On Tuesday, March 27th, non-profit environmental organizations in the area will host an open meeting to discuss the recommendations of the Dallas Gas Drilling Commission. In the lead-up to the meeting, Green Source is hosting a short series of commentaries by Marc McCord of FracDallas intended to stimulate conversation around gas drilling, public health, and environmental public policy in Dallas/Ft. Worth. Join the conversation on Facebook or in the comments, and see the event listing to learn more. Click below to jump to -
By Marc McCord of FracDallas
Published March 23, 2012
T. Boone Pickens once stated, "Nobody will ever make any money drilling for oil and gas inDallas." Why would an oilman say that? Could it be that he knows there is no viable quantity of hydrocarbons to be produced in theDallasarea? It is the reason why nobody has ever drilled here.
So, what are the issues? From my perspective there are five major issues, some pertaining to the Dallas Gas Drilling Task Force recommendations to the Dallas City Council on how to re-write our woefully inadequate gas drilling ordinance in light of what is known today about the ravages of urban gas exploration and production based upon what we should have learned from Fort Worth and other nearby places in the Barnett Shale. Additionally, we should have learned from mistakes and successes in the shale plays in the 34 states that have natural gas exploration and production activities occurring.
The first two issues are discussed here. The remaining issues will follow in future commentaries.
Money:
It costs about $2.5 - 3 Million to drill and frac a well one time, and the cost is rising. The breakeven cost requires a wellhead price of about $8.00 per thousand cubit feet (mcf) of gas. The current market rate is about $2.40-2.50 per mcf. So why do they drill? It is NOT about selling gas - it is about selling gas companies! It is a giant fraud based upon inflated claims of recoverable reserves which were downgraded by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) by 50% in 2011, and by another 70% in February, 2012. It is a game of building up a gas company assets through leaseholds, and then finding suckers to buy the companies before the house of cards caves in on them.
Gas companies are now paying much lower signing bonuses and offering lower royalty sharing percentages that were preciously offered because of the glut of natural gas and the low market price that is less than one third the break even point. We are NOT going to become the next Jed Clampett by allowing drilling inside the Dallas City Limits!
Water:
Of all the water on earth only about 3% is fresh water that we can drink, and 90% of that is locked up in glaciers and the polar ice caps, which leaves only 0.3% of all water on earth that is available to ALL humans, animals and plants for our survival. Every hydraulic fracture job in the Barnett Shale uses an average of about 4.5 million gallons of fresh water that becomes permanently polluted with toxins, carcinogens and neurotoxins, and which is permanently removed from our hydrologic cycle, thus reducing the amount of fresh water that we have to drink!
WHAT THE FRACK? Where did reason and responsibility to citizens go? It went to the highest bidder! But, it is not too late to turn back the clock on Task Force recommendations. It is our duty, as citizens, to let our elected representatives in city government know that we will not tolerate this assault on our health and safety, property values and environment, and that they WILL be held accountable at the ballot box for their actions.
It is time to take this fight to the offices of our City Council representatives and let them emphatically know that we oppose weakening the current ordinance, and that we demand a much stronger ordinance to protect us, our property values and our environment.
Marc McCord is the editor of FracDallas. He is a lifelong environmentalist with a concern for a clean, healthy environment that dates back to Boy Scouts in the early 1960's and continues to this date. For three years he served as the Environmental Committee Chairman for Dallas Downriver Club. For the past ten or more years he has been active in annual cleanups on several Texas rivers, as well as others in Oklahoma and Arkansas. For nearly three years he has studied every aspect of natural gas exploration and production. He has been a frequent commentator at numerous EPA, TCEQ, Dallas City Council, Dallas City Plan Commission and Dallas Gas Drilling Task Force events and meetings.
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