Today, Explained - What the frack is up with Colorado

Episode Date: October 31, 2018

Colorado's Proposition 112 is dividing the state. The ballot measure could severely limit oil and gas production, including fracking. Sean Rameswaram speaks with Cody Doane, who's Team Fracking, even though there was a lethal natural gas explosion near his kids' pre-school. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Happy Halloween! You know what can be kind of scary? Fracking. For those of you who don't know, fracking is the pet name for hydraulic fracturing. It's one way to get natural gas out of the ground. But,

in America, it's become the way. What you do is you inject a mixture of water, sand, and a whole cocktail of chemicals into underground rocks at super high pressure. You blast the stuff open and natural gas comes out. Fracking's been around for a while.

Halliburton started using the technique in the late 1940s, but that was fracking with vertical drilling. In the past 10 or 15 years, fracking has been combined with horizontal drilling, where you can go for miles and miles underground and boom. The United States is now the biggest producer of natural gas in the world. And that means jobs. Lots of good-paying jobs. But then there's the scary side of it.

With pumping chemicals into the ground comes the risk of spilling chemicals into water sources. With all those high-pressure drilling machines comes methane gas being pumped into the atmosphere. And like any work with gas and oil, you've got the risk of deadly explosions. Deadly explosions close to residential neighborhoods. Some of this drilling is happening really close to communities, sometimes as close as 500 feet. Colorado's one of the biggest oil and gas producers in the country, but it's also a total babe. People are leaving

places like California and Texas to live in Colorado, surrounded by rocky mountains and trees and legal marijuana, not oil and gas wells. And that's why right now in Colorado, there's a super impassioned, divisive debate about drilling, unlike any the country's seen before. Fracking is on the ballot. Politics campaign 2018 has been a slugfest, and one of the most divisive issues is the future of fracking in our state. Supporters say it's about health and safety. Opponents say it will cripple Colorado's economy.

And the oil and gas industry is spending tens of millions of dollars to fight it. And so many of you reached out asking for more facts before you vote. Well, I cannot remember the last story that I covered where I got so many emails. Grace Hood has been reporting on a very divisive ballot initiative for Colorado Public Radio. People are really following the coverage very closely. And I think with all the TV commercials that we have right now, the oil and gas industry has millions and millions that

they're spending to beat this. For the average voter, it can be very confusing about what to believe. And what would Proposition 112 do exactly? Proposition 112 would increase what's called a setback distance. That's really just the distance between a well and a home or a larger occupied structure. So right now that distance is 500 feet, and the new proposed distance would be 2,500 feet. That's about a half mile. What that means is it would put a lot of future oil and gas development off limits. You mentioned the emails you're getting, Grace. What are they like? You know, I saw this TV ad. I don't know what to believe. This TV ad touts the economic benefits of the oil and gas industry, but can you help me figure out some other numbers or metrics to use

to measure the value of the oil and gas industry? I think people are trying to think independently away from the ads, but they don't really know where to turn to. It's difficult. What are the ads like? The ads mostly focus on economic benefits of the oil and gas industry to the state. Proposition 112 is effectively a ban on oil and natural gas in Colorado. A Colorado ban could cost the state 68,000 good jobs.

It will take billions out of support for public schools, impacting teachers and students directly. Wonder who's driving the conversation about fracking in Colorado? I hereby open this meeting of the Flat Earth Discussion Group. Last week's meeting on whether or not the moon is actually made of cheese was very unlikely. Coloradans should listen to the experts, not radical activists. Are there opposing ads from environmental types? There aren't any on TV. There's a few internet ads, but the outspending is, it's very lopsided. How bad? 40 to 1. A political group called Protect Colorado has already raised more than $30 million. Anadarko, Noble Energy, and Extraction Oil and Gas are among the top contributors.

