By Elizabeth Ames Jones
Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas Tonight the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will be hosting a public information meeting in Fort Worth on its proposed study of hydraulic fracturing and potential impacts on drinking water. I will be attending this meeting and welcome yet another study on this issue.
The Railroad Commission of Texas has provided the regulatory framework for virtually all of the oil & gas production activity in Texas including over 50 years of hydraulic fracturing. This agency does not allow the permitting of a well where hydraulic fracturing will be used without certification from the
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) that identifies the depth that groundwater must be protected by cement and steel.
Water tables that yield water for human consumption can extend to a depth of 1000 feet in some areas of the Barnett Shale gas and oil production. The horizontal lateral pipes are placed at an average depth of 7500 feet more than a mile and one half below the Earths surface.
The area well logs around any proposed well are evaluated by geologists/hydrologists at the TCEQ and the depth of the surface casing to
protect fresh water formations in every new well is determined by the TCEQ.
That determination for each individual well must be submitted to the RRC before we consider issuing a permit to drill.
The heavy surface casing extends below the deepest fresh water formation of each proposed new well. The surface casing is cemented in place with the
cement flowing
back to the surface between the hole and the surface pipe.
It is tested for any pressure leakage before drilling ahead commences as an additional safeguard for protecting our fresh water formations.
Based on the facts one can be confident that the geology in Texas combined with safeguards that we require in the drilling of a well simply do not support the notion that water used in hydraulic fracturing will migrate to a water table. With many thousands of fracs taking place in Texas Commission records do not indicate a single documented water contamination case associated with hydraulic fracturing in our state.
The study the EPA is conducting like other studies in the past will show the positive benefits of this homegrown technology that has increased our supply of clean burning natural gas that makes America more energy secure.
With the oversight of the Railroad Commission Texass natural gas produced using innovative technology will contribute mightily and responsibly to the nations energy mix at a time when we sorely need it.
Jones was elected to the Texas Legislature in 2000 and then appointment to the Texas Railroad Commission in 2005 by Governor Perry. She is a staunch advocate for the responsible production of America*s energy resources tort reform & limited government. Her commentaries have been published in the Wall Street Journal the Washington Post and other major newspapers.
