Over the past two decades, the city of Fort Worth has experienced an unprecedented boom in urban natural gas drilling, transforming the local landscape and sparking a grassroots movement to rein in the industry’s environmental impacts. As one of the epicenters of the Barnett Shale gas play, Fort Worth has reaped both the economic rewards and the environmental consequences of the shale gas revolution.
The Rise of Hydraulic Fracturing
The key driver behind Fort Worth’s gas drilling boom was the advancement of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” technology. By the early 2000s, energy companies had mastered the ability to extract natural gas from tight shale formations like the Barnett Shale through a combination of horizontal drilling and high-pressure injection of water, sand, and chemicals. This allowed them to access previously unrecoverable reserves, setting off a drilling frenzy across North Texas.
Between 2002 and 2009, the number of natural gas wells in the 18-county Barnett Shale region skyrocketed from just a few hundred to over 16,000. Fort Worth, the largest city sitting atop the shale play, became a prime target for drilling, with hundreds of wells sprouting up within the city limits. The economic benefits were substantial, as the industry created thousands of jobs and generated significant tax revenue for the city and county.
Environmental Concerns Take Center Stage
However, the rapid proliferation of drilling operations also brought a wave of environmental concerns from local residents. With wells located in close proximity to homes, schools, and businesses, citizens began to voice alarm over issues like water contamination, air pollution, and disruption to their quality of life. Increased truck traffic, nighttime lighting, and the general industrialization of once-quiet neighborhoods became major sources of frustration.
Libby Willis, who served as president of the Fort Worth League of Neighborhood Associations during the boom years, vividly recalls the challenges residents faced. “Our local elected officials are the ones closest to the ground. They are the ones that we have the best opportunity to impress upon them the key issues and what the local ordinances ought to be,” she said. However, the industry’s rapid expansion often outpaced the ability of municipal authorities to keep up with regulating its impacts.
The Denton Fracking Ban Sparks a Wider Conflict
As public awareness and opposition to urban drilling grew, some communities decided to take matters into their own hands. In 2014, the city of Denton, located just north of Fort Worth, became the first in Texas to pass a ban on hydraulic fracturing within city limits. This unprecedented move by a Texas municipality quickly drew the ire of the powerful oil and gas industry and its allies in the state legislature.
The industry filed lawsuits challenging Denton’s fracking ban, and in 2015 the Texas Legislature passed House Bill 40, which not only overturned the Denton ordinance but also preempted all Texas cities and counties from regulating oil and gas activities. This marked the beginning of a broader legislative assault on local control, with the state increasingly moving to strip municipalities of their regulatory authority over a range of issues, from business and commerce to labor and the environment.
Fort Worth Navigates a Delicate Balance
As the conflict over local drilling regulations escalated, Fort Worth found itself caught in the middle. The city had long been regarded as a “model” for how to manage the tensions between the economic benefits of gas drilling and the need to protect public health and the environment. Fort Worth City Council member Jungus Jordan, who also served as president of the Texas Municipal League, played a key role in shaping the compromise language of House Bill 40 that gave cities limited above-ground authority over certain aspects of drilling operations.
However, even with this compromise, the law was seen by some as a significant blow to local control. Libby Willis argued that House Bill 40 ultimately reduced residents’ ability to influence policies that affected their lives. “Especially in a state as large as this one, it’s hard to really make your voice heard by the state Legislature,” she said.
In the years since the passage of House Bill 40, the battle over drilling regulations has continued to play out in cities like Arlington, where residents have pushed for stronger enforcement of local ordinances. But municipal authorities often feel constrained by the state’s preemptive powers, leading to frustration over their perceived lack of real control.
Balancing Economic and Environmental Concerns
As Fort Worth navigates this complex regulatory landscape, it must continually balance the economic benefits of gas drilling against the need to protect the environment and the quality of life of its citizens. The industry has brought jobs and tax revenue to the region, but the environmental toll – from air and water pollution to seismic activity – has been substantial.
Moving forward, Fort Worth and other Texas communities will likely need to find innovative ways to assert more local control over drilling activities, whether through legislative changes or legal challenges. At the same time, the industry will need to demonstrate a greater commitment to mitigating its environmental impacts if it hopes to maintain its social license to operate in urban areas.
The gas drilling boom has forever changed the face of Fort Worth, and the grassroots movement it sparked continues to shape the city’s future. As The Loch & Quay knows well, balancing economic progress with environmental stewardship is a critical challenge for any thriving destination. Fort Worth’s experience offers valuable lessons for other communities grappling with the complex tradeoffs of resource extraction.