More than $30 million just to basically keep the status quo for themselves in the state. I mean, the one report that I keep going back to was put out by our state regulators, and it said that 85% of oil and gas development in the future, you know, 85% of the land could potentially be off limits in the future. I mean, that's very significant. When I'm talking to people on both sides, I mean, I very much understand that the stakes are high for the industry. They stand to lose a lot. What are the arguments each side is really making? So environmental groups are really touting kind of two things. The first is health and safety.

And the health reasons, I mean, they are really citing this one University of Colorado study that found that people living within a half mile of a well had a greater risk of health effects. That's the challenging thing, though. The research is still emerging. I mean, the oil and gas industry has another report that they point to that says, hey, the risk is low for residents living near oil and gas. So that's a tricky argument to sort out. Where I think the environmentalists have a stronger argument is around explosions. They say future wells should

be further away from homes because there's a risk of explosions. And we saw a couple of those last year in Colorado. One resulted in a worker death. And then there was another one that happened in this town north of Denver called Firestone. And that's where two residents died because there was a well that leaked kind of raw unscented natural gas into the soil. And they were changing in like a hot water heater and the house went up in flames. Denver 7 has learned the remains of two people have been pulled from the rubble of this house explosion and firestone. Two other people inside that same home

they're in the hospital right now and tonight we know one of the victims is a teacher at Mountain Range High in Westminster. So I think that environmental groups have a pretty strong argument that placing future wells 2,500 feet from homes, that would presumably make things safer if there was any kind of explosion or fire. And the other side? So it really comes down to economics, to jobs. You have more than 29,000 oil and gas industry jobs. They're high paying compared to other jobs across the state, large contributor to state GDP. And when you have such a dramatic reduction in oil and gas production, you could see layoffs.

Have you heard from people who might lose their jobs? Absolutely. I mean, I was out with canvassers a couple of weekends ago. These canvassers were trying to get Proposition 112 passed. But one of the most fascinating conversations I heard was with a proponent of 112 talking to somebody who worked for the oil and gas industry. And the person who was supporting 112 wasn't somebody who lived in Denver

and knew nothing about oil and gas development. They actually lived right in the epicenter of where it's all happening in this place called Greeley, Colorado. So what if this were to pass? Well, certainly I would lose hours and pay and the clientele would shrink. Do you have another skill set besides surveying that you would? Yeah, playing bass, but it doesn't pay very much. That's on the low scale. It's good for the soul. That's right. But you'd be employed.

Well, I moved to Colorado because of the oil and gas. Oh, okay, I gotcha. And I had to leave where I was at because they didn't want oil and gas. Oh, so you surveyed for oil and gas. Yes, I've surveyed in eight states. And what state were you in before that you said didn't want oil? Florida. 2008, we all know how good the economy was.

And I had to leave in roughly 2014. It's just no work. So I came to Colorado because there is work. There is jobs. And, I mean, it was a really civil exchange. And I think at the end they were were sort of like agreeing to disagree. But Therese, the woman I was following, was saying, well, hey, you know, the economy's great right now. Three percent unemployment. You can find another job somewhere else. But this guy was

saying, well, I like my job right now. I don't want to find a job somewhere else. And he had like a no on 112 sign in his yard. And the energy revolution, I mean, hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling has really kind of woken up what was a sleepy industry here. Why is this happening in Colorado? I mean, you don't see oil and gas ballot initiatives all over the country this election. Why is this happening there? This is a debate that's been simmering for a while. And the debate is how close is too close when it comes to oil and gas development near homes. The debate, in terms of my following, it goes all the way back to 2012 when the city north of Denver, it's called Longmont, Colorado, banned fracking. And that case actually worked its

way all the way to the state Supreme Court. It was struck down a couple years ago. And you just have some cities north of Denver where a lot of development happens. They're struggling with how to manage drilling near homes. Now I'll point out the oil gas industry has done a lot with technology to mitigate noise, truck traffic, make drilling rigs quieter. But I think for people on the environmental side of the debate, they just don't see action happening at the statehouse. And the ballot initiative process was what they saw as their best chance to push more change. I wonder, does this come down to like pretty clear cultural lines or are there some interesting cultural bedfellows being made right now in this debate? You know, I don't think that this exactly falls along party lines because you have Democrats who work in the oil and gas industry and you also have Republicans who maybe live in a

