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Oil And Gas Site Conservation Essay

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WSES-4090-010 Fall 2017 Oil and Gas Site Restoration By: Cameo Hagger Project: This project involves the restoration of drilling and fracking sites in Texas. Texas currently has millions of acers under lease for drilling of oil and gas wells. These leases typically include a 1-2-acre pad site and an access road. In some areas hundreds of pad sites can be interconnected leaving the environment scared and otherwise unusable to its original purpose examples are farming, pasture land, or native landscape. The Texas Rail Road Commission (RRC) has the authority and jurisdiction over the oil and gas industries operating in Texas. Currently, the RRC does have a policy or reclamation process of abandoned surface mining operations …show more content…

The process requires millions of gallons of water which is mixed with numerous chemicals sometimes sand or other substances to prevent the cracks from closing. Fracking has been blamed for numerous issues from methane gas releases, contaminating ground water, to causing earth quakes. Liquids used in the process are stored on site in holding tanks or ponds and are sometimes pumped back into the ground using waste wells. Fracking has become a common practice to increase production on old and new drilling operations. Experts predicted 100,000 new jobs in Texas will be created in the Oil and Gas industries by 2018 bring the total to over 400,000. The rush to create these jobs and boost the economy has given rise to a reduction in environmental regulations. Lobbing efforts by corporations at the state level have resulted in the introduction bills and laws limiting the authority of local municipalities to regulate drilling activities. Cities would be allowed to regulate surface activities such as noise, lights and traffic but not drilling itself. Numerous bills have been introduced to the Texas Legislature to put limits on local control. However, clashes are continuing to grow between cities and states across the nation over oil and gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing. (3) Oil and gas companies and related corporations have spent many years purchasing and leasing the mineral rights from private land owners. This includes universities, cities, and

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