"A Water War Is Developing"

"A water war is developing," that's how rancher and conservationist, Bill Addington, puts it in a recent Facebook post. Bill was recently interviewed for a story that appeared in the Houston Chronicle two days ago: As the oil patch demands more water, West Texas fights over a scarce resource. (Of course this story didn't run in the El Paso Times - it isn't midwest or east coast enough. They also missed this story which is even closer to home: El Paso case could set the path for rooftop solar. They also missed telling us that one of our EPISD Trustees, Susie Byrd, completely shucked her duties and missed a vote on a $500 Million budget so she could be with Veronica Escobar in Washington DC to start currying favor with the PACs Escobar will need for her run for Congress. Of course, Bob Moore would never betray his puppetmasters.)

Sorry - I digress. Read the Chronicle story about demands for water. Some key points:

• "West Texas land baron and oilman is on the verge of pumping 5.4 million gallons of water a day" to the Permian Basin for fracking.
• Hughes is not the only person wanting to pump precious water to the Permian Basin for fracking oil. There are other water pirates.
• That water is precious to ranchers and farmers. Some springs have already dried up.
• Energy companies use water by the billions of gallons for fracking (See chart above).
• "West Texas' network of aquifers are interconnected; water pumped from one can reduce flow in another."
• The Permian Basin contains the nation's most bountiful oil fields and is the most profitable.

Addison has published a list of Rep. Will Hurd's next Town Hall meetings and is urging people to attend and speak out against pumping water needed by ranchers, farmers, resorts and, well, just plain folk. 

Sunday, August 6, 2017
EL PASO- 1:00pm-2:30pm Dairy Queen, 800 N Zaragoza Rd, El Paso, TX 79907
SOCORRO- 3:00pm-4:30pm Peter Piper Pizza, 10870 North Loop Road, Socorro, TX 79927
Monday, August 7, 2017
PRESIDIO- 10:00am-11:00am The Enlightened Bean Café, 201 W O’Reilly St, Presidio, TX 79845
ALPINE- 1:30pm-3:00pm Sul Ross State University, Lobo Village Community Room, East Highway 90, Alpine, TX 79832
FORT STOCKTON- 5:30pm-7:00pm Dairy Queen, 408 W Dickinson Blvd, Fort Stockton, TX 79735
Tuesday, August 8, 2017

PECOS- 10:00am-11:30am Dairy Queen, 1226 S Eddy St, Pecos, TX 79772

Says Addington: "It is critical we attend Rep Will Hurd's Town Hall meeings. I will be attending the Pecos Town Hall at the Dairy Queen this Tuesday, August 8th. We must find an elected Reprentative to start championing our critical issue of water and the future of our region. Several Water Pirate companies and the oil & gas industry have targeted our homelands for extreme extraction and export via huge long pipelines to supply the Permisn Basin trillions of gallons of our aquifer ancient waters for extraction and export."

Addington posted on Monday:

"A water war is developing. Our side wants our precious ancient and finate aquifer water to continue to be sustainably used for drinking water for our communities, our cattle and other domestic animials on our farms and ranches, and for our wildlife and river. The Water Pirates want to put that all of our futures at risk by water mining, unsustainably taking vast amounts of water out of the underground bolsons by pumping and transfering our shared waters far away to the oilfields in the Permian and Delaware basins for thousands of gas and oil hydraulic fracturing aka frack wells. Each well fracked can use 2 - 8 million gallons of water, sometimes much more. Multipy this number by 2,000 wells. We cannot allow this to happen. Many more water pirate companies will want to drill, pump and send our aquifer water away to the vast oilfield in the Permain Basin if caring residents do not stand up and defend their home and their familie's future."

There are some things that should be held in common and never be private property: air and water are the two biggies.

Fly in the Ointment

"Moi" next to El Paso Electric CEO, Mary Kipp

Back on September 15th I had the great honor to be invited to the celebration of El Paso Electric's new Montana Power Station. What a beauty - a work of masterful engineering and design. It made me proud to be an El Pasoan. This new and efficient power plant will emit 50 to 60 percent less carbon dioxide than coal burning generators. El Paso Electric had already severed its ties with coal. Bravo.

However, there may be a fly in the ointment. To be exact, there may be several.

I should preface my remarks. Technology - "clean" technology - is not without its tradeoffs. There are always consequences. There is nothing 100% clean. The production of solar panels is not without environmental consequences. Is a modern, efficient natural gas powered station good? Yes, for now. Ultimately to reduce carbon emissions, we will still need to switch to renewables.

Take a look at the infographic from the Union of Concerned Scientists:

You will have to click on the image to read it. You can also read the analysis at The Climate Risks of Natural Gas.

