Approaching record drought, Texas water districts consider oil and gas industry use

[deminks]

http://americanindependent.com/198824/approaching-record-drought-texas-water-districts-consider-oil-and-gas-industry-use

n the midst of the second-worst drought in Texas history, towns across the state are going to extreme measures to cope, capping residential water use, and limiting the number of days households can water their lawns. Earlier this week, the West Texas town of Kemp ran out of water. In Big Spring, the local water district is building a plant to recycle treated wastewater back into the drinking supply.

But oil and gas producers are injecting millions of gallons of freshwater into the ground at a time, with hydraulic fracturing jobs in every corner of the state, from once-abandoned oil fields in West Texas to the South Texas boom towns of the Eagle Ford Shale.

(snip)

But with a patchwork of state agencies and local water conservation districts responsible for Texas’ water use — and state laws that exempt much of the oil and gas industry — it’s a mystery just how much water is being pumped into the ground for hydrofracking, or how the state could limit industry’s water use.

A report released in July by the Texas Water Development Board estimated that industry uses about 12 billion gallons of water annually for hydrofracking in Texas now, but that demand will grow to 39.1 billion gallons before 2030.

[SpiralHawk]

1. This is all Rick Perry's (R) fault

...in a manner of speaking, by which I -- and every other sensible, honorable entity on the planet -- mean that the ongoing billionaire-funded Republicon Denial of Reality is helping to Screw the Planetary Pooch damn ugly presto pronto.

What a pernicious pack O' greedy destructive buffleheads (R)

[valerief]

2. In other words, Texans, just drink your piss and shut up. nt

[annabanana]

3. Let them pray. . . . . . n/t

[True Blue Democrat]

4. Texas has earned ALL of the scorn and more

You can thank years of stupidity and Republicans on the head of the government for making Texas extremely undesirable and ugly.

#1 polluter in all of the United States
#2 Sued the EPA to relax their restrictive regulations
#3 Failed the Clean Water Act multiple times.

No wonder why Texas is not a very popular state to be from right now. I last visited Texas in 2007, and was NOT very impressed with the environment could see that foliages were dying of acid rain, pollutants and toxic stuff.

[Wounded Bear]

7. Actually, I think Texas is a popular state to be from.....

Far, far from.

:)

[End Of The Road]

9. Are you sure that brown foliage wasn't from drought?

Parts of Texas suffered terribly in 2007.

As for failing the Clean Water Act, so did about 47 other states:
http://www.great-lakes.net/lists/glin-announce/1997-10/msg00018.html

Since you're new here, kindly refrain from Texas bashing. We Texan DUers are as Democrat as you (perhaps more so).

So take my sig line and shove it.

[justabob]

10. that is what I was thinking too

It is effing hot here, and often very dry, for most of the year. The foliage often has a slightly singed look to it, even in the cities and where there is irrigation.

Never mind the communities all over the state standing up and fighting the introduction and/or expansion of fracking.

[RoccoR5955]

5. More of those damn regulations

That the RepubliCONs hate!
What does Slick Rick Perry have to say about this?

[bvar22]

6. This is NOT restricted to Texas, or Rick Perry.

This is a National Crisis.
The Ogallala Aquifer lies under most of the Central United States.

The water level in the Ogallala Aquifer has dropped 5 FEET this YEAR.
This aquifer replenishes its water at a rate of 1/2 inch per year.

The area of Odessa/Midland (west Texas) lies over this aquifer.
Oil & Gas is part of the problem,
but there are many other contributors.
The lack of rainfall is probably the biggest.

If what we are experiencing is the New Normal (Climate Change),
then the Wheat Belt,
The Cattle Belt,
and the cities & farms over this aquifer are history,
and all of the Central US will look like Death Valley in just a few more years.


Solidarity!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Frustratedlady]

8. ..."or how the state could limit the industry's water use."

Why would this be a concern? If the people are in danger of losing their water supplies, shut `em down! No contest.

Maybe they think the big oil CORPORATIONS (people) are more important than the little guy panting in the heat.

I can't believe the Texans aren't screaming from the rooftops. Better do it now, as your mouth will be too dry to holler after the wells run dry. Just sayin'.

[jimmyflint]

11. The amount of resources wasted on lawns is disgusting.

Lawns are a giant resource sponge. I see them as a status symbol, like $100K Suva that get 6 MPG. If people spent the same time and resources on growing crops, that they spend on lawns, there would be far fewer hungry people. Or if people just planted indigenous plants, they could save a lot of wasted resources.Putting water on a lawn during a drought is the type of nonsense people have been taught by a for profit lawn care industry.

[End Of The Road]

12. And this is directed to whom?

Everyone in the US? Or just those of us suffering through this drought?

I've never seen so many dead lawns as I'm seeing now. We are not, on the whole, wasting what little water we have on grass.

[demosincebirth]

13. I wonder what they have done to deserve this?