Shale Gas Boom: Implications for California Agriculture

Over 31% of the fossil fuel energy consumed in the United States comes from natural gas—even more important than coal, which accounts for 25% of the total fossil energy consumed. Unlike coal and petroleum, which can easily be shipped around the world by vessel, natural gas is almost exclusively transported by pipeline. As a result, the vast majority (over 95%) of the natural gas consumed in the United States is produced domestically. In the past, our natural gas largely came from conventional underground reservoirs located in soft rock forma­ tions. While these reservoirs provided easily accessible sources of energy, vast amounts of natural gas remained locked deeper in the earth’s crust in hard, shale rock formations. Over the last decade, however, there has been a revolution in the way natural gas is extracted from the earth. Hydraulic fracturing (fracking) has made it possible to unlock the vast shale gas resources that previously had been uneconomical to extract. Fracking involves injecting a pressurized mixture of water, sand, and chemicals into deep wells, typically drilled horizontally into shale formations. The pressur­ ized mixture creates fissures in the rock layer, releasing oil and natural gas, which flows back up the well. Many energy industry participants have described fracking as a “game changer.” The technology is making cheap energy resources available to domestic consumers. It is clear that energy-intensive industries in the United States will benefit from fracking. How­ ever, it is less clear what the impacts will be on the agricultural sector and, specifi­ cally, farmers in California. Does frack­ ing represent a “game changing” tech­ nology for the state’s agricultural sector?