Switching to natural gas does reduce carbon emissions. However, if you take into account the increasing demand for electricity (and as I type this I am aware of the demand that I am making for energy), we are back to almost the same problem as we have had with coal. True, natural gas doesn't put nasty things "such as lead, mercury, nickel, tin, cadmium, antimony, and arsenic, as well as radio isotopes of thorium and strontium." Yum. (See Environmental Impacts of Coal.) It does, as far as I know, add some nitrous oxides to the atmosphere. 

Besides the bugs mentioned by the Concerned Scientists (I hope that occasionally they get out and have some fun), there is another fly: fracking. Fracking is reviving the Texas oil business. The cheap gas produced from fracking is great for the electric power industry. It makes good business sense to buy and use natural gas.

I asked EPEC's PR guy, Eddie Gutierrez, where they get their natural gas. His answer: "We purchase gas from a number of different suppliers through a competitive bid process so the actual suppliers will vary over time. We probably have at least 15 different suppliers, including Apache, Sequent, Shell, EDF, Freepoint, UET.  Gas that we purchase from these suppliers primarily originates in or around the Permian Basin and once purchased, we will ship to our plants using rights that we have on the Kinder Morgan (old El Paso natural gas pipeline) and Oneok pipelines."

So then I asked him what he thought about fracking and its environmental impact. He would get back to me, he said. He had to discuss it with the attorneys. To date, no response.

I asked the question because I doubt if much natural gas any longer comes from non-fracked wells. Besides, something tells me that you just can't call your distributor and tell her that you want all non-fracked natural gas. In buying and selling and distributing and burning, I don't think such distinctions are made; and, if they were, they would be terribly expensive - unsustainably expensive.

Still, the question remains and not just for EPEC - for the entire industry moving more and more to natural gas. Do they, will they take into consideration the environmental damage caused by fracking? EPEC says that they are a solar leader. Let's hope that they have a long range goal of 100% renewable energy.

To be sure I need to revisit the Montana Station. I didn't have the opportunity to take the tour after the ceremony. I'm sure that I can learn more.

Does It Make any Difference?

This past Saturday a local organization, Earth Guardians, sponsored an event in San Jacinto Plaza: El Paso Stands with Standing Rock. Their press release published on Facebook was a bit disingenuous as it claimed that they and the "community of El Paso" were organizers. I'm not sure who the "community of El Paso" might be. Nevertheless, the event reportedly attracted 67 people, although that number may just be the number of people who said "yes" to the invite. Usually not all rsvps make it. From the looks of some of their videos, I'd say that it was much less.

Standing with Standing Rock makes sense. What I wonder about is whether events such as El Paso Stands with Standing Rock makes any difference. As far as I know there was no local news coverage. The event was attended by the usual suspects. Thankfully the El Paso Times has in the past two days picked up two Associated Press stories: Tribal leader at ND oil pipeline protest: 'Our cause is just' and Pipeline protest in ND turns violent. (The links are to other news sources as EP Times does not have the stories online.) There was no story in the Times about the Placita event. 

Point is this: when you have an organized event announced through Facebook and attended by those you would expect to attend such an event (thank heavens for them) but has no other visibility except on social media and again by the usual suspects, does it have any impact on others?

The situation at Standing Rock is horrendous and yet another example of the mistreatment of Native Americans by the United States and State governments and the preference for large corporations. (A friend once told me that you can have democracy or you can have large corporations. You can't have both.)

The Standing Rock Sioux say that the Army Corps of Engineers has granted permits for the building of the pipeline across their land when it has no authority to do so. Energy Transfer Partners is building the pipeline across North and South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois. Bulldozers have not only desecrated sacred burial grounds but the pipeline, which will cross the Missouri River in two places, is clearly a threat to the water. The Sioux Tribe is just downstream from one of the proposed crossings. (Thus Water not Oil.)

Native Americans and others have gathered at the confluence of the Cannonball and Missouri Rivers. Protesters confronted the construction workers and were themselves attacked with mace and vicious dogs that bit six or so people. 



[Go to elpasonaturally.blogspot.com to view the video. It will not show up in an email.]

The gathering in North Dakota has been going on for several months now with scant media attention. Now it is seeping into main stream media. Lawrence O'Donnel's opinion piece on MSNBC was right on target. This is good. (Please take time to view the video above.)

My question still is how well events such as El Paso Stands with Standing Rock helps that. Perhaps the problem with media attention is relevance. El Pasoans have paid scant attention to the gas pipelines being built from the Permian Basin through Big Bend and, closer to home, San Elizario where the line will go underneath the Rio Grande into Mexico purportedly to serve customers there. In fact, it is being piped to the gulf coast to be shipped and sold overseas.

