Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
envisioned in the 1960s by Ian McHarg) determines areas sensitive to damage
by drilling; applications to drill in high-sensitivity zones are presumed unlikely
to be granted, although all applications are evaluated case-by-case. Second, total
area of surface disturbance and clearing, including roads and drilling pads, is
limited. Current drilling technology makes clustered (several wells per pad)
directional drilling not only feasible but more profitable than old single-well
placements, bringing average pad size down from 4 to 5 ac per well to 0.1 to
0.5 ac.* The Santa Fe law also limits the
total surface area per square mile
that can be
developed for wells at a given time. The mineral owners' rights are not “taken,”
but must be developed in sequence if simultaneous development would require
more surface area.
• Because exportive businesses create short-term proit but eventually go bust,
communities must
set aside revenues
(severance tax, royalties, etc.) for the future.
Norway, for example, carefully invests North Sea oil revenue.
†
Mitigating
extraction impacts is a long-term investment, and varies state-by-state. New
Mexico, for example, taxes extraction at fairly high rates, but spends less than
any other Western state on oil and gas enforcement, mitigation, or infrastructure
impacts.
‡
This encourages current spending, at the expense of the future.
•
Resolving “split estate” laws
will require coordinated long-term effort at local,
regional, and national levels. Such reform is essential, because split ownership is
a demographic disaster waiting to happen—especially in the desert West. Large
numbers of citizens live on such lands; many are retirees on fixed incomes whose
prime asset is their home. This situation demands equitable reform, in a way
that serves the public interest and is sustainable. Both technological and political
initiatives will be required and difficult choices.
•
“Adjudication” of water rights
is increasing, in an attempt to avoid the situation
where claimed rights exceed actual supplies. This issue, beyond the scope of this
chapter, is particularly critical and difficult in arid regions. In effect, the same
issue occurs with mineral claims: split estate allocates more rights (surface use
plus removal by mining) than can actually coexist simultaneously.
Conflicts among varied claims on the land have led to unusual
coalitions
. A prime
example is New Mexico's Quivara Coalition, bringing together two groups long seen
as completely at odds: ranchers and environmentalists. Sustaining the land for the long
term has provided common ground between what has historically been an extractive
industry—cattle ranching—and relative newcomers who value wildlife, quiet outdoor
*
Molvar
20
details the technological trends toward footprints (well pads) as small as one-tenth of an acres, citing
specific projects where such methods were used—usually voluntarily by companies that recognize profit as a
result. The report was reviewed by two senior oil industry geologists.
†
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Government_Pension_Fund_of_Norway (accessed August 12, 2011)
Statens pensjonsfond—Utland, also called Oljefondet, “is a fund into which the surplus wealth produced by
Norwegian petroleum income is deposited…. The purpose of the petroleum fund is to invest parts of the large
surplus generated by the Norwegian petroleum sector, generated mainly from taxes of companies, but also …
license to explore … Current revenue from the petroleum sector is estimated to be at its peak period and to
decline over the next decades. The Petroleum Fund was established in 1990 after a decision by the Storting to
counter the effects of the forthcoming decline in income and to smooth out the disrupting effects of highly
fluctuating oil prices.”
‡
Headwaters Economics, see Moss.
6
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