Luke Metzger
Executive Director, Environment Texas
Executive Director, Environment Texas
Environment Texas
AUSTIN –10 billion pounds of chemicals have been pumped underground to frack 54,958 wells in Texas since 2011, according to a new report from Environment Texas Research & Policy Center. Written along with the Frontier Group, the study, Fracking by the Numbers, quantifies how 138,000 fracking wells permitted over the last decade across the country have harmed the nation’s air, water, land and climate.
“From dirtier air to wasted water, fracking has taken a major toll on Texas,” said Luke Metzger, Director of Environment Texas. “Texas leaders need to act immediately to eliminate the worst industry practices and safeguard the environment and public health.”
The report paints a frightening picture of fracking’s harms, including global warming pollution, contaminated drinking water and marred landscapes. Using all data available from federal and state government entities, the report found:
Given the scale and severity of fracking’s impacts, the report says fracking should be prohibited wherever possible, and stricter regulations should be enacted to better protect communities already on the frontlines of drilling.
Environment Texas pointed to the upcoming “Sunset review” of the Railroad Commission, the state’s primary oil and gas regulator, as an opportunity for the Legislature to take action to limit the damage from fracking. The group urged the Legislature to adopt stronger enforcement measures, clear setbacks to protect neighborhoods from drilling, and higher bonding requirements to make sure drillers, and not taxpayers, pay to clean up abandoned wells. While oil and gas companies have a legal obligation to plug wells, there are nearly 10,000 unplugged or un-remediated wells in Texas and an unknown number of unrecorded old wells. Texas has spent more than $230 million to plug these wells.
The report also gives lift to the effort to convince President Obama to end new fracking and drilling leases on public lands and in public waters to keep upwards of 450 billion tons of global warming pollution out of the atmosphere. This week the Bureau of Land Management announced they were removing all Texas parcels of land from an April 20 lease sale, pending a further review of public feedback. Proposals to lease public land near Lake Lewisville, Somerville Lake, Lake Conroe and Choke Canyon Reservoir prompted hundreds of Texans to file comments to BLM in opposition.
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Environment Texas Research & Policy Center is a statewide advocacy organization bringing people together for a cleaner, greener, healthier future. www.EnvironmentTexasCenter.org