Again, El Pasoans have paid little attention to the construction of gas pipelines and their media has paid little or no attention to the fracking operations that have begun in Hudspeth County. The Times has done a great job exposing the Texas Railroad Commission's malfeasance when it comes to oil spills during floods in Texas. It has said nothing that I am aware of about Torchlight Energy Resources fracking just east of us. It has said little about San Elizario or the Big Bend for that matter.

I sure would like to see more coverage of events such as the one at San Jacinto Plaza on Saturday. More than that, I'd like to hear more about the underlying issues - in this case, Standing Rock. Finally, the relevance of all of this can be brought home if our media paid more attention to what is going on in Hudspeth County, the Big Bend region and, of course, San Elizario. Gas pipelines explode. Oil lines break and spill. Fracking threatens aquifers. If you want relevance, think water. Water not Oil.

Love Water Not Oil and Gas

If you are on Facebook, you might consider befriending my friend, Bill Addington. Bill's posts are just about always about environmental activism. The image above comes from his August 31st post.

Nancy "the Wolf Lady" Bain wrote this comment to Bill's post: "Oil is death to our planet. We don't need to pump any more and don't need to pipeline it either. A spill destroys all it touches. YES DESTROYS. We need more solar and wind energy and there is now wind towers that jiggle so the wind fan blades are not necessary just the jiggle towers and I understand they are more efficient."

Of course, the problem in the United States is that just about everything runs on oil or natural gas. The relatively new technology of fracking continues to provide us with cheaper prices at the pump and everywhere else. The cost of a gallon of gasoline at the pump is currently rising again. However at an average $2.57/gallon in the United States that is still cheaper than countries in Europe. Italy - $6.15/gallon. France - $5.62/gallon. $6.53 in Norway and $5.80 in England. Russia comes in at $2.15. Why? Like us they are oil and gas rich. (See Bloomberg's Gasoline Prices around the World)

From www.iter.org

Because Europe is not oil rich, they have become the leaders in alternative energy - wind, solar and soon fusion. Yes, fusion. Not nuclear. fusion. The French fusion generator, Iter, once online will produce 500 MW of power - 10X more than it will require to run.

So, what will happen if fracking is banned and Canadian pipelines are shutdown and tar sand operations (the Dachau for killing Mother Earth) is halted? What would happen to the price of gasoline at the pump? $5/gallon? $6/gallon? Maybe then we will start in earnest investing more in alternative forms of energy. With the Tesla battery and other battery technologies, there is now no reason not to power our homes and businesses with electrical power from alternative sources. There are plenty of reasons to stop destroying our earth and furthering the apocalypse of climate change.

Love Water not Oil.

"The rocks are viable for production"

So saith Rich Masterson, the consulting geologist to Torchlight Energy Resosurces, and perhaps the father of the coming decimation of the Otero Mesa/Diablo Plateau ecosystem just next door to El Paso, Texas.

Masterson is quoted in a July 5, 2016 newsroom report from Market Wired: Torchlight Announces Scientific Information on University Founders B-19 Well #1 in Orogrande and Plans for Completion. Founders B-19 Well #1 is one of Torchlight's test wells in Hudspeth County just across the county line from El Paso, Texas. Here's a longer quote from Masterson cited by Market Wire:

"We are encouraged with the initial results from the scientific component of the Founders B-19 #1 well," stated Rich Masterson, Torchlight's consulting geologist. "The scientific information gathered to date gives every indication that the University Founders B-19 #1 well is as good or better than the Rich A-11 #1 well. To this point in the geological evaluation, rock brittleness looks very good with low frac gradients, good oil cuts in samples and cores and excellent porosity and matrix permeability for oil shales. We are also seeing good calcite and dolomite cementation and low clay content. The University Founders B 19 #1 well is comparing closely to analogies in the Midland Basin Wolfcamp A and B and Lower Spraberry. Production will be validated once the frac is delivered in the coming weeks and providing a successful frac is delivered, the rocks are viable for production."

". . . the rocks are viable for production." Read it and weep. Now here is more to make you really bawl and tremble: the investment community is catching on. 

In his energy report for Streetwise Report, Shining a Light on Torchlight Energy, Bob Moriarty had this to say yesterday about Torchlight: "At $70-$80 oil Torchlight would probably be a billion dollar company." (In case you haven't noticed, the price of oil is leaping upwards.)

The current price (right now as I type this) for TRCH on the NASDQ is $1.30. If you are into fracking, here is a bargain. If you aren't and shouldn't be, then you may want to do some trips soon from the Huecos to the Guadalupes to enjoy the beauty of the mesa. Before too long that beauty will be gone.

Times Exposé Needs Our Attention

I hope that you have been reading the El Paso Times stories, especially yesterday's, about oil spills/runoff from oil industry platforms during the recent, devastating flooding in central Texas. It's not just oil but the fracking fluids which is probably worse. The Times followed up with an editorial to their first story. Times reporter, Marty Schladen, has done some great investigative journalism. It has been recognized nationally in pieces such as this one in Esquire.

