Researchers from several disciplines at the University of North Texas and the UNT Health Science Center are building a new data set that will help identify impacts of the Barnett Shale drilling boom on the region's population.
The interdisciplinary group is merging a broad collection of data for research, including gas production information and geographical information, such as census and waterways, said David Sterling, a public health expert on the UNT Health Science Center faculty.
Known as a spatial data platform, "it will be an infrastructure for investigating the impact of gas well drilling in the region," Sterling said, adding that the interdisciplinary team also plans to use health data, such as rates of cancer and other illnesses, in its investigations.
Sterling made the announcement about the platform as he and two other UNT faculty members spoke in a panel discussion last week. The discussion at the Willis Library touched on the drilling impacts, with the faculty addressing and interacting with a crowd of about 40 students, other faculty and community members during the first of a new faculty lecture series organized by UNT Libraries.
The panel also included UNT faculty members Terry Clower, an expert in applied economics, and Robert Figueroa, an expert in environmental justice.
Sterling told the crowd that while oil and gas drilling, including shale gas drilling, has long been a part of the Texas landscape, the Barnett Shale boom came at the same time as major population growth in the region.
In the 1970s, there were about 1,500 gas wells in the region, most in rural areas, he said. Now, there are 16,000 wells, along with pipelines, compression and treatment facilities, near millions of people.
Mounting anecdotal reports of problems with air emissions, soil and water contamination - along with their health effects - signal the need for more scientific investigation, Sterling said.
As the industry has grown, Texas agencies have been slow to respond. He showed the crowd a map of air quality investigations that began in August 2009.
"The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality conducted flyovers [of natural gas facilities] in 2007 and saw proof of the problem," Sterling said. "But the first study of air quality I've been able to find since then was a private one, conducted in May 2009."
Policymakers need be aware of impacts on economic development alongside a booming industry, Clower said.
Economists agree the industry has a major impact on the region's economy, although they don't necessarily agree about the numbers. One estimate shows the industry brings about $11 billion in gross area product and about 111,000 jobs to the region each year, Clower said.
Statewide, according to a 2006 study, about half of Texas' electricity comes from natural gas, he said, adding that now the dependency on gas could be higher because of problems with coal-powered plants.
Texans want inexpensive electricity, but the resource won't last, he said.
"The gas will play out," Clower said.
Because the best production comes in the first month of a well's life, operators tend to drill new wells rather than rework old ones, contributing to the proliferation of well sites. That has future impacts for places such as western Denton County, where economists used to predict that there would be large housing developments as the region grew. Now properties are dotted by wells and crisscrossed by pipelines, complicating other uses of the land, Clower said.
Furthermore, if it is shown that the industry has an impact on the region's water supply, that could signal "real trouble for economic development," Clower said. It takes between 1 million and 7 million gallons to hydraulically fracture, or frack, a well to help free natural gas.
Every energy source has trade-offs, he said.
"There is no free lunch," Clower said.
Policymaking over those trade-offs needs to be in the public sphere, Figueroa said.Without full disclosure - from what's in fracking fluids to how the field will be developed - people and their governments cannot distribute the burden fairly, he said.
Like most of what we consume, you aren't told where the electricity comes from when you flip a light switch, he said.
"If you're not living with it in your backyard, you need to ask, 'What's my role?'" Figueroa said.
Often, policymakers have pushed environmental costs for things like landfills and toxic waste disposal to the poorest neighborhoods or regions, Figueroa said. Those residents, in turn, try to gather the numbers, and talk in scientific terms to do the job of scientists.
"With a lack of data, and a lack of science, you cannot do anything else," Figueroa said.
PEGGY HEINKEL-WOLFE can be reached at 940-566-6881. Her e-mail address is pheinkel-wolfe@dentonrc.com .
