Clean fracking

As oil and gas bust lingers, new regulations on methane ensure a greener future.

Bernie Sanders wants to ban fracking, but the free market may have beat him to it — at least in North Texas. The number of active rigs fell to zero last month in Barnett Shale fields. Only a few years ago that number would have been somewhere near 200. Low gas prices and cheaper shale plays in Pennsylvania and Ohio have done more to shut down Texas fracking than environmentalists could ever hope.

It may sound like a green dream to the folks who tried to boot fracking from Denton, but it is a nightmare for Texans who work in the oil and gas industry. As Chronicle reporter Lydia DePillis wrote last week, the Houston region is forecast to lose 40,000 jobs through 2017 in a lingering oil bust that looks to rival that of the 1980s.

But the thing about dreams is that you eventually wake up. Analysts say this natural gas slump won’t last forever, especially as low prices attract new industries to the energy source. Cruise operator Carnival Corp. and other maritime companies have begun to sign contracts for ships that run on liquefied natural gas. European shipping companies are also experimenting with trucking fleets that run on natural gas.

In the United States, natural gas has eclipsed coal as our baseline energy source and the Energy Information Agency projects that its slice of that power pie will keep growing. As the saying goes: Everything is bigger in Texas. Natural gas provides nearly half of the power on the state energy grid. A new report commissioned by the Texas Clean Energy Coalition predicts that natural gas and renewables will combine for about 85 percent of our state’s energy by 2035, while coal will be cut to 8 percent.

That transition isn’t just being driven by new construction. Companies across the nation are actually retrofitting old coal plants to burn cheaper, cleaner natural gas.

Rather than cheering this change, however, all too many environmental groups still want to burn the fracking-built bridge to a clean energy future.

As the collaborative journalism outlet Climate Desk titled an article earlier this month: “Environmentalists Hate Fracking. Are They Right?” In a word: No. Energy-related carbon emissions in the United States are at their lowest point in a decade, largely because of the decline of coal and an increase in natural gas. Our nation also outperforms European countries on reducing overall harmful air pollution, according to the World Health Organization. Fracking brings plenty of its own unique problems, from water contamination to methane leaks, which are carcinogenic and contribute to global warming. However, unlike pollution from coal, those issues can be addressed easily and cost-effectively — and the Obama administration is doing just that.

Earlier this month, the EPA announced the first rules to regulate methane as a greenhouse gas. Groups like the Environmental Defense Fund have been working with the industry to detect and plug leaks, and these regulations will apply plenty of lessons learned to new construction. Rules for older infrastructure will be left to the next administration.

Fixing these leaks will save money in the long run — that recaptured methane can be sold on the market and the EPA estimates a $690 million yield by 2025. But the industry has been quick to balk at the upfront capital costs estimated at $530 million.

A depressed market may seem like a bad time for costly new burdens, but putting the regulations in place during a lull in development ensures that the future of fracking will be cleaner than ever no matter what Bernie Sanders thinks.

Analysts say this natural gas slump won’t last forever, especially as low prices attract new industries to the energy source.