Assessing Impacts to Transportation Infrastructure from Oil and Gas Extraction in Rural Communities: A Case Study in the Mississippi Tuscaloosa Marine Shale Oil Play

Authors

Abstract

Recent advances in technologies associated with hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling have provided access to vast reserves of oil and gas that were previously uneconomical to produce, and in areas without a history of concentrated drilling activity. Townships and counties without sufficient financial resources have faced new challenges to maintain transportation infrastructure despite unprecedented volumes of heavy truck traffic on aging roads not designed for such use. Many studies have evaluated the impact of oil and gas development on roads, but small, local communities—where road impacts are felt the most—do not have the resources to utilize much of this information or conduct the necessary advanced data-gathering and analysis. Using the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS) oil play in Mississippi as a case study, this paper presents a methodology for local planners to identify at-risk infrastructure. By using data obtainable by local planners, we demonstrate how to identify routes likely to be impacted and how to obtain and use data on water volume use, which correlates directly to road impacts and has been underutilized as a component for future planning. This paper also fills a gap by including operator perspectives on local approaches to addressing road impacts. Keywords: hydraulic fracturing; road impacts; rural economic development; FracFocus; operator perspectives; Mississippi ___________________________________________ Évaluation des Impacts de l'Extraction de Gaz et de Pétrole sur les Infrastructures de Transport dans les Communités Rurales: Une Étude de Cas de la Zone Pétrolière de Schiste Marin de Tuscaloosa au Mississipi Résumé Les progrès récents en technologie associés à la fracturation hydraulique et le forage horizontal ont donné accès à de vastes réserves de pétrole et de gaz qui n'étaient auparavant pas rentables à produire, ceci dans des régions sans historique d'activité de forage intensif. Les communes et les comtés sans ressources financières suffisantes ont fait face à de nouveaux défis pour maintenir les infrastructures de transport malgré les volumes sans précédent de trafic de camions lourds sur les vieilles routes non conçues pour cet usage. De nombreuses études ont évalué l'impact du développement du pétrole et du gaz sur les routes, mais les petites communautés locales— où les impacts sur les routes sont les plus ressentis—n'ont pas les ressources pour utiliser la plupart de ces informations ou mener les collectes de données et les analyses évoluées nécessaires. En utilisant la zone pétrolière de Schiste Marin de Tuscaloosa (TMS en anglais) au Mississipi, comme étude de cas, cet article présente une méthodologie pour les planificateurs locaux afin d'identifier les risques d'infrastructure. En utilