Book Review: Regulating Water Security in Unconventional Oil and Gas twj.media An online, peer-reviewed journal published in cooperation with the Texas Water Resources Institute Volume 11 Number 1 | 2020 Volume 11, Number 1 2020 ISSN 2160-5319 texaswaterjournal.org THE TEXAS WATER JOURNAL is an online, peer-reviewed journal devoted to the timely consideration of Texas water resources management, research, and policy issues. The journal provides in-depth analysis of Texas water resources management and policies from a multidisciplinary perspective that integrates science, engineer-ing, law, planning, and other disciplines. It also provides updates on key state legislation and policy changes by Texas administrative agencies. For more information on TWJ as well as TWJ policies and submission guidelines, please visit texaswaterjournal.org. 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Available from: https://doi.org/10.21423/twj.v11i1.7114. © 2020 Jessica Foster. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ or the TWJ website: https://twj-ojs-tdl.tdl.org/twj/index.php/twj/ about#licensing. Buono, Regina M., López Gunn, Elena, McKay, Jennifer, and Staddon, Chad (eds.). 2019. Regulating Water Security in Unconventional Oil and Gas. Cham (Switzerland): Springer International Publishing AG. ISBN 978-3-030-18341-7. 418 p. Reviewed by Jessica Foster1* https://doi.org/10.21423/twj.v11i1.7114 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ https://twj-ojs-tdl.tdl.org/twj/index.php/twj/about#licensing Texas Water Journal, Volume 11, Number 1 Book Review: Regulating Water Security in Unconventional Oil and Gas62 In 2018, the United States became king of oil and, until recently, oil was king. Now, though its future reign sudden- ly appears uncertain, oil and gas still decisively dominate the energy industry. And when the United States surpassed Sau- di Arabia and Russia to become the world’s largest producer of crude oil for the first time this millennium, it had hydrau- lic fracturing to thank. But this “fracking” process that frees previously unrecoverable oil and gas from tight formations by fracturing the rock with highly pressurized fluid uses 5 to 11 million gallons of water per well. It’s also no secret that, as the human population continues to grow, having enough freshwater resources available to sustain them will become an increasing challenge. Meanwhile, many places in the U.S. (and Texas, in particular) have suffered through extreme drought, with some communities facing the possibility that their water supply could run out. Against this backdrop comes Regulating Water Security in Unconventional Oil and Gas, a collection of articles authored by professionals from disciplines as diverse as agriculture, zoology, law, and economics. The book takes a multidisciplinary look at how issues related to water for unconventional oil and gas pro- duction affect water security of a nation, state, community, or sector of industry—and possible pathways toward regulations that balance economic development with the human right to water. The authors examine what other regions have been expe- riencing to illustrate some of the common difficulties and dif- fering perspectives, challenges, and solutions being attempted. Authors’ contributions are presented in four parts, making the dense subject matter digestible. Before delving into the details, Part I sets the stage by providing a general framework in which the authors examine the complex issues raised. Parts II, III, and IV of the book then dig deeper, using case studies to explore first how operators procure water, then issues involved in dis- posal of water used and produced in fracking, and finally mac- ro-scale regulatory planning. A consistent theme of the book is the need to look at these issues in an integrated way, recognizing the trade-offs involved in every decision related to water management for unconven- tional oil and gas production. Of primary concern is that, giv- en the water-energy nexus, the two must be considered holisti- cally. Rather than adopt a silo mentality in which institutions and sectors manage water resources independently, industry, agriculture, energy, and municipalities (to name a few) must collaborate with each other and with stakeholders who will be affected by the policies or decisions made. The book also notes a gap between decision-makers and the most current science necessary to inform regulations, law, and policy applied to water for this sector of the energy industry. Sustainability is another key piece of this framework. Given that water is often scarce in the most significant oil and gas production zones, authors question whether unconventional oil and gas production practices are sustainable over the long term. And, even in the near term, public concern over water use, environmental contamination, and seismicity threaten the “social license to operate.” Losing that social license makes public demonstration against oil and gas development more likely. In examining water acquisition, the authors’ main areas of concern are the water footprint of practices like fracking and the unpredicted effects this water usage has had on ecosystems. Throughout the book, authors reiterate the massive water footprint of each hydraulic fracturing well. Meanwhile, in the United States, the pressure to develop shale gas is only expected to increase. Unfortunately, the hottest shale plays in the world are often located where water is least secure, such as the Perm- ian Basin in Texas, in which 87% of unconventional wells are drilled in areas of high or extremely high water stress. As these case studies indicate, many governing systems may be incapable, or unwilling, to incorporate these impacts into regulations and permitting processes. For instance, Chi- na, having set aggressive goals for shale gas development, has been secretive about the volumes of water used and the related environmental impacts. Likewise, Ukraine sought to devel- op unconventional oil and gas resources as a way to reduce Russia’s control over it, but environmental impacts and a Rus- sia-backed civil war have held Ukraine back. By destabilizing potential rivals, Russia has successfully used its energy resources as an economic and political tool. In stark contrast, the United Kingdom’s new charging system places a higher price on water from high risk/low resilience sources and a lower price on water from abundant sources. But in Texas, groundwater is personal property that operators can buy directly from the owner, with few regulatory obstacles, complicating governance attempts. Indigenous groups in many of the countries studied have felt the impact of the industry’s water practices and have had varying degrees of success asserting their rights. Most notably, the Standing Rock Sioux tribe’s protest played a significant role in opposing the Dakota Access Pipeline in Canada and the United States, garnering popular support. And, in Cana- da, First Nations groups have had limited success challenging fracking when companies failed to consult and accommodate the groups, as required by procedural rules. Sadly, the Khanty people in Russia altered their millennia-old cultures, tradition, and ways of life in response to energy industry obstructing and polluting watercourses in their lands. Dealing with wastewater produced during fracking raises unique concerns, the authors observe. Water used in the frack- ing process contains chemicals and proppants (sand or ceramic beads used to prop open fractures in rock to allow oil and gas to escape the formation), while produced water forced from the geologic formations being fractured is often contaminated with naturally occurring dissolved solids, heavy metals, and radioac- Texas Water Journal, Volume 11, Number 1 63Book Review: Regulating Water Security in Unconventional Oil and Gas ning, including sustainability; national energy independence and conflicts between national and super-national governance; and funding regulation and enforcement. For instance, ener- gy development applicants in South Africa must consider sus- tainable development principles, including “the integration of social, economic, and environmental factors into planning, implementation, and decision making so as to ensure that mineral and petroleum resources development serves present and future generations.” On the other hand, Argentina pur- sued energy independence through fracking before establishing any policy to prevent negative environmental or social impacts. And Poland, a European Union member country, has ignored European Union directives to require that operators conduct strategic environmental assessments or environmental impact assessments to obtain license to drill well less than 5,000 meters deep. Dealing with a lack of funding and transparency, Mexico has struggled to enforce regulations on the industry, prompting civil campaigns by indigenous groups. Meanwhile, indigenous groups, local authorities, and environmental groups have had success in Brazilian courts and commonly bring civil claims opposing oil and gas operators trying to secure concessions and licenses. The book’s editors conclude by suggesting several steps and research to address these issues. They emphasize that the human right to water and sanitation recognized by some countries and international bodies like the United Nations must become “hard law” everywhere. There must be regulation on water use in unconventional oil and gas production that considers the related nature of the water-energy nexus as a crucial part of water security. Environmental regulations must not only be consistent with science but also should provide a fail-safe against environmental damage, incorporating sustainability principles and precautions to prevent the damage all together. The silo mentality should be rejected in favor of an approach to water management in which regulation is the product of collaboration between institutions, industry sectors, and com- munities like indigenous and environmental groups. Regulating Water Security for Unconventional Oil and Gas articulates important lessons for managing how freshwater resources are used in the hydraulic fracturing process. Perhaps more importantly, it uses fracking as a lens through which to see how interconnected humans are to the water, energy, and environment that sustains us—and how critical it is that we manage those resources in a way that does not value one resource without considering the impact to others. tive materials. Because treating this water is so expensive, oper- ators most commonly inject these fluids back into the ground into non-producing formations, where geology and state regu- lations permit; where it does not, it may be discharged into sur- face waters or (least often) onto land. The EPA in 2016 noted that all these disposal methods frequently or severely degrade water. Given that injection wells and surface disposal may trig- ger both state and federal regulations, the regulatory process can be complex. Induced seismicity has also been connected with wastewa- ter injection (in the United States) and with the fracking pro- cess itself (Canada, United Kingdom, and the Netherlands), prompting additional government action. In response to stud- ies connecting a sudden rise in earthquake activity in Okla- homa and Texas, Oklahoma has seriously limited fracking-re- lated injections in certain areas with increased seismicity. In the United Kingdom, operations near seismic events were sus- pended, while the Netherlands plans to cease production from fracking entirely by 2030. For these reasons, injection well disposal has been controver- sial. On a promising note, regulations, geology, and environ- mental concerns have prompted operators in states like Penn- sylvania and Texas to ramp up treatment, reuse, and recycling of this wastewater—water otherwise permanently removed from the hydrologic cycle. Similarly, in Australia, the use of water and disposal of produced water resulting from the pro- duction of coal seam gas has been met with resistance, with Queensland adopting an adaptive management approach, New South Wales enacting a five-year moratorium from 2011 to 2016, and Victoria permanent banning the process. The groundwater contamination potential associated with fracturing presents equally complex scientific and legal prob- lems. Because fracturing operations occur so deeply below the groundwater-saturated strata, toxic fluids from the fractures themselves are unlikely to directly reach aquifers. This makes it difficult for a plaintiff in a civil case for contamination to prove that fracturing operations legally caused the water contamina- tion alleged—a threshold question before the operator can be held liable. And, even if pathways could be found, often there is no baseline groundwater sample to show that the contam- ination did not pre-date drilling operations. It is also a chal- lenge to prove that a particular contaminant was introduced by a specific fracking operation because trade secret law is often used to conceal what chemicals are used. Apart from fracturing fluids, however, it is possible that naturally occurring contam- inants like “methane could migrate up into aquifers from the fractured shale seam through pre-existing, natural fissures in the overlying rock, or even through fissures created or enlarged by fracturing.” On a macro scale, the book highlights several key issues that—taken with those above—influence regulatory plan-