SAN ANTONIO - There is an energy boom going on right in our own back yard. Drilling companies have discovered how to unlock a vast supply of energy beneath South Texas. But activists, celebrities and even the federal government are concerned about the effects it could have on our air and water. News 4 WOAI Trouble Shooter Jaie Avila investigates the process known as "fracking."
Avila was given a rare tour of a natural gas rig, one of many that has popped up in South Texas, as energy companies flock here to get access to a source of cleaner energy trapped in the rocks beneath our feet. It could bring hundreds of jobs to our region, but they are using a method that is controversial, and some say, dangerous.
Drilling company Pioneer Resources gave us a close up look at their drilling operation about 50 miles south of San Antonio, in Campbellton. Their rig is drilling down 8,000 feet to reach a kind of rock called shale, that contains natural gas. A massive formation, called the Eagle Ford Shale, runs from the Mexico border, up to just south of San Antonio.
"It might be the largest on-shore oil and natural gas find in the continental U.S. in the last fifty years," says Justin Furnace with the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owner's Association.
Up until now the shale was considered too dense, and to hard to reach. But now drilling companies have developed a technique called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. Here's how it works: A hole is drilled down to the shale, then they drill horizontally several thousand more feet. A mixture of water, sand and chemicals is then shot out under immense pressure, causing tiny fractures in the rock. That releases the natural gas from the shale, and the gas flows back up the pipe.
"We're talking about, in the Eagle Ford Shale as a whole, trillions of cubic feet of natural gas," says Furnace.
But across the nation, opposition to hydraulic fracturing has been building, from activists who say it threatens ground water and air quality. Actor Mark Ruffalo has led fracking protests on the east coast.
"Where did we get to a point, when we are even considering, there's even a debate, not to wait, and test, and make sure that what we are doing is safe?" Ruffalo asked an audience recently.
In places like North Texas, and Colorado, where fracking is widespread, property owners complain that natural gas has contaminated their wells to the point they can light their drinking water on fire as it comes out of the faucet. Environmental groups want energy companies to make public the exact chemicals they are using in the process. But right now they're not required to, due to a loophole in the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.
Back in Campbellton, I put those concerns to Justin Furnace, who acts as a spokesman for Pioneer Resources and other drilling companies. I asked Furnace if fracking is a threat to our water.
"Absolutely not," he replied.
Furnace says fracking takes place thousands of feet below the deepest groundwater, with layers of rock serving as a barrier. At the spot where their pipe passes through the groundwater, he says it is reinforced with thick concrete.
"There's going to be several layers of protective casing and cement that protect fresh water," adds Furnace.
As for the fracking chemicals, Furnace says companies keep them secret for competitive reasons, not because they're dangerous.
"Ninety-nine percent of what goes down the hole is water and sand. The other one percent is made up of various chemicals, some of them friction reducers, similar to soap," says Furnace.
Drilling companies claim there's no truth to another concern about fracking: A recent study found hydraulic fracturing could be the cause of small earthquakes in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area the past couple of years. The EPA is currently investigating the process of hydraulic fracturing, but the energy companies say they're confident it will be deemed safe, and will be a big part of America's energy future.
