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Directors of the Middle Trinity
Groundwater Conservation District met in regular session, Thursday,
July 12, at the Dublin City Council chambers and addressed a rather
brief agenda. Four directors -- Ed Dittfurth, George Bingham, Chairman
Rodney Stephens, and Fred Parker were present. Jerry Fronterhouse and
Jerry Hinshaw were absent.
Also present were Joe Cooper, MTGCD
general manager; Sharon Mainord, administrative assistant; and Wes
Burris, field technician.
Elaine Smith, representing the group
“Worried About Water” addressed the directors early in the meeting.
“Conservation is wisely managing a
natural resource to prevent depletion or degradation,” Smith said. “We
believe that is what we are all interested in doing, that is what this
District was created to accomplish. However, as we know, the gas
drilling industry is only interested in getting the natural gas out of
the ground, wherever and however possible, including using millions
and millions of gallons of fresh water.”
Smith then quoted from a recent report by
Fox 4’s Paul Adrian in which he cited some statistics “that should
cause some concern.”
“Parker and Wise counties are now
experiencing depletions of their water resources due to gas drilling,”
Smith said. “And per the Fox 4 report, which obtained the dates and
figures from the Texas Water Development Board document studying the
effects of Barnett Shale Development, the Texas Water Development
Board predicts that by 2015, the wave of (gas drilling) will hit Palo
Pinto, Erath, Hamilton, Bosque, Hill and Jack counties. By that year,
the natural gas industry will account for between 14 percent and 55
percent of all the water used in those counties.”
Smith said that more specifically, the
report estimates that by 2015 gas companies will comprise 23 percent
of the water usage in Erath County.
“The report shows that the “exempt”water
wells used by gas drillers will be pumping three times as much as all
the rural domestic wells, most of which are subject to the rules of
this district,” Smith said. “That is also in addition to estimated
irrigation, livestock, and municipal/manufacturing usage.”
Smith said that “Worried About Water
members, “were very concerned that as we strive to conserve and
preserve our water resources for ourselves and for future generations,
that actually we’ll only be saving our groundwater so the gas industry
can steal it out from under us and turn it into toxic waste.”
“With one process,” Smith said. “They
will deplete and degrade vast amounts of that precious resource.”
Smith then reminded the directors that
2015 was only 8 years away.
“Now is the time to band the water
districts and lobbyists and whatever water-related groups are out
there together to convince our legislators to do something about this
situation,” she said. “Getting change won’t be easy, but it is simply
wrong that the oil and gas industry is completely exempt from the
rules that the rest of us must follow. We ask that this District make
an effort to bring this subject to the forefront and save our water
for our children, not for the gas drillers.”
At the conclusion of Smith’s remarks, Joe
Cooper said he wished to comment.
“Our District took the initiative to
write letters to congressmen and legislators about what we call the
‘loop hole’ in Chapter 36 of the Water Code,” Cooper said, “that
allows the oil and gas companies to be exempt from the rules. And
apparently, Senator Fraser’s office saw merit in our request to look
at that and they studied it, and we went down and testified, and it
did become a topic for interim study before the last session.”
Cooper said that the issue met with a lot
of resistance from the oil and gas industry. He also noted that the
District went to considerable expense (including hiring an attorney)
to keep the issue in front of the legislators.
“What happened was, we realized that our
district didn’t have enough money to beat the oil and gas industry,”
Cooper said. “There wasn’t any ground swell working with us to get
this accomplished. The attorney pretty much said, ‘If you want us to
try and make it where they have to have a permit, then get your
pocketbook out.’ And it was something we just couldn’t do. They said
the best thing we could do is compromise, because there is just not
enough money to fight.”
Cooper said that one compromise suggested
was to get the oil and gas industry to start reporting their water
usage.
“We don’t have that now,” Cooper said,
“but we know they’re using vast amounts of water. We just don’t know
how much is being used.”
Cooper said that at first that suggestion
met with a “scary” response in which oil and gas industry
representatives said that if they had to report on water usage, then
all exempt wells should have to report it -- including those labeled
household/domestic and for livestock watering.
Cooper said that could be a real problem
for everyone.
“For one thing, you don’t have any way to
really measure that usage,” Cooper said. “And to require people to
report that is just not something that would happen right now. We know
that, because of what we went through when we formed the district, and
all the concern about metering and personal wells. But, through a
rather expensive and lengthy series of negotiations, we worked with
the oil and gas industry and got wording that was passed last
(Legislative) session that says, ‘A groundwater conservation district
can pass a rule that will require the oil and gas company to report
the use.’ It did not require that we do it for anybody else. We got
that wording out of there that would require treatment of all exempt
wells to be uniform. So now, we’re in the process of looking at what
it’s going to take to change the rule and get the wording written. I
think what we’re doing, is that groundwater districts are waiting to
see who’s going to spend money to get their attorneys to write the
rules, and then just copy from somebody elses. But that’s where we are
right now, and we did make some headway in this session.”
“But don’t stop there,” Smith said.
Director George Bingham told Smith that
the directors appreciated her interest in the issue, and “to keep
after it.”
In other business, directors:
• Approved the payment of bills.
• Approved the minutes from the June
meeting.
• Reviewed the Income/Expense Comparison
Report.
• Heard the Manager’s Report from Joe
Cooper.
• Reviewed the Quarterly Investment
Report.
The Quarterly Drought Assessment provided
a few laughs.
“We use what we called the Palmer Drought
Severity Index,” Cooper said. “The last time it was updated was June
30 of this year, and it says for the North Texas region our index is
3.79 which translates to very wet conditions -- no kidding! The prior
three quarters have been severe drought, moderate drought, and near
normal conditions, so that’s the same improvement that we hope will
continue. Maybe not as enthusiastically as it has -- but we hope we
continue to get the water.”
Cooper said that the drought probability
predictions prepared by the Climate Prediction Center of the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had also been released.
“They have no predictions about drought
in our area,” Cooper said. “There are no concerns. They don’t see
anything forthcoming that will be a problem. That’s the first time
we’ve been excluded from their drought predictions for a number of
quarters.”
“If you go back and look at this in
January,” Chairman Stephens said, “it showed us in terrible condition
all summer long.”
“It’s a science,” Cooper laughed, “but
not an exact science.”
Prior to the regular meeting, a brief
permit hearing was held in which two water well drilling permits were
approved. |
