
Deep in the heart of Texas, oil, wind, cattle, wheat, hay and cotton live together. Much of rural Sweetwater's success comes from deep in the ground and high in the sky. In the future, it may be even deeper as oil and gas fracking takes hold.
Farmers draw water from wells to irrigate cotton and hayfields, wheat and provide drinking water for people and livestock. In the middle of fields, there are traditional oil wells pumping crude from the Permian formation at levels much deeper than water. That oil production dates back to 1921.
Traditional crude is extracted from 2,500 to 8,500 feet below the Earth's surface. Water wells average about 600 feet well above oil layers. The Cline formation is roughly 9,500 feet underground.
Both live in harmony. They have for years. That harmony employs people and provides food and energy for our nation.
High in the sky are hundreds of wind turbines. The Roscoe Wind Farm is one of the world's largest capacity wind farm with 627 wind turbines and a total installed capacity of 781.5 MW is the state's largest and many of the towers are in the middle of irrigated cotton and hay fields, wheatlands and pastures filled with cattle. The project cost more than $1 billion and provides enough power for more than 250,000 average Texan homes.
As for the future, Texas is poised to more than double daily oil production by 2020, surpassing a 1972 record with surging output from hydraulic fracking. As with traditional oil production, Texans believe they can using fracking to extract new oil without harming their tradtional farming.
The Cline is thousands of feet underground in a roughly 10-county swath, is just one of many little-tapped shale formations in Texas and across the nation, geologists say. That means the potential for oil and gas discoveries is theoretically huge, and the reason is technology. The rock-breaking process known as hydraulic fracturing, coupled with the ability to drill horizontally underground, has allowed drillers to retrieve oil and gas from previously inaccessible areas.
Passing through Sweetwater, northwest and central Texas, there are visible signs that technology is working for people, livestock, energy and food production.
There are tradeoffs, but they can and do happen safely. Applying our increasing knowledge in science and technology is key to feeding our world and providing jobs for our families.
Don C. Brunell, President (DonB@awb.org)