I left this morning (October 2, 2012) before sunrise and returned after sunset. I toured, with other state officials, Ford, Harper, and Kiowa Counties, looking at some of the horizontal drilling (fracking) that is occurring, but mostly talking to local officials in these areas about the impact to their community and what needs to done to prepare for its growing influence. This including, of course, how we deal with insuring that the water needed for both fracking and potential future growth of these rural communities can occur in a way that protects other water rights and the environment. An interesting day. I saw a lot of windmills as well.
Oil and gas produced from horizontal wells is still a very small part of the total (well under 1% at this point), but it has doubled over the last 6 months and will continue to expand at a significant rate during this “exploratory” phase. But from what I could see, it seems it is here to stay; the question is the scale. For more information see the links below.
I think Kansas is fortunate that the development occurred in North Dakota and Oklahoma first as we are learning from their experience. The rate of growth is also manageable so far. Time will tell if this remains true.
For more information:
- On Horizontal drilling in Kansas generally (by the Kansas Geological Survey)
- About how we permit water for such drilling (from DWR’s web site)
Mr. Barfield,
From a water resource engineering grad student at Nebraska, who found your site somehow while looking for Kansas water rights information, I agree with the previous comment. I enjoy the water related posts and also enjoy the fact that they come from someone heavily involved in the West’s water issues. I also appreciate the health and financial information and your attempt to share your experiences with others. Thank you, best of luck, and I look forward to your future posts.
Thanks for our comment Daniel. I hope to write more regular in the future. Obviously my writing has been sparse over the last year or more. Work has been keeping me very busy with drought and our Republican River Compact issues with Nebraska and Colorado.
Best wishes.
David
Thanks Joseph for your comment. As I told Daniel I hope to be writing more regularly in the near future (I have a challenging few weeks ahead however) and I hope to include more about my interesting job as chief engineer.