of Daisetta right now is not the massive sinkhole, but rather some reptiles that have taken up residence in it. Some claim as many as two alligators have turned the 250-foot deep sinkhole into a private swimming pool.  

11 News: Do you want to see it?

Bryan Howell: “No.”

11 News: Why not?

Howell: “Because it might come after me and I don't how to climb trees.”

Texas Railroad Commission

Someone snapped this shot of an alligator that has taken up residence in the sinkhole near Dasietta.

But as the curiosity about what lies beneath the surface of the sinkhole spreads, people are whispering about what caused the earth fissure in the first place.

“My husband had said all along that they had done something that was what caused the sinkhole,” said Daisetta resident Jean Stevens.

It is a question the Texas Railroad Commission is asking too.

Was the company that owns the land around the sinkhole pumping too much saltwater into the ground?

We got the records from the railroad commission indicating that from 2004 to 2007 DeLoach Vacuum Service consistently exceeded its 90,000 barrels per month limit for all but two months.

At times, the company injected more than double the amount of wastewater allowed into the ground near the salt dome – part of that salt dome collapsed earlier this month.

According to the railroad commission, DeLoach told them they were not injecting more into the site than they should have.

Instead, they claim they made a mistake with the paperwork and that those barrels of oilfield wastewater were actually going to another site.

Which begs another question: How could the railroad commission overlook the high numbers on report after report?

"The RRC relied on a manual review of the permit volume limits,” the commission said in a written statement. “In February the agency implemented a new computer generated review, which now automatically sends violation notices.”

So, the state and the company both claim there were clerical mistakes.

But for kids in Daisetta, there is something more pressing and that is catching a glimpse of those alligators.