It is egregious enough to have oil platforms spill toxic oil and fracking fluids into Texas rivers. What is even more appalling is that the Texas Department of Public Safety ordered the pictures of the spills to be taken off of the University of Texas web site once Schladen and the Times exposed what was happening. The TDPS said that the pictures had not been vetted for privacy. Yeah, sure. Don't expect the mis-named Texas Railroad Commission which regulates the oil industry to come to the rescue. 

Schladen reported what Lon Burnham, who ran unsuccessfully to become a member of the TRC, said about what's behind the censorship:

"He said that since the members of the Railroad Commission receive most of their campaign contributions from energy producers, they have little incentive to punish polluters — or even find that they’re polluting.


“'They don’t enforce,'” Burnham said. “'They don’t fine. But they do whine about needing more money from the Legislature.'”

I hope that the Times will do a follow-up about the Torchlight Energy Resources fracking platforms just across the city limits of El Paso in Hudspeth County during our monsoon season. No, the run-off of fracking fluids won't run into any rivers. However, they will spread a destructive sheen across the biocrust of the Otero Mesa/Diablo Plateau and seep into the ground. I say this especially noting that drilling there has been encouraging.

So where's the water coming from?

In my last post I linked to stories in the Hudspeth County Herald which claimed that Torchlight Energy Resources (our local frackers) were getting between 80,000 to 84,000 gallons of water per day from the City of El Paso for one of their fracking wells. Yet El Paso Water Utilities has not sold any water to Torchlight. That leaves local water haulers. However Mr. John Balliew, CEO of the EPWU, points out that the two independent haulers who buy water from the utility could not possibly be supplying that much water to Torchlight if at all.

According to Balliew, although haulers don't specify what they do with the water that they buy from the utility, most of the water hauled is for construction purposes - dust control and compaction.

There are two haulers who serve the Colonias - Lujan Trucking and Mountain View Water Haulers. Balliew said that they each average about 12,500 gallons per day. That is "about the consumption of one apartment complex with a 3" meter or perhaps 75 single family homes," Balliew told me. 

"If they are hauling to the frackers they cannot be hauling much water to the Colonias and vice versa," Balliew said. 

Since the amount of water bought by haulers isn't out of the ordinary, it does not warrant taking any action by EPWU to limit the amount of water which it sells to the haulers. 

So, where does the water come from? John Turner, the Rancher, or perhaps Horizon Regional M.U.D.?

Checking.

Oil, Gas and Solar Industries

Do we need the oil and gas industries? The answer is an obvious "yes". In fact, I'll go further. I am grateful to these industries. After all, I drive a car powered by an internal combustion engine that burns gasoline. I drive on streets paved with asphalt. Polymers are ubiquitous in my lifestyle. 

However, I have four problems with the fossil fuel industries. First, they do contribute more to climate change than alternative sources such as solar for example. Next, they do extraordinary violence to the environment and to the earth. Fracking and oil sands (tar sands) productions are the most vile of Orcs. Third, they are more politically powerful than each of us who cast a vote. They wield that power to stifle the free market of competition. That is why the Koch Boys want to help utilities across the country destroy the rooftop solar industry. Finally, like so many things in our consumer economy, oil and gas is overused. This final objection is really not about the fossil fuel industries but about our choices as consumers. 

To be sure, the production of photovoltaic panels is not as clean and green as we would want. However, changes occurring in that industry are moving in the direction of being cleaner. Recycling toxic compounds has become more of the standard than the exception. Better yet, less or non-toxic compounds are being substituted for nastier chemicals. There is a small amount of water used in the production of photovoltaics since other fluids are used. Finally it is becoming increasingly the case that photovoltaics are powering photovoltaic plants and not natural gas meaning that the industry is decreasing their carbon footprint. To be sure, there is much more to be done. 

Keep in mind that our consumption of fossil fuels is principally as an energy source. If you take a barrel of oil, only 7% of it is used for non-energy products: petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, rubber, etc. 

So, is the fossil fuel industry a bad guy? No except when they use their vast wealth to crush competition, buy state legislators to pass laws against local governments putting restrictions on fracking and wreak havoc on the environment. Still, in the final analysis, the finger must be pointed at you and me who make consumer choices that provide the market for any industry to run a profitable business. That is why I am all for an unstifled market place by powerful interests such as the oil and gas lobbies. That is also why I'm trying as a consumer to make better choices and live greener while realizing that there are and always will be trade-offs.

Don't Get Shockleyed

El Paso Electric Company - not exactly the future

Someone recently sent me a link to Six ways oil and gas drilling is bad news for the environment by the Wilderness Society. It's an easy read with some graphic images. In fact, just scrolling through the images will sicken you enough. The point sticks that we (our community, nation, world) need to switch fast to cleaner energy sources.

