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Schneider: Stop denials on ‘frackquakes’; preserve local ordinances

May 4, 2015
azleearthquakeAustin American-Statesman Op-Ed
Robin Schneider, Texas Campaign for the Environment

Scientists have finally begun to confirm what many Texans have long suspected: The oil and gas drilling technology known as “fracking” and the disposal of fracking wastes likely has caused earthquakes across Oklahoma and North Texas. This is hardly a surprise, as Oklahoma has now become the nation’s top state for earthquakes — blowing past California — despite having close to zero quakes on record before fracking boomed there in recent years.

What should be a surprise — but sadly isn’t — is how Texas politicians and regulators have tried to deny these basic facts. They are not only ignoring evidence that industry is literally ripping the ground from beneath our feet, they are doing everything in their power to strip away even the minimal protections we’ve enjoyed to this point. It’s time for Texans to stop them.

If you read the superb April 24 story from the American-Statesman’s Asher Price, you saw that Republican state Rep. Myra Crownover of Denton — home of some of the most aggressive drilling in urban areas — said she would only be convinced by peer-reviewed science, which is an appropriate standard. Unfortunately for Crownover, the most recent evidence comes from the U.S. Geological Survey and researchers at Southern Methodist University (hardly an institution known for its hostility to big oil — Dick Cheney once sat on its Board of Trustees) and was peer-reviewed in the academic journal Nature Communications.

So by her own standards was Crownover convinced? Of course not. She could only bring herself to say that the information is “fascinating.” A Lawrence Wright book is “fascinating.” The fact that Crownover’s own constituents are seeing their homes damaged and possibly even their lives threatened by “frackquakes” is not fascinating — it’s a cause for alarm.

Crownover has received more than $42,000 from oil and gas interests in recent years, according to Texans for Public Justice. Even more in the bag of industry is the very agency charged with regulating oil and gas, the Texas Railroad Commission. Even while Oklahoma acknowledges that earthquakes and fracking are likely related, Railroad Commission officials are doing next to nothing to respond to the new information.

On the contrary, lawmakers are moving quickly to strip some of the only protections Texans have right now. The Texas House passed House Bill 40 on April 20 with the support of a majority of both parties. HB 40 would strip local governments of their ability to protect residents not just from fracking, but from virtually any aspect of the oil and gas industry. Hundreds of local protections are threatened with repeal, including ordinances that keep frack waste injection wells outside of population centers. These communities will face expensive lawsuits from the very industry that is causing earthquakes, air pollution, enormous water consumption and dangerous accidents.

Texas needs these protections, and it is imperative that Texans speak out not only about these risks, but also about politicians rejecting science for the sake of short-sighted industries.

There is one final, important point that needs to be made here. In Price’s Statesman article there was an important sentence in parentheses — “(There is no fracking in the Austin area).” One important word needs to be added to this sentence: “yet.”

While there will likely not be any drilling in the city of Austin, the Eagle Ford Shale that extends into Bastrop County will be ripe for drilling if and when the price of natural gas goes up. For all of the associated industries and their pollution — compressor stations, pipelines, frack sand depots, disposal of the frack water and so on — there is nothing to say that those activities won’t make it into Travis County, Hays County or other nearby areas. If HB 40 or its companion legislation Senate Bill 1165 pass, there will be nothing local governments can do about it. Frackquakes or other pollution could be coming our way too.

We all know that everything is bigger in Texas, but does that have to include our denial? Residents in North Texas have come to realize the risks of fracking and have taken action to protect their health, families and property. Central Texans need to stand up too while we still can. We need our politicians to be more than “fascinated” by the latest facts. We need them to be moved to action. Your voice can help make that happen.

Robin Schneider is executive director of Texas Campaign for the Environment.

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