PLEASANTON, TEXAS-The technique of “fracking” has turned the oil and gas industry around and made experts take a second look at domestic oil exploration.
While it may be a controversial way of getting oil from the ground, it’s also pumping in millions of dollars into the economy in south Texas everyday. The town of Pleasanton seems to be a gateway of sorts to the Eagle Ford shale area. Eagle Ford is what’s driving this big boom. You can tell by just the traffic in Pleasanton that’s there’s something different going on. More businesses, more money, more people. Chris’s Café is a favorite lunch stop for people here, a particular favorite of folks working long hours in the oilfield.
Xavier Gonzalez of Capital Well Services told us, "Long hours, the hours can be long 10-12-16 hour days, a lot of 24 hour businesses.
For Chris’s Café owner Mary Rodriguez, it’s changed her world. "In the restaurant business, your busy some days and it’s slow some days. But now, like you see it today, it’s everyday."
She’s says her business is up at least 30 percent over the last six months. And with all these new people coming in to work, it’s getting harder to find a place to stay.
Maureen Rodriguez who lives in Pleasanton says, "They’re having duplexes being built and they’re renting them before they’re even finished. "
Motels and hotels the same way. The Holiday Inn Express and it’s overflow hotel Sunbridge Inn and Suites, booked solid.
Freddy Hernandez, manager of Sunbridge Inn an Suites says, "It’s almost a guarantee that every single room I have on the property is going to be sold and it’s going to be sold for a while.
And for several months at a time. New construction like a new verizon wireless store is still going up. And oil fracking outfits like Frac Tech, who have been here since September, say it’s not going away anytime soon.
Jeff Wright of Frac Tech Services says, "the engineers and geologists say that his is going to be here for quite a while. People are planting feet and setting roots to live it out."