The need to switch is just one more reason to oppose El Paso Electric Company's rate hike proposals and their attempt to destroy the rooftop solar industry. EPEC wants you to pay for their business model based on the past and not on the future. You pay for their "clean" natural gas power stations. (Just remember how devastatingly unclean producing that gas is. Scroll through those pictures again.) You pay for their mostly idle power stations. Demand has gone down. We really do have more energy efficient homes and appliances. You pay for their squashing the future of rooftop solar technology which, in time, will become affordable to all.

In fact, the day will come (soon I believe) when the ability of a single solar home to store power for use at night will be convenient and cheap. Solar panels and batteries will become fixtures in our homes just as vacuum cleaners and smart TVs are. 

El Pasoans should be able to invest their money in making their homes more energy efficient not in making EPEC CEO Tom Shockley richer. Just look at his salary and bonus history. Wow! And he wants to raise your rates!

Don't get Shockleyed by El Paso Electric. Oppose the rate hikes.

The Upper Crust

It's not just the destruction of plant life and animal habitat that occurs when we bulldoze. It's the death of the biocrust.

Our Zoo's Education Curator, Rick LoBello, sent a link to a Washington Post article by Chris Mooney about a study of the effect of climate change on dryland crust in Colorado. The same effects apply to our dryland here in the Chihuahuan Desert. Although the study is about climate change, the Post does report that "the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences says the impact of a warming climate on these ecosystems could be much worse than expected — comparable to humans trampling the landscapes underfoot or driving off-road vehicles across them." [My emphasis]

Trampling or driving or, just bulldozing in preparation for development . . . 

The abstract of the study states: "In drylands worldwide, where plant cover is sparse, large amounts of the ground surface are covered by specialized organisms that form biological soil crusts (biocrusts). Biocrusts fix carbon and nitrogen, stabilize soils, and influence hydrology. Extensive physical disturbance from livestock/human trampling and off-road vehicles is known to destroy biocrusts and alter ecosystem function."

Mooney reports: ". . . the ground is covered by a complex group of organisms collectively called “biocrust” — a combination of mosses and lichens that are in effect glued together by photosynthetic microorganisms called cyanobacteria, which provide structure to the landscape through the carbohydrate molecules they secrete."

What does that mean for those of us just going about our business everyday? Lose the crust and get dust. And dust causes respiratory disease and respiratory disease costs a bundle not just to those who suffer but to our entire society. It impacts employment, taxes, health care, lost labor, energy and water costs, etc. 

We don't see the cyanobacteria or the mosses and lichens when we hike or go off-roading and especially when we flatten a large portion of our desert so that we can develop or pave a road or build a dam . . . We don't realize that an entire desert system of flora and fauna depends on the life of that crust and that includes ourselves.

So, when we do develop, we should develop smart and preserve as much of the crust as we can for the health of the entire ecosystem which includes us.

One last word: the worst damage that fracking does may not be below ground but above ground.  

Further reading: Biological Soil Crusts: Webs of Life in the Desert published by the United States Geological Survey.

New Report: Fracking on UT Lands pollutes air and water

[Below is a press release from Luke Metzger, Director of Environment Texas. It was released just minutes ago. A copy of the full report may be read HERE. Metzger co-authored the report with Jeff Inglis of the Frontier Group. You can still sign and share an online petition calling for no fracking on UT land next to El Paso County.]

Report: Fracking on UT Lands pollutes air and water

Student leaders call on UT to adopt strong environmental standards for drilling

AUSTIN – Fracking for oil and gas on one million acres of land owned by the University of Texas system has a substantial impact to the environment and public health, according to a first of its kind report by Environment Texas Research and Policy Center and Frontier Group. The groups were joined by student leaders at UT Austin and UT San Antonio and the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club in calling on the University Lands office to end the worst practices of fracking and write strong environmental protections in to leases they sign with oil and gas companies.

“Fracking of thousands of wells on university-owned land in recent years has consumed enormous quantities of water, introduced vast amounts of toxic chemicals into the environment, and threatened land that is valuable to the environment and wildlife,” said Luke Metzger, one of the report’s authors and Director of Environment Texas Research and Policy Center. “If UT is going to continue to allow fracking, it must, at the very least, act immediately to eliminate the worst industry practices and safeguard the environment and public health.”