town where they learned that a well is going to be drilled 500 feet from their home and they don't want that. So I think there are very strong environmental and industry camps, but I don't think it cuts very super neatly along party lines. Do you have any idea how this is polling right now? How does Colorado break down on this ballot initiative? The one poll that I've seen is basically it's too close to call. And that's the other thing that I think is fascinating here is that we really don't know which way it's going to go, what voters are going to decide. Are the ads, all the TV ads and the mailers, are those going to have a huge impact and sway voters? Or are we going to see, you know, environmental groups going to their

grassroots, using volunteers to knock on doors? Is that going to have more of a sway with voters? We really just don't know. I think it's going to be pretty exciting to watch on Election Day. Grace Hood is an energy and environment reporter for Colorado Public Radio. Up next, I'm going to talk to a real-life fracker. I don't know what you're planning on dressing up as tonight for Halloween, but I'm thinking about going as Susan Sarandon's character from the movie Viper Club. She plays Helen, a veteran emergency room nurse secretly struggling to free her grown son, a journalist, from capture by a terrorist group. After running into roadblocks with government agencies, she discovers a clandestine community of journalists and advocates who might be able to help her.

Viper Club is showing right now in New York and Los Angeles, and it'll be in theaters nationwide this Friday. It also stars Edie Falco from The Sopran Colorado, currently live in the town of Erie. We are on the Front Range. It's kind of one of those towns that has a strong division in the hydraulic fracturing. I work for Halliburton, one of the nation's largest service providers in the oil and gas industry. And how do you like working for Halliburton? I love what I do. I'm very happy with what they've done for my family. They've helped me actually create a family. What exactly do you do, Cody? We do well stimulation, which is probably more commonly known as fracking or hydraulic fracturing of oil and gas wells.

And when you say working for Halliburton and this work that you do, fracking has sort of allowed you to have a family, what exactly do you mean? So five years ago when I started with Halliburton, my wife and I had been struggling with fertility issues for a couple years. We weren't really sure what the problem was, but we knew we needed some really good benefits and probably some substantial income to help with that fertility issue. We had a lot of testing done, and once I started with Halliburton, realized what it was we needed to do. The medical benefits with Halliburton are amazing. And that helped us through the fertility process and the birth of our twins, boy-girl twins, who are now three years old. Their middle names are actually Hallie and Burton. It was a tongue-in-cheek comment the day I hired on with Halliburton. I made a phone call to my wife and said, hey, we're going to have those babies. We're going to get through our fertility

treatments, and I'm going to name them after the company. Fast forward a few years, and all of a sudden, that's the way it worked out. Was your wife on board? She was. I guess my wife and I had, there was a lot of pain. There was a lot of struggle not having children. And it was a moment where there was so much hope in that one day of changing careers and knowing that this was the path to having children, I think there was so much emotion wrapped up in that moment of me committing to this new career with Halliburton that it just worked out. My son's name is Adler Burton. My daughter is Everly Hallie.

And everybody just loves the way the story has played out. So I'm guessing you're voting no on Proposition 112 next Tuesday. It is a strong no, yes. We've got our ballots completed, and they are no votes. You said you lived in a deeply divided town, Erie, Colorado. I'm not that familiar with it, but how's that looking right now? How is it divided? So the town is divided by Boulder County, which is a very strong anti-oil and gas county. The other side of the line is Weld County, which is Colorado's top producing county in the state. And so I'm guessing, what, do you have neighbors who are voting yes on 112? How close is this to you?

