Kate Galbraith reported on clean energy for The New York Times from 2008 to 2009, serving as the lead writer for the Times' Green blog. She began her career at The Economist in 2000 and spent 2005 to 2007 in Austin as the magazine's Southwest correspondent. A Nieman fellow in journalism at Harvard University from 2007 to 2008, she has an undergraduate degree in English from Harvard and a master's degree from the London School of Economics.
Field distribution water tank used in the fracking process of natural gas well drilling in DeWitt County, Texas, complete with life buoy and "No Swimming" sign.
For about two hours on Tuesday, the Senate Natural Resources Committee discussed whether or not to tighten rules governing water wells used to supply hydraulic fracturing operations.
The discussion centered on Senate Bill 873, carried by state Sen. Glenn Hegar, R-Katy, which would allow local groundwater authorities to require oil and gas companies using water for fracking to obtain permits.
Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a water-intensive operation involving shooting roughly four to six million gallons of water — or more — down a hole to break up rock and retrieve oil and gas. The water also contains sand and chemicals.
Each day, dozens of trucks hook up to the Gulf Coast-run fracking fluid disposal well site near Gonzales, TX.
This article is part of an occasional series on water and hydraulic fracturing by StateImpact Texas and the Texas Tribune.
GONZALES, Tex. — In a dusty lot off the main highway in this South Texas town, Vern Sartin pointed to a collection of hose hookups and large storage tanks used for collecting wastewater from hydraulic fracturing jobs.
“We run about 30 to 40 trucks a day, 24-7,” Sartin said. “Depending on how the oil fracking is going out there, if they’re hustling and bustling, then we’re hustling and bustling.”
Sartin is a watchman at a disposal well operated by Gulf Coast Acquisitions, where each day oil and gas companies dispose of wastewater by pumping it deep underground.
Wastewater disposal wells like this one are becoming a common landmark in the drilling regions of Texas as the water-intensive practice of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, continues to spread. In the fracking process, several million gallons of water, combined with sand and chemicals, are sent down a well to break up rock and retrieve oil and gas. Some of the fluid comes back up, along with additional underground water.
This article is part of an occasional series on water and hydraulic fracturing by the Texas Tribune and StateImpact Texas.
Call it hydraulic fracturing — without the hydro.
In most hydraulic fracturing operations, several million gallons of water, together with sand and chemicals, get pumped down a hole to blast apart rock that encases oil or gas. But with water increasingly scarce and expensive around Texas, a few companies have begun fracking with propane or other alternative liquids.
“We don’t use any water,” said Eric Tudor, a Houston-based official with GasFrac, a Canadian company that fracks with propane geland butane. “Zip. None.” At a GasFrac operation in South Texas last month, a sticker on one worker’s hard hat showed a red slash through the word H2O.
Water-free fracking still remains an early-stage technology, with potentially higher initial costs than conventional fracking methods. But as lawmakers and oil regulators focus on the large quantity of water used for fracking wells, the concept is getting a closer look. Continue Reading →
The Texas Railroad Commission, comprised of Chairman Barry T. Smitherman (center), and commissioners David Porter (left) and Christi Craddick (right) hold an open meeting in Austin, Texas on Jan. 15, 2013.
Tuesday’s meeting began routinely, with discussion of oil and gas cases. The commissioners also voted to approve new rules to make recycling of oilfield water easier — a change that both industry groups and environmentalists have sought amid water scarcity concerns. Commissioner David Porter hailed the new measure as an “incredible step forward,” and the other two commissioners also praised it. (The new rule will take effect on April 15.)
About an hour in, however, the meeting got tense. Commission Chairman Barry Smitherman began grilling Porter about a 113-page report on the Eagle Ford Shale that Porter had put together (with input from local officials and industry groups) and published this month. As has been previously reported, Smitherman was irked because he did not see a copy of the report before Porter circulated it to news outlets.