The report found that as many as 4,132 wells drilled on university-owned land in west Texas since 2005 have been subject to high-volume hydraulic fracturing or “fracking.” The drilling has had significant impact to the environment, including:
·         Use of at least 6 billion gallons of water amid a historic drought in which Texans were asked to scale back water use

·         Use of vast quantities of toxic chemicals, including 8.5 million pounds of methanol, which is suspected to cause birth defects

·         Release of methane – a powerful greenhouse gas – equal to between 50,000 and 1.5 million cars in a year of driving

·         Potential threats to endangered wildlife and natural areas including untainted stretches of the Pecos River and the Diablo Plateau

The report also found that the oil and gas industry has spilled at least 1.6 million gallons of pollution on UT lands. Cleanups are not yet complete at five of the spill locations.
The group called on the University Lands Office to review best practices around the nation and write strong environmental protections into leases with oil and gas companies, including:
·         Prohibiting drilling on lands with special environmental value, such as Diablo Plateau, the Pecos River watershed, and all land that is habitat for migratory birds and endangered species

·         Aggressive reduction of water use

·         Strong clean air standards that minimize methane leakage, including minimizing the use of flaring and fully prohibit venting except in rare circumstances.

“Students are alarmed by the growing environmental crisis resulting from our reliance on fossil fuels,” said Xavier Rotnofsky, President of the UT Austin Student Government. “We expect UT to be a leader in minimizing damage to our environment. We’re making progress here on campus through installation of solar panels and use of reclaimed water. UT should show the same leadership with the oil and gas operations.”

Rohit Mandapalu, Vice President of the UT Austin Student Government, expressed optimism that the University would take these recommendations seriously, pointing to comments made earlier this year by UT Chancellor McRaven who told an audience at a Texas Tribune event that he would support stronger environmental standards as part of UT oil and gas leases. Mandapalu also highlighted the UT System sustainability policy which directs institutions to “pursue the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions” and “encourage suppliers to demonstrate environmental stewardship.” “UT should bring these oil and gas operations in line with our stated values on sustainability and climate impact,” said Mandapalu.

"Fracking threatens the lands, resources and health of too many Texans,” said Representative Eddie Rodriguez, Vice Chairman of the House Environmental Regulation committee. “I hope university leaders, energy producers and environmental experts act quickly and creatively to eliminate bad industry practices that threaten our health and environment."

"UT can and should require oil and gas producers to follow cost-effective and achievable best practices it allows fracking of its lands," noted Cyrus Reed, Conservation Director of the Sierra Club's Lone Star Chapter. "For example, UT should require that all producers implement leak detection and repair programs, recycle their water, and utilize technologies like vapor recovery on storage tanks and no-bleed pneumatic devices when moving their product."

"Fracked wells on University Lands pumped 275 million pounds of chemicals deep underground," said report co-author Jeff Inglis, a policy analyst at Frontier Group, a non-profit public policy think tank. "Some of those chemicals come back up to the surface, creating toxic waste. And some of them stay underground, where they can contaminate our drinking water. Either way, they're a danger to the Texas environment."

What's Wrong with Fracking: A Review

Would you let your children or grandchildren play here?
". . . fracking wells release compounds into the air, such as benzene, ethylbenzene, toluene and n-hexane; long-term exposure to these has been linked to birth defects, neurological problems, blood disorders and cancer." From livescience.com

Check out What goes in and out of Hydraulic Fracking. Just keep scrolling down.

Do read livescience's Facts about Fracking and Grist's Ask Umbra: What's so bad about fracking?

Hydraulic fracturing (fracking) is "the procedure of creating fractures in rocks and rock formations by injecting fluid into cracks to force them further open. The larger fissures allow more oil and gas to flow out of the formation and into the wellbore, from where it can be extracted." At the end of the process is injecting wastewater into wells (injection wells). The information above concentrates on what is wrong with fracking in terms of air and water pollution. But what about surface damage?

The damage to ecosystems by road building, trucks, drilling pads, spilled toxic fluids is irreparable. Flora and fauna are killed. The ecosystem benefits of soil and flora are eliminated. 

Of course, fracking has led to greater oil and gas independence for the United States. It has given us lower and still falling prices at the pumps. But ask yourself this: realizing that we can also become energy independent with renewables and have a cleaner environment, why frack? The picture above is repeated all across the country. The Diablo Plateau of Hudspeth County next to El Paso will soon resemble it. What do you want? Further destruction of our planet or a green, clean earth?

We  have become so confined in the walls of our offices and homes by electronics, television, interstate highways that we think that all is well as long as our little patch of grass gets watered, fertilized and mowed. Scenes such as the one above are unfathomable. It's happening over there but not in my backyard. Trouble is: it is someone's backyard and outdoors. And yours could be next.

Guess Where the Water Will Come From

Here's an interesting story: Water Use for Fracking Has Skyrocketed, Stressing Drought-Ridden States. Now that fracking has begun just over the hill from El Paso on the Diablo Plateau/Otero Mesa and there will be at least a second well before December, guess where the water will come from.

There's still an online anti-fracking petition. Sign if you haven't. Tell your friends and family members.

