Mochas and Methane
It’s a crisp November day. We’ve waited all summer for days like this. A day where you want to grab a cup of coffee, sit outside, and pause for a moment.
But what is that roaring noise? And all those off-putting smells?
Oh yeah, it’s the oil and gas well being drilled not but 100 feet away. Right off one of the main streets in town. Everybody knows the one…it’s the towering drilling rig they put right at the airport fence line, just a couple hundred feet away from the flight path. It’s okay, it will only be there a few months and “probably” nobody will crash into it. Worth the risk.
And the noise? Well it’s just giant diesel trucks coming in and out all day and night. Or 25,000 horsepower of machinery running for hours on end. Those big “soundproofing walls” they put up? Well, they help a little. But those are more to keep prying eyes out, than keeping the noise in.
What about those smells? Could be a number of things. Diesel exhaust, methane, hydrogen sulfide. Maybe all of it! What doesn’t kill you, right? Well, it might…
Oil and Gas drilling within city limits has always been a contentious thing. Oil companies will scream that it’s vitally necessary and any hint of regulation or additional protection for the residents is an assault on their rights. In the Permian Basin of Texas, we question whether it really is vitally necessary to drill within the city limits of a town like Midland. It is certainly an oil-friendly town, with most of the citizens directly or indirectly intertwined with the oil and gas industry in one way or another. But are the citizens themselves directly benefitting from this drilling? Are city leaders really looking out for the best interest of their constituents?
The fact is, the Permian Basin is massive. The city of Midland is about 71 square miles out of the 86,000 square mile Permian Basin. That less than 9/10th of 1/10 of 1%.
ERGF recognizes that domestic oil and gas drilling is a present necessary for the United States, and we fully support responsible natural resource production. We love to see American companies employing so many people, with good, high-paying jobs. However, with an ocean of oil under our feet, we can also afford to be a little picky about whether or not we want to drill under cities. There are so many people who become directly affected by the negatives of the drilling, but who are not directly benefited.
It’s our belief that oil and gas drilling within city limits isn’t quite the necessity these companies may have you believe. In fact, we believe in cities like Midland, these drilling programs are more of a vanity project of the oil companies racing to be first. They pride themselves on being the first to drill at the community airport, or first to drill at the junior college. They fly their company flags large and high. It’s quite a sight. The truth is, with the whole ocean of oil available to these companies, they can produce outside the city limits and it won’t affect their profitability. It won’t affect our Nation’s energy security. And it won’t risk the health and safety of tens of thousands of people who live and travel near the city drilling sites. And, perhaps someday, there will be technology where an oil and gas well can be drilled with minimal noise, no emissions, less health and safety concerns, which can reasonably justify drilling in city limits.
The coffee isn’t as relaxing as you thought it was going to be. Oh well. The drilling will eventually end and the noise will die down. Sure, you’ll still probably have a pumpjack creaking away 24/7, and the occasional hydrogen sulfide smells. But what doesn’t kill you…
