[/caption]Carol Forsloff - Texas is going through a period of record-breaking drought, a situation that has caused massive wildfires; and two attorneys are challenging hydraulic fracturing because of its negative impact on water.
While the EPA continues to investigate the issues surrounding “fracking” or hydraulic fracturing, a process used in drilling for natural gas, Ark-La-Tex folks have reason to worry because of the process of pumping water and chemicals into the ground to break up shale rock, which is the process used to extract natural gas. These questions are of concern to environmentalists who have witnessed problems in Pennsylvania and other states from efforts to drill for gas. In fact Chesapeake Energy has suspended drilling for natural gas in Pennsylvania in April 2011 after a large spill of toxic fluid into a natural waterway there.
The lack of sufficient water is now the main concern in Texas. As the attorneys point out, it requires millions of gallons of water to open a single well.
“When news reports say the current drought is now the most severe since record-keeping began 116 years ago, it is time to reassess all discretionary uses of water,” said Arnold, one of the Houston lawyers involved in litigation against some of the companies that have allegedly polluted water and lands of their clients.
“If you’re using millions of gallons of water in a process that is suspect in the first place, that’s certainly a place to cut back, if not a practice to consider suspending until the drought eases.”
Arnold & Itkin LLP, the law firm involved, has represented clients who have had land contaminated through the fracking process. A law requiring companies to publicly disclose the chemicals used in the fracking process goes into effect in 2012, but the attorneys are worried about the problem now because of the Texas drought.
As the attorneys point out, “Fracking remains a potentially dangerous and, during a drought, wasteful practice. “While water conservation is a civic duty we can advocate, refraining from contaminating groundwater and endangering people is a legal duty that we are certainly ready to take action to see enforced,” Arnold said.
According to climate experts, approximately 20% of the United States is experiencing drought. In Texas - Lousiana – Arkansas, the drilling for natural gas is part of what is called the Haynesville Shale. Proponents of natural gas exploration tout the area as being the biggest gold mine of gas in the country. Louisiana, already having been under siege on the Gulf from oil seepage into the soil and waters of the coast, has been one of the states where politicians and business folks in oil and gas have been most vocal about the positive opportunities afforded from natural gas.
In Natchitoches Parish, for example, there have been grand rallies in support of natural gas drilling, and big deals have included large parcels of land, including Northwestern University.
But Texas attorneys are warning of the risks of fracking to the water supply, given the dry conditions. They underline the continuing threats of fire and reduction of clean water from a process they say imperils folks who are not conscious of the problems that hydraulic fracturing can cause.
