A few days ago I saw this story about a Texas town that lost its water supply to fracking. Thirty more towns could lose water by the end of this year. I wrote a post about this on the other blog.
Texas is water-challenged without fracking. Aquifer levels have been dropping for many years, and recently Texas has seen one drought after another. But there’s something deeply and particularly depraved about using up water to get at fossil fuels, the use of which is possibly contributing to the droughts.
The Houston Chronicle reports,
Texas shale producers used about 25 billion gallons of water last year, and with more and more drilling in the Eagle Ford Formation, that figure will continue to grow. In some West Texas and South Texas counties – almost invariably drought-stricken counties – fracking accounts for 10 to 25 percent of water use and is projected to pass 50 percent in the future. Every month, oil and gas companies dispose of 290 million barrels of wastewater from fracking. That’s the equivalent of 18,500 Olympic-sized swimming pools, Luke Metzger of Environment Texas points out. That’s water that can never be used again – in a drought-debilitated state, no less.
At least partial solutions are possible, including mandatory recycling, saline or brackish water use and waterless fracking, but Texas lawmakers, for the most part, have allowed the industry to have its way. Although they approved funding for a Texas water plan, setting up a statewide vote this year, bills during the past session that would have required oil and gas companies to recycle water used in fracking never made it out of committee because of industry opposition.
The Legislature did pass a bill that encourages recycling, but it’s weak. As Metzger points out, “It’s still cheaper to just dispose of frackwater waste in injection wells, so most companies don’t have an incentive to recycle.”
Yeah, good ol’ business-friendly Texas. The climate-change-denying governor goes around telling businesses to come to Texas where they don’t have to deal with all those pesky regulations. So business interests in Texas have a free hand to use the small towns “as vassal states to be used up and discarded.”
Ironically, older ways of making a living are being hurt by the water shortage as well. Cattle need water, too; ranchers are having to sell off their livestock or else watch the animals die.
So “business-friendly” Texas isn’t necessarily friendly to all business; just those with enough money to spread around in Austin.
The musical selection for today’s blog:
100% donor-supported regulation.
I wonder what the backstory may be to this.
Are we THAT far past “Peak Oil,” that it’s worth ruining, outside of air (and let’s not go there – not enough time for that), the thing we most need to survive – water?
We can’t last without air for more than a few minutes.
We can’t last without water for much longer than a few days, or a week, at most – except under exceptional circumstances.
I could probably skip eating for a month, and about all it would do, is put a dent on the profits of some people in the food industry. At this time of year, our local farmer would hate it if I went on a hunger-strike! 😉
To get at natural gas, and the shale oil, we need a ton of precious water.
But, you can’t underestimate the rampant greed that is pervasive in our society!
So, we may still have plenty of oil. And, it’s costing so much a barrel, that it’s worth it for corporations to go after natural gas and shale oil, in the filthiest, least ecologically friendly way possible.
And as for the Texas towns suffering from water-shortages caused by fracking, all I can say is, whatever money you were paid, if any, you can now spend on BUYING water, and PAY FOR carting it into your towns.
Next time, vote smarter.
Capitalism is a god to the right. They say they believe in capitalism because it gives people a better life, but they outright worship it, and believe its needs come before human needs. They’re as willing to sacrifice the water in Texas to capitalism as other believers at other times have been willing to sacrifice virgins to other gods.
I guess I mean big capitalism. Ranchers don’t count.
Screw Texas, let them drink Gatorade, hey it’s got electro-lites!
uncledad,
But without water to run any hydro-electric plants in the state, they may have to drink Gatorade in the dark, because they don’t have any electric-lights.
‘Gulag, they’ll just run the generators off of Gatorade. It’s got what generators crave: electrolytes! What do you expect ’em to use? Water? Like, from the *toilet*?
(Ref: Idiocracy, a movie too cynical by half… well, by 10% at least.)
290 million barrels of wastewater from fracking every MONTH?
Dang. That’s a LOT of water in a dry place. Texans are famous for their resistance to being told things by outsiders, but I hope they can grab a clue somewhere. That’s got to stop. But I’m afraid Big Oil is woven into the fabric of that state, and lots of small time operators get a piece of the money that allows them to get by, even if it hurts their community overall. It’s hard to change when it’s the only money available.
I have relatives in Houston, and over the last few years of visits I’ve seen the effects of the persisting drought on a region that used to be lush and tropical. And if it’s that bad on the Gulf Coast, the inland parts of the state must be far worse.
