The Energy Information Agency estimates that 60 percent to 70 percent of U.S. gas exports will come from a ramp-up of production. Three-quarters of that new production would come from shale through horizontal drilling and fracking. Building LNG terminals in the Port of Brownsville would therefore lead to a tremendous increase in fracking in the Eagle Ford Shale region and Permian Basin, with devastating consequences. Already rural south Texas is being transformed into an industrial zone. Scarce Texas water resources are being depleted, and in some instances permanently contaminated, and the pollution associated with fracking is making people sick. Increased seismic activity has followed the expansion of fracking, and is increasingly being linked to fracking in general and injection wells in particular.
More Fracking
Exporting natural gas means a lot more fracking
LNG could be just as bad for the climate as coal
Natural gas is a relatively clean-burning fuel. But when it is fracked, piped, purified, liquefied, transported overseas, and re-gasified, the emissions picture is starkly different. Recently the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released a preliminary environmental report analyzing the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions resulting from LNG exports. In regards to climate change DOE’s results show that LNG exports would do nearly as much harm as coal when exported to Europe, and would have a carbon footprint much worse than local coal when exported to Asia.