Smitherman noted how “very, very slick” the report was — with such high-quality paper that his pen could not mark it up. He asked Porter how much the report had cost to compile and who had funded it. “Did you pay for it personally, or was it paid for by the commission?” Smitherman asked. Continue Reading →
A sunset bill that continues the operations of the Public Utility Commission of Texas, which regulates the electric and telephone industries, won approval Wednesday from the House, though the legislation would adjust how the commission works.
Employees at Omni Water Solutions working on the "HIPPO," a mobile frackwater recycling unit.
In an Austin warehouse, a four-year-old company called Omni Water Solutions is working on a way to recycle water used in hydraulic fracturing. Its technology involves a large container, dubbed a “Hippo,” that purifies water from oilfields via filters and other means. The scrubbed water could potentially be reused in the fracking process, which requires roughly 4 million to 6 million gallons of water per well.
Warren Sumner, Omni’s chief executive, said that during field trials in 2011, he had even showered in the company’s recycled water, when his trailer ran low on fresh water.
The recycled water was free of chlorine and hardness, and “you’d be amazed how good you feel – especially after washing your hair,” Sumner said.
Technologies like Omni’s are developing rapidly amid rising interest in recycling Texas’ oilfield water. Continue Reading →
Texas’ water code was written well before the spread of fracking. As a result, some groundwater authorities require companies using water for fracking to obtain a permit, while others do not.
In Karnes County, at the heart of the Eagle Ford Shale, oil and gas drillers seeking to use water for hydraulic fracturing must get a permit from the local groundwater authority. They can pump only a certain amount of water, and they must report how much they use.
In Dimmit County, another Eagle Ford Shale drilling hotbed, drillers can pump as much water as they want — and no permit is required.
This tale of two counties reflects the ambiguity in state rules regarding groundwater for fracking. Texas’ water code was written well before the spread of fracking, which involves sending millions of gallons of water (along with sand and chemicals) down a well to rupture hard rock that contains oil or gas. As a result, some groundwater authorities require companies using water for fracking to obtain a permit, while others do not. Continue Reading →
CARRIZO SPRINGS — In this South Texas stretch of mesquite trees and cactus, where the land is sometimes too dry to grow crops, the local aquifer is being strained in the search for oil. The reason is hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a drilling process that requires massive amounts of water.
“We just can’t sustain it,” Hugh Fitzsimons, a Dimmit County bison rancher who serves on the board of his local groundwater district, said last month as he drove his pickup down a dusty road.
From 2009 to 2012, water production from one well on his ranch fell by two-thirds, a problem Fitzsimons linked to nearby wells pumping water for fracking operations. A study commissioned by his groundwater district found that in a five-county area that includes Dimmit, fracking reduces the amount of water in the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer by the equivalent of one-third of the aquifer’s recharge. Recharge means the average amount of water an aquifer regains each year from precipitation and other factors.
The amount of water used in hydraulic fracturing — roughly 4 million to 6 million gallons per oil or gas well — has stirred concerns around Texas as the drought wears on and the drilling boom continues. Continue Reading →
During his State of the Union address on Tuesday, President Obama doubled down on his vision for renewable energy, calling for more wind and solar power.
In Texas, the Legislature is less enthusiastic.
As the session progresses, renewable energy advocates are bracing to defend critical policies that have helped Texas become the leading wind-power state. The ascendancy of the Tea Party, an abundance of cheap natural gas and tighter budgets have reduced the sway of the wind industry. Solar power advocates anticipate limited gains at best.
But Texas’s renewable energy push has “been eclipsed by the effect of fracking,” said Rep. Mark Strama, D-Austin, referring to the drilling technology that prompted the natural gas boom. Continue Reading →
In addition to the intensifying discussions of water infrastructure funding at the Capitol, an even more basic conversation is also getting under way: whether to restructure the Texas Water Development Board.
The board, created in 1957, is overseen by six part-time board members, who serve on a volunteer basis after being appointed by the governor. But state Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, chairman of the Senate Natural Resources Committee, wants to change the structure to three full-time members, also appointed by the governor.
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