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Raymond Crawford: Dallas deserves first-

class drilling task force

Published 08 March 2011 06:05 PM

The time for Dallas City Hall to create a diverse and transparent task force to study shale gas

drilling in an urban environment is right now.

Since 2008, when the city embarked on this uneasy path, countless reports of spills, leaks anddangerous emissions have emerged nationwide in areas where drilling for shale gas has been

expedited.

Dallas is caught up in two multi-million dollar leases to open up its land to new wells. Late last

year, the City Council delayed a vote on the gas drilling zoning permit at Hensley Field until

October with votes on other sites to come after that and pledged to create a task force tostudy the issue. Since then, despite council member Angela Hunt’s best efforts, there has been a

lot of foot-dragging on this issue.

For many years, drilling for shale was conducted in remote spots, far from most metropolitanareas. Most, if not all, of the rigs of the past were vertical drillers that used water and sand to

blast the shale rock thousands of feet below the surface and extract the gas that lay between the

shale.

The amount of water necessary for this process, known as fracking, is estimated to be between

one and nine million gallons per “frack.” One well can be fracked several times in order to get all

the gas possible. Each pad site may have as many as 12 or more wells, according to two drillingapplications filed with Dallas City Hall.

With an estimated minimum of 108 million gallons needed per pad site, this would seem to

conflict with our region’s concerns about water resources. Both applications, made by XTO

Energy, state that the necessary water would come from our local city water supply.

As we go into the future, I agree with city manager Mary Suhm’s remark at a District 3 breakfastlast August that “wars will be fought over water.” This natural resource is simply too precious to

use in such a massive quantity unless we know it is being used wisely.

Industry is quick to point out that many corporations use similar amounts on a daily basis, butthat water can be reconstituted and used again. Once the water needed for fracking is mixed withits chemical components, it is worthless. The flow-back water that returns to the surface in

fracking is captured and disposed of in injection wells, many of which reside in nearby Johnson

County.

The current Dallas gas ordinance was written when far less was known about the consequencesof drilling in urban areas. Now, our already dirty North Texas air is worsening because of the

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benzene, formaldehyde and other toxic VOCs (volatile organic compounds) released through the

drilling process. And there’s much still to be learned with regard to public health questions

related to everything from surface water contamination to the amount of casing necessary for drilling equipment.

It’s imperative that the City Council quickly respond to Hunt’s proposed guidelines for an openand transparent process of forming a task force to study this issue. The task force must be

comprised of scientists, chemists, geologists and industry experts. Additionally, thoseneighborhoods where XTO seeks to drill also must be represented by residents.

Certainly, the need for alternative energy sources is critical not only now but going into the

future. Natural gas captured from shale has an important place in this energy equation, but the

process of getting the gas out of the ground in a safe and reliable manner currently is notironclad. Dallas has an opportunity to be the nation’s leader in urban drilling by creating a strong

ordinance that allows for exploration without harming its citizens. That starts with getting the

task force formed quickly and in a way that leads to real answers to the many questions about

gas drilling.

Oak Cliff resident Raymond Crawford is a member of Dallas Area Residents for ResponsibleDrilling and may be contacted at raydan2647@msn.com.