The Fracking Controversy in Denton and...

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The Fracking Controversy in Denton and Beyond Adam Briggle, Associate Professor, Philosophy and Religion, University of North Texas

Transcript of The Fracking Controversy in Denton and...

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The Fracking Controversy in Denton and Beyond

Adam Briggle, Associate Professor,

Philosophy and Religion, University of North Texas

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• Fracking 101History of energy useTechnology and terminology Controversies

• The Story of DentonMuddling through and the compatibility strategy The debate about the ban Beyond the ban

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Extreme Energy

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Extreme Energy

Murphy and Hall. 2010. “Year in Review – EROI”

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Extreme energy

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Data source is Energy Information Administration here: http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=MCRFPUS1&f=M

The U.S. is “simply running out” of oil and natural gas. President Jimmy Carter – April 1977.

Fracking

We didn’t use to need fossil fuels.

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Fracking

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• Fracking writ large • Hydraulic fracturing

• Fracking in 1870 • Fracking in 1950

– 750 gallons of fluid. 450 pounds of sand. • Fracking in 2000

– 6 million gallons of fluid. 4 million pounds of sand. – 10,000 fold increase

• See Carl T. Montgomery and Michael B. Smith, “Hydraulic Fracturing: History of an Enduring Technology,” Journal of Petroleum Technology 62, no. 12 (2010): 26–32.

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Barnett Shale

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The data source is the Texas Railroad Commission here: http://www.rrc.state.tx.us/media/25828/barnettshale_totalnaturalgas_2000_102014.pdf

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Number of Gas Wells in Denton

201320102001 2005

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DENTON

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The Father of Fracking

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Robson RanchS.H. Griffin

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Controversy

• Fracking is bad • Fracking is good

• Water • Air • Health and safety • Climate • Economics • Earthquakes • Energy independence • Jurisdiction

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Green dots = frack sites in Denton

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Southwest corner of Denton

DENTON: ~ 280 gas wells in city limits;

110,000 people; Population to nearly double by 2030

Most growth projected in gas patch

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Denton Stakeholder Drilling Advisory Group (DAG)

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The Clash• Shale

• City

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How does Denton handle the clash?

• The compatibility strategy (as regulatory system)

• Drilling and production are industrial uses that can be permitted in any zoning district with a specific use permit (SUP) that establishes certain standards.

• http://library.municode.com/index.aspx?clientId=14239&stateId=43&stateName=Texas

• DDC sub-chapter 6. Then see 35.5.2.2. Then see sub-chapter 22, 35.22.1.A.

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The Rationale for Compatibility

• Mineral estate predominance and takings – Only one use for mineral estate, must occur

anywhere

• Faith in best practices – that safe fracking is not an oxymoron.

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The Technological Wager

• a gamble or even a faith that we can transform the world in the pursuit of narrowly-defined goals and successfully manage the broader unintended consequences that result.

– Shale: Extract oil and gas at a profit.– City: Air, water, climate, and community impacts.

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Compatibility Strategy

• In general terms: Making the narrow intentions of the technology compatible with a wider set of values.

• Denton’s ordinance: Making the production of minerals (and subsequent revenue generation) compatible with health, safety, welfare, community integrity, and property values.

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• Policymaking, then, becomes an extension of engineering – building a wider set of values into the system.

• Whose values?– There is no such thing as the one best solution.

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• January 2013 – Revised ordinance

• September 2013– Drilling at the Meadows at Hickory Creek

• February 2014– Frack Free Denton begins petition drive

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Vintage Wells

• Rrc wider out

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2011

• Grab screen shots from here for next few slides

• http://www.cityofdenton.com/home/showdocument?id=17607

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Fall 2013, Vintage and S. Bonnie Brae

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Northern Pad Site

Southern Pad Site

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Northern Pad Site

Southern Pad Site

Two existing (old) wells turned from vertical to horizontal

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Northern Pad Site

Southern Pad Site

Two new wells on the northern pad site

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*Note: This excludes the roughly 75% of wealth held by the operators.

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13 families/individuals hold 50% of all wealth owned by Denton residents.

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More homes planned near the southern Vintage pad site. When they frack there in the future, will it be a ‘new’ project? If so, the homes would make it illegal.

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281 gas wells and 10,000 acres vested by old laws that allow fracking 200 feet from homes.G

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• Argument for the ban– Last option to achieve commonsense land use

regulations…frack sites but not bakeries?

• Argument against the ban– Costly and illegal

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After the Ban

• Lawsuits

• Legislation

• Local control and liberty