{"id":26111,"date":"2013-04-02T17:29:38","date_gmt":"2013-04-02T22:29:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/?p=26111"},"modified":"2013-04-02T17:29:39","modified_gmt":"2013-04-02T22:29:39","slug":"senate-committee-discusses-fracking-groundwater-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2013\/04\/02\/senate-committee-discusses-fracking-groundwater-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate Committee Discusses Fracking Groundwater Rules"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the Texas Tribune:\u00a0<\/a><\/em><\/h4>\n
\"\"<\/a>

Photo by Eric Schlegel\/Texas Tribune<\/p>

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.<\/p><\/div>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\n

The discussion centered on Senate Bill 873<\/a>, carried by state Sen. Glenn Hegar<\/a>, R-Katy, which would allow local groundwater authorities to require oil and gas companies using water for fracking to obtain permits.<\/p>\n

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a water-intensive operation involving shooting roughly four to six million gallons of water \u2014 or more \u2014 down a hole to break up rock and retrieve oil and gas. The water also contains sand and chemicals.<\/p>\n

Currently, many groundwater districts say Texas law is unclear about whether they can require frackers to get a permit for their water-supply wells<\/a>. The law exempts water wells used for rigs’ “drilling or exploration” operations from permitting requirements. But that language was written more than a decade ago, before the spread of fracking, and the legal debate centers on whether fracking falls into the categories of drilling and exploration.<\/p>\n

Hegar said he is simply trying to clarify the law so that groundwater districts could require the permits if they want to.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I\u2019m trying to do is provide some clarity and certainty that yes, districts have that ability\u201d to require permits, Hegar said. He emphasized that his bill would not require districts to require permits.<\/p>\n

A permit can create a limit on the amount of water used. Groundwater districts supported Hegar’s bill, while oil and gas groups generally opposed it.<\/p>\n

Teddy Carter, a representative of the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association, said that his \u201cbiggest worry\u201d is the possibility that groundwater authorities would not be able to issue permits quickly, thus delaying drilling operations. \u201cSome groundwater districts are pretty limited on their supply and staff,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

State Sen. Robert Duncan<\/a>, R-Lubbock, appeared interested in ending the “drilling or exploration” exemption in general. Farmers must obtain permits for water wells, he noted, so why shouldn’t oil and gas companies be required to get permits too?<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy would we grant an exemption to the oil and gas operation but not to the corn farmer?” Duncan asked. “\u2026What\u2019s the difference between the corn farmer and the oil company that\u2019s getting at least $80 a barrel? \u2026What\u2019s equitable about allowing some industries to have an exemption and not others?\u201d<\/p>\n

Hegar responded that the equity questions were valid and could merit further discussion, but his bill was focused on a narrower point.<\/p>\n

State Sen. Troy Fraser<\/a>, R-Horseshoe Bay, the committee chair, appears to favor the bill. Senate Bill 332<\/a>, which passed through the Legislature last session and was carried by Fraser, struck a delicate balance between declaring that landowners own the water that comes up from their ground, and yet allowing for \u00a0continued groundwater district regulation.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy legal advice is you\u2019re interpreting the law the wrong way, and that is not the intent of the Legislature,\u201d Fraser told Cory Pomeroy, a representative of the Texas Oil and Gas Association, which opposes SB 973 and argues that oil and gas drillers are currently exempt from the groundwater districts\u2019 permitting requirements, even when it comes to water for fracking.<\/p>\n

Mike Mahoney, the general manager of the Evergreen Groundwater Conservation District, a four-county district in the Eagle Ford Shale, said that his district requires permits for fracking water wells and has had no difficulty with compliance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in no way doing anything that is preventing the oil companies from being able to drill the wells or to frack the wells,\u201d he testified.<\/p>\n

Stacey Steinbach, executive director of the Texas Alliance of Groundwater Districts, testified that normally groundwater districts can process drilling permits in two weeks.<\/p>\n

To address the drillers’ concerns about permitting time, Fraser suggested adding language to the bill that would specify that the districts issue permits to frackers in a \u201ctimely\u201d manner, perhaps within 30 days.<\/p>\n

The bill was left pending and has not yet progressed to the Senate floor.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Texas Tribune<\/em> donors or members may be quoted or mentioned in their stories, or may be the subject of them. For a complete list of contributors, click here<\/a>.<\/h5>\n
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune<\/a> at http:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2013\/04\/02\/texas-senators-discuss-fracking-groundwater-rules\/<\/a>.<\/em><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the Texas Tribune:\u00a0 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":143,"featured_media":26115,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[60],"tags":[15,78,310,85],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26111"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/143"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26111\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}