T299 Environmental Effects Related to Unconventional Oil and Gas Resources

Wednesday, 28 September 2016
1:30 PM - 5:30 PM
Room 403

A COMPARISON OF LANDSCAPE ALTERATION FROM OIL AND GAS DEVELOPMENT AND OTHER ANTHROPOGENIC FACTORS IN TEXAS

Paper number: T299-10
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 3:35 PM – 3:50 PM

Authors

Abstract

Recent research has assessed how well pads, pipelines, and other surface infrastructure associated with unconventional oil and gas development in North America has altered the landscape. Less well understood, however, are the effects of these changes in land use relative to other anthropogenic factors. Thus, for ~100 counties in Texas (~324,000 km2, ~50% of state’s land area), we mapped the land footprint of energy- and non-energy-related activities. This study presents a snapshot of current landscape alteration as of 2014 for a study area that includes ~794,000 oil and gas wells, ~6,300 wind turbines, ~236,000 km of oil and gas pipelines, and ~2,000 km of electrical transmission lines. We digitized landscape alteration from unconventional oil and gas development and wind power generation using high-resolution (1-m) aerial photography. We identified surface disturbance from the construction of well pads, oil and gas pipelines, wind turbines, and wind power transmission lines. We mapped non-energy-related development (i.e., agriculture, roads, urbanization, and other development) using the National Land Cover Dataset and a statewide road database. We found that anthropogenic landscape alteration by all factors affects ~24% of the study area (~78,000 km2). Agriculture was the dominant factor altering the landscape (~16% of total alteration; ~52,670 km2). Developed areas affected ~6% (~19,600 km²), with ~3.6% (~11,784 km2) in rural areas and ~2.4% (~1,872 km2) in urbanized areas. The land footprint of oil and gas development altered <1% of the study area (~2,963 km2), with ~0.7% (~2,269 km2) from well pads and ~0.2% (~695 km2) from pipelines. State, county, and municipally maintained roads covered ~2,686 km2 (<1%). Wind energy infrastructure occupied <0.01% (~23 km²), with ~13 km2 from turbine pads and ~10 km2 from power transmission lines. Our work was motivated by the need to understand what factors may affect the habitats of several species of state and federal interest in a large portion of Texas. However, the landscape alteration framework we present here should be of great interest to researchers evaluating the comparative effects of a suite of anthropogenic factors in and around unconventional energy development in North America and globally.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 48, No. 7

doi: 10.1130/abs/2016AM-284935

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