Yeah, the second door over, you know, they display their vote yes on 112 sign very proudly. We've got our vote no. We visit, we talk at curbside and wave to each other. But we are both very strong in our opinions. Yeah, I mean, it's kind of intense to have that division. It isn't just like you're choosing different people to be president. It's like they're saying, we don't want your industry to be as prominent as it is in our state. How does that make you feel? I would say that I am really an environmentalist myself. My wife and I live a very simple, organic lifestyle. We don't have...

You're calling? You're calling? Sorry. Kids are following me around. Is that Hallie or Burton? So that is Adler Burton, my son. And Everly is right behind him. They are off with their mom to help do some daycare for a friend today. Oh, that's nice. Tell them happy Halloween.

I will. They're excited. They are a dragon and unicorn, which they would love to be every day of the year. Back to the do I understand. I truly do. So our household doesn't have chemical cleaners in it. We don't bring in a lot of processed products because there are a lot of toxins in our environment. I feel so strongly with what we do to provide energy for the country.

And I believe we do it in the safest way we possibly could. I don't think that when I'm going to work, I'm polluting the earth at all. But there's these reports of increased earthquakes due to fracking in Oklahoma. You see these videos of people lighting their water on fire because of fracking in Pennsylvania. There's been measures of all this methane

that's being released into the air. I mean, aren't those valid concerns for people like your neighbors? Yeah, and I don't dismiss anyone's feelings or concerns. I think that the industry has led us to a healthier and safer environment. With natural gas, that's one of the primary resources we find here in Colorado. Natural gas is one of the greatest resources we can get out to the world. I totally get that. I wonder, though, you seem to really appreciate the work that Halliburton does and the work of the oil and gas industry in Colorado because it's made way for you to have this family that means so much to you. But there was this story of a town in Colorado, Firestone, where two residents died because

there was a well that leaked raw, unscented natural gas into the soil. And there was a hot water heater that was being changed and the house went up in flames. God forbid, what if something like that happened at the house next to yours or even your house? I mean, would you still advocate this particular form of drilling and energy? I would. And my heart aches for the loss of those two brothers and injuries to the one gentleman's wife and child that

will stick with that family forever. It had nothing to do with hydraulic fracturing and is a once in a million or maybe once in a billion occurrence. And we send our children to preschool just minutes away from where that house exploded. With the comfort that we know that was a very random event. I wonder, Cody, I saw a poll referred to in the New York Times that said that yes on 112 is polling at something like 43% and no on 112 is polling at 41%. This is a neck and neck ballot initiative in Colorado. What are you going to do if Colorado votes yes on 112 and the industry really slows down? It becomes essentially a ban on oil and gas production in the state of Colorado.

Because people won't be able to open up new wells and the old wells will dry up. Exactly. I'm not opposed to doing other work. I've done a lot of different things in my life. I've done environmental cleanup. I've worked in building everything from residential, commercial to civil building. But I really enjoy what I do. I really enjoy working for Halliburton, and I would like to continue my years and retire with the company. So if that means relocating, then we would, in fact, relocate to an area where they had the work for us.

Cody, thank you so much for speaking with us, man. I wish you all the best. I thank you very much, Sean. Enjoy your Halloween. And keep an eye out on Colorado and this coming election and what what happens with Colorado's future. Dylan Matthews, we spoke yesterday of your latest episode of Future Perfect, which actually came out this morning. It's about creating a fake volcano to combat climate change. The technical term is solar geoengineering. Scientists prefer that to creating a volcano, but you're basically creating a volcano. Okay. And it turns out that when volcanoes erupt, they cool the whole planet. And so the idea is to try to do something like that as a way to stave off global warming.

Now, if spraying chemicals into the atmosphere sounds like a weird and bad idea, that is because it is probably a weird and bad idea. But what we're doing right now is also weird and bad of just spewing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. And so a lot of scientists are starting to think, are we going to have to choose between weird and bad ideas for engineering our climate? And we can hear from said scientists on this episode of Future Perfect. Absolutely. That is out now in your feeds wherever you find your podcasts. Future Perfect.