Environment Texas Targets Fracking Practices on University of Texas Land

If the University of Texas won't stop fracking on its land, Environment Texas at least wants them to adopt best practices according to Director Luke Metzger. Environment Texas' efforts include the Diablo Plateau next to El Paso where Torchlight Energy Resources is currently drilling its first test well just 10 miles east of El Paso County. 

Metzger earlier this year spoke with UT Chancellor Bill McRaven who signaled agreement. Best practices include capturning the methane gas and recycling the water. 

Metzger is meeting with the UT Student Body President today. 

On June 19th the Hudspeth County Herald reported that Torchlight Energy Resources dodged a possible bankruptcy and is excited about the findings from their first test drill. A second test well must be drilled by December 31, 2015 according to the terms of their lease from University of Texas System lands. At this time though they may begin producing from their first drill before doing any more drilling. 

Earlier this year the El Paso County Commissioners Court passed an anti-fracking resolution.

WHEREAS, it is the desire of the El Paso County Commissioners’ Court to protect the environment and the natural resources of our region; and

WHEREAS, hydraulic fracturing of underground geologic formations is often accomplished by injecting a complex mix of fluids and chemicals, including large volumes of water, on average 4.5 million gallons per well, under very high pressure to create fractures in gas bearing geologic formations; and

WHEREAS, many of the chemical constituents injected during hydraulic fracturing have documented adverse health and environmental impacts to also include threatening the long term economic well being in communities as businesses and consumers depend on clean drinking water; and

WHEREAS, hydraulic fracturing exposes land and surface waters, like rivers often used as a supply for drinking water, to the risk of contamination through open pit storage, truck transport on roadways, and activities during well development; and

WHEREAS, the Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act (“FRAC Act”), currently pending in Congress, would require disclosure of chemicals used in fracking which is currently exempt; and

WHEREAS, the Bringing Reductions to Energy's Airborne Toxic Health Effects Act (“BREATHE Act”), currently pending in Congress, would hold oil and gas operators accountable for the toxic substances they release which is currently exempt; and 

WHEREAS, El Paso must protect its precious water supply against contamination of above ground water sources and underground aquifers and destruction of ecosystems with toxic compounds by opposing harmful activity like hydraulic fracturing.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that on the 27th day of April 2015, the El Paso County Commissioners Court supports the FRAC Act and BREATHE Act. 


SIGNED, this 27th day of April 2015


You can still sign our anti-fracking petition and ask others to do so as well.

Monday Links: Armed and Dangerous

Keep an eye out for Violet Palmer. (Mug shot above courtesy of the Denton Police.) She is armed with a rocking chair and considered dangerous by the State of Texas and the Denton police. She's charged with criminal tresspass and obstructing a highway passageway. She's also guilty of protesting against Texas' almighty oil and gas fracking industry.

Texas is ruled by Republicans who do not like local control (although once upon a time Republicans did.) They like State and Corporate control. So much so that they overturned a vote by Denton citizens to ban fracking. Denton citizens, Violet Palmer and her son Theron were protesting fracking. Theron chained himself to a gate leading to a fracking operation. Dear Violet sat by her son in her ominous rocking chair.

Read the story HERE and HERE. 

The story reminds me of one of the greatest moments in El Paso's conservation/environmental movement: the 2008 arrest of Judy Ackerman who was blocking construction of the border wall at the Rio Bosque. (Photo above.)

Breaking an unjust law has consequences. But is it unethical? Theron Palmer held up a sign while protesting fracking that quoted Martin Luther King, Jr.: "One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws." His words echo St. Augustine of Hippo who said: "An unjust law is no law at all.”. And one more:

Big Oil and Their Politicians Ignore the Will of the People

Torchlight Energy Resources begins drilling in pristine environment of Hudspeth County only miles from El Paso.

[Below is a letter to the editor of the El Paso Times. It was run under the title of "Politicians Protect Fracking, Hurt Communities". The letter is from Ho Baron, political activist and sculpturist.]


Oil and gas fracking is a dirty drilling practice contaminating soil and water, inducing earthquakes, polluting the air and causing numerous health problems.

When Denton’s city council banned local fracking, the industry successfully lobbied the Texas government to pass House Bill 40. With $5.5 million contributed to legislators’ campaigns, Big Oil bribed our Republican Texas government to prohibit cities from banning fracking.

Though Republicans continually fight for state’s rights, they are eliminating long established property laws and community rights.

Utilizing our city water, fracking operations have begun drilling 10 miles east of the El Paso in Hudspeth County. Ironically, the University of Texas system leased the land to the frackers who project drillng 2500 wells in Hudspeth County.

Industry profits therefore have priority over our environment, endangering El Paso/Juarez lives and the future of our communities. Meanwhile, locals, who fought for years to rid El Paso of Asarco, have been hesitant to condemn this far worse impending threat.

Historically, interrelated factors contributing to societal collapses have been population, climate, water, agriculture and energy.  Societal failures often stem from the exploitive elites, selfishly stretching resources for personal profit. Lacking foresight, they believe themselves immune from the consequences of their actions.

Fracking has come to West Texas, and it’s so representative of the chokehold that corporations, the super rich, and the Republican Party have on our future.

Still Think Fracking Is Safe?

[Videos do not displayed when a post is emailed. Go to www.elpasonaturally.com to see the video.]

On May 7, 2015 lightning ignited an oil and gas well in Denton, Texas. This was just days after the Texas legislature banned fracking bans and undermined the safety that comes with local control.

On May 13, 2015 "a gas well in the heart of West Arlington blew out while being fracked, forcing the evacuation of the surrounding neighborhood." Read the entire Earthworks report.

Still think fracking is safe? 

Visit, surf and bookmark Earthworks.

Monday Links on Tuesday

[Monday (or, in this case, Tuesday - again) is "Links Day" with links gathered over the past week to online "stuff" to read and sites to surf that impact us directly or offer information about our regional issues. Please feel free to send me links to any conservation, environmental, simple living, city planning, energy and water, etc. stories that you have come across online.]


Water:

Rio Grande runoff forecast: 44 percent at Otowi

Bus Shelters in Austin Will Harvest Rainwater in Pocket Park

10 Must-see water documentaries that provide insight into the future water crisis

Starbucks Wants You to Feel Good About Drinking Up California's Precious Water



Climate Change:

The Solution to Climate Change Right Under Our Feet


Fracking and Oil Spills:

Bill to limit Texas cities’ rules on fracking heads to governor

GOPer Slams Texas Guv For 'Pandering To Idiots' On Possible Military Takeover (and this is the idiot governor the anti-banning bill is going to)

Study: Gas Activities "Most Likely" Caused Texas Quakes

The Brief: New Studies Link Injection Wells, Earthquakes

Frack-Happy Texas Forced to Face the Reality of Fracking-Related Earthquakes

Fracking Chemicals Detected in Pennsylvania Drinking Water

Trading Paradise for a Pipeline


Resilient Cities:

City of El Paso Resilient City Roundtables

Local Communities Should Have the Right to Protect Themselves from Fracking

It's unusual for the Drudge Report and the Huffington Post to run the same news stories or even agree on the top story. However, this morning they both headline the same study and link to the same Los Angles Times story: Man-made earthquakes increasing in central and eastern U.S., study finds.

What's the story about? The USGS has mapped earthquakes that apparently are caused by fracking for oil and gas and injecting millions of gallons of the spent water (and noxious chemicals) back into the earth. (Be sure to look at the map and the charts in the story.)

In spite of the growing data that fracking (or, more probably, injection wells) cause earthquakes, cities such as Denton, Texas may be denied the right to protect themselves from this dangerous technology. As posted yesterday, HB 40 is racing through the legislature of Texas, the state sponsored by the oil and gas industry. HB 40 would ban banning and take the right of local communities to protect themselves away and give it to the Texas Railroad Commission - the cronies of the oil and gas industry.

Texas prides itself as a state that enshrines the right of anyone to bear arms and to use those arms to protect life and property. Yet, the right of citizens to protect themselves against the greed of the oil and gas industry is disallowed.

With fracturing trumping democracy and corporations slurping up water from local communities, one wonders how long it will be until those rifles come off the racks of pick-up trucks and den rooms.

The Monday Links on Tuesday

[Monday (or, in this case, Tuesday) is "Links Day" with links gathered over the past week to online "stuff" to read and sites to surf that impact us directly or offer information about our regional issues. Please feel free to send me links to any conservation, environmental, simple living, city planning, energy and water, etc. stories that you have come across online.]

Water issues (always at the top of the list):

The Rio Grande:

Mighty Rio Grande Now a Trickle Under Siege

A glimmer of good water supply news for New Mexico’s middle Rio Grande farmers


California's and the West's water woes:

Nestlé’s despicable water-crisis profiteering: How it’s making a killing — while California is dying of thirst

Drought Spurs Protest Over 'Unconscionable' Bottled Water Business

Petition to Nestlé: "Stop taking water from drought stricken California"

Another Petition: Tell the U.S. Forest Service: Stop Nestlé’s Illegal Water Extraction

As water runs dry, Californians brace for a new way of life


You'll see more of this in Texas (and everywhere):

Hays County Water Fight Tumbles Into Committee

County to buy land for groundwater



Fracking:

The Facts on Fracking

Fracking is causing Oklahoma’s earthquake “swarm”



The Power of the Energy Industry:

Teaming Up with the Fossil Fuel Industry NPR’s Gas Pains