“Energy Sprawl” Threatens Texas’ Wide-Open Spaces
County Road 320 near Balmorhea State Park: The fracking boom, combined with enormous windmill farms, threaten West Texas’ landscape and ecology.
Michael Ciaglo / Houston Chronicle
The landscapes of West Texas, like much of the western United States, are iconic — home to working cowboys, open spaces and some of the most intact landscapes remaining on the North American continent. Core to the fabric of these lands are the fiercely independent people. In places such as Alpine, Fort Stockton, Marfa and Pecos, you’ll meet Texans whose lives connect with nature in ways many Americans can only dream about.
Yet as domestic and international energy usage continues to rise, energy development has found its way onto the American West’s wide-open spaces. In far West Texas, people live above vast stores of oil and natural gas and on land rich in wind and solar energy potential. Much of the energy rights have already been acquired by energy companies, making this region the center for America’s energy future.
The question: Will local communities have a say in the fate of their land?