Fracked. A word with multiple self-reinforcing meanings.
(Ref: Idiocracy, a movie too cynical by half… well, by 10% at least.)
My first impression after watching that movie is that we are closer to a true Idiocracy than I care to acknowledge.
Idiocracy is the greatest documentary of all time.
They were using sports drinks to water plants.
I have always loved the way some Texans and Alaskans, particularly bagger politicians, have held themselves superior for having had the foresight to put oil deposits under their ground so that they would have a source of financing from everybody else. Now we get to observe the spectacle when the non-elites do without while the elite get to do everything with bottled water. Of course, it will be Obama’s fault. Oops!
Wonder when non-oil-company businesses will start to notice that their employees need water to live?
BUT, I do have to point out — it’s not just corporate greed that’s doing this. Sure, corporations are doing the fracking to get oil — but that’s because there’s demand for oil.
I live in San Angelo which is southeast of the actual area saturated by drilling. The little town of Barnhart has literally man camps along the railroad tracts, RV’s and vans parked where people had rented out their front yards, for say $100 or more per night per person, and 5-9,000 people where there had been around 200.
This oil boom is like a gold rush in that there is the smell of money everywhere. The people who are employed on the rigs or the service companies are making more than they ever have and the ranchers and property owners who get a share of production can see as much as a million dollars per month coming to the mailbox. In the region and our city there are few if any vacant motel rooms, crowds and waiting for restaurant is now common place instead of occasional and now there is a noxious daily wail of police and EMS sirens. The cost of living is up, up, up.
In this environment all retail outlets, real estate brokers and chamber of commerce types are tumescent as they wallow in money and craving. This kind of gustatory indulgence leaves prudence, common sense and any consideration for fellow humans or the long term in the dirt. Speaking against it is ignored.
If you want a job and can drive a truck or tractor you can make $60-80K a year. If you are a senior or impoverished-other then your rent has/is going up. food costs way more than it used to and there aren’t many who will notice much less care.
OK, texas is shameless. The crap they have pulled is total bullshit. First they want to secede, then they scoff at any regulation and pooh pooh the feds for butting in, because damn it, they think they know better than the rest of the country.. but when their stupidity levels an entire town( a problem THEY CAUSED) they call FEMA to fix their mess. Fema SHOULD have told them to go texas themselves , but no, FEMA got involved and started cutting checks so people could rebuild their homes. WHY??? It was a man made disaster and I find it SICKENING MY tax dollars are paying for it. The state of Texas should have their own FEMA type set up and the state should pay to take care of their own when their lack of regulation / enforcement causes these sort of costly disasters. But that wasn’t enough for the greedy leeches in texas. They demanded FEMA rebuild their whole damn town and get this ..FEMA dared to say no! Well all holy hell broke loose! Texas folk took to an huffington post article and went batshit insane! They even played the race card” Obama hates white people, if this had happened in Atlanta, they claimed it would have been different. No One was angry at the company for not paying to rebuild the town. No one was angry at the city for not enforcing the lax regulations they did have in place nor was anyone mad at the city for not paying to rebuild itself. No one was made at the county or the state, nor did anyone expect any funds from them to rebuild, nope. They were only mad at Obama because he wouldn’t pay for them to have an entire new town. Pond scum is more self reliant. Now , as of aug 2nd FEMA is changing it’s position again and is going to pay for it. OUR tax dollars are going to texas so those jack asses can have a brand new town. What a scam. That money could have gone to so many better uses. I think the Federal Government should require states like texas who snub any regulation to carry their own insurance. Let an insurance company have to write a check when texas blows itself up.
I mention this simply because if you think fracking is going to work out any different you are smoking way too much crack. They will cause a water crisis, an environmental crisis and they will expect the American tax payer to foot the bill- like we don’t suffer enough from having them to begin with.
I know I sound like a broken record, but we need to dump texas. If we made an example of them maybe the other states who are texas wannabe’s would get the hint.
“If you want a job and can drive a truck or tractor you can make $60-80K a year”
So what is wrong with that? Too much for a dirt face? As I understand Fracking, it is a method of extracting Natural Gas, basically you crack the earth with hydraulic pressure, and the gas comes out, ever eat too much? It aint about oil, lets get that straight. Fracking wastes more energy than it yields. In simple form it takes three cheeseburgers worth of water and electricity to get two cheeseburgers worth of natural gas. What is so cool is that right now natural gas is cheap, it’s not like the energy market can be manipulated.