When it comes to energy and climate news from West Texas, it is the best of times and the worst of times. Let’s start with the worst.
On Tuesday afternoon, wildfires in the northern Texas Panhandle spread out of control, growing from 100,000 acres earlier in the day to 200,000 acres in a matter of hours. The fire had grown to 575,000 acres as of Wednesday morning, making it the second largest wildfire in Texas history. By the end of the day Wednesday the fire covered more than a million acres, making it the largest wildfire in state history.
The fires prompted evacuations in several small towns in the area. Officials evacuated all of Canadian, Texas (population 2,200) after strong winds drove the fire towards the town. We know that some structures have been lost, but we will not know the full extent of the damage for some time.
The northern Panhandle continues to be under a burn ban, indicating dry conditions conducive to wildfires. Any small spark from a cigarette or a piece of farm equipment, for example, could cause a fire that could quickly grow out of control. The cause of the current fires in West Texas have not been identified, but the way the fire spread so quickly can be attributed to very strong winds and copious amounts of dry vegetation which served as a virtually unlimited fuel source.
Climate change increases wildfire risk in two ways. Changing precipitation patterns which favor higher rain rates in fewer storms dry out the soil and vegetation, increasing the risk of wildfire. And warmer temperatures for a longer portion of the year cause further drying. An increased risk for wildfires and a longer duration of the season when wildfires occur are both expected in a warming climate.
Climate Central, in a recent report on fire weather and climate change, reported that “Southern California, Texas, and New Mexico have experienced some of the greatest increases in fire weather days each year, with some areas now seeing around two more months of fire weather compared to a half century ago.” Their data indicate that the northern Texas Panhandle, has a significant number of fire weather days and has seen a significant increase in the number of fire weather days over the past three decades.
Climate change is causally linked to the recovery, transport, and burning of fossil fuels. These activities emit the greenhouse gasses methane and carbon dioxide. This brings us to our second West Texas climate and energy story, which involves three familiar threads for Texas Impact: methane, liquified natural gas export facilities, and people of faith in Texas.
The Texas Tribune reported this week on a Baptist youth camp in the Permian Basin which has filed complaints with the Texas Railroad Commision after that agency approved a permit for a company called Martin Water Midstream to operate a produced water processing and recycling facility directly adjacent to the camp.
Produced water is water that is recovered during the hydraulic fracturing process. Hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, is when operators recover natural gas from deposits deep underground by injecting high velocity water into a layer of rock to fracture it and allow trapped natural gas to be collected.
Fracking has caused an energy boom in the Permian Basin, but it has come with significant environmental concerns. Produced water contains a host of hazardous chemicals including benzene, a known human carcinogen. Produced water was previously re-injected underground, but that practice has been shown to cause earthquakes and water quality problems. Now, produced water is transported through pipelines to facilities where it is processed and recycled. Part of the treatment process requires the produced water to be stored in open ponds. And that’s the type of facility which is located directly adjacent to the Circle 6 Baptist youth camp.
Representatives for the camp say that ponds of produced water could cause airborne pollution of numerous chemicals and would create a hazardous environment for the camp. They also argue that inadequate protection between the ponds and the aquifer threatens water quality, since the camp relies on a well.
Natural gas, the fossil fuel recovered through fracking, much of it from Texas, is at the center of two big national energy policy stories.
First, last month the Biden Administration announced a pause in new liquified natural gas export facility permits while the Department of Energy reviews their criteria for determining whether such exports are in the public interest. Texas Representative August Pfluger led a legislative effort to block the implementation of the pause by transferring authority to a different agency (it passed the House, but is not expected to pass the Senate).
Second, it was announced this month that the Texas Railroad Commission has formally requested that Attorney General Ken Paxton sue the EPA to block implementation of Section 111, the rules package which cracks down on methane emissions from the oil and gas industry (Yes, that Texas Railroad Commission, the agency which approved the siting of a produced water processing facility adjacent to the Circle 6 youth camp in the Permian Basin).
After all this hard news you might be wondering when I am going to get to the “best of times.” Here it is. On Sunday, February 25, 80% of the electricity Texas used was created using non-carbon sources. The bulk of that came from wind, solar, and battery storage (71%), while the rest came from nuclear generation.
Today’s success of renewable energy in Texas is due in part to the favorable policy decisions made a generation ago to lean into wind energy in West Texas. That environment has made Texas a nationwide leader in both wind and solar electrical generation. It shows what is possible when we look to the future with vision instead of clinging to the final moments of the fossil fuel era the way current state leadership seems to be committed to.
Whether your interest is in avoiding a future of out-of-control wildfires, living in a neighborhood without VOC pollution, or avoiding a world where oil and gas operators are allowed to emit benzene fumes next door to a summer camp full of children, air quality, safe water, and a liveable climate affect all of us, regardless of political persuasion. It is long past time to start regulating the ways the oil and gas industry releases pollution into the atmosphere and aquifers to the detriment of all Texans.