Mapping the History of Extractive Oil and Gas Industries in Lea County in Light of the Transition to Unconventional Methods

Introduction Motivation Methods Results Conclusions Future Work

This project was all about getting more familiar with the history of oil and gas well activity in one county in Southeastern New Mexico (Lea County), as a proof of concept in analyzing the variety and extent of oil and gas development in the larger, surrounding area of the entire Permian Basin.

I have heard so much about “fracking” over the years, and have never known much about it.

Someone approached me about helping determine what resources existed in the Permian Basin that could be called upon for support in a campaign to stop fracking there. He wanted to know if I could make an interactive map that could be used as an organizing tool by his company. Sounded interesting I thought, but I told him I’d have to take a class in GIS because I had never made a map like that before. “That fine,” he said, “we are just starting to get organized about thinking about what and how to do it now.”

So I started looking into fracking, and the Permian Basin and signed up for a GIS class in the Civil Engineering department.

I have to admit, I was skeptical. Were there any resources against fracking down there? I liked the idea of making maps like these, and the GIS class was cool, but the Permian Basin presented some difficulties to me. I didn’t know what to think about what was going on down there. I remembered driving through the area a few years ago and thinking it was awful, but I had no idea how the locals felt. It seemed like Hobbs, Lovington, and other little towns close to the border of Texas was the oil industry.

I kept looking into the situation and definitely found it interesting. I learned that Southeastern New Mexico is one of the centers of fracking activity in the world. The oil produced out of that region disrupted decades old global structures of industry. There was no shortage of growing pains, but from what I could tell oil and gas had been in the area for almost a century now, and despite legitimate environmental and health concerns, a whole heck of a lot of people were considering the shift to unconventional methods of extraction as a great opportunity, beneficial to the town, the nation, and themselves. I’m not sure any campaign against fracking, tout suite, has much chance of success right now. Maybe in ten years. Maybe sooner.

I do think there is community work to do in the Permian Basin, and it deals directly with fracking. I think the communities in the Permian Basin are having a tough time hanging onto the tail of this industry, and they need help. I’m not sure I would want the job of going all in against fracking myself, but helping determine and develop community resources whether or not we can stop fracking this decade.

I would like to work with the communities down there. Find out what they would like. Find what they need. Help build capacity that they may make demands of the oil industry and hold them to account. There are a number of regulatory, non-regulatory, and fiscal policies local communities can employ to help them realize their specific version of a healthy relationship with the oil and gas industry that are important to develop. Demanding accountability and increasing local oversight based on accurate knowledge is a strategy that could have additive levels of success. While demanding an immediate and complete stop to all activity seems to be asking to be laughed at and mostly ignored by companies who are used to getting their way, developing local capacity, resources, and knowledge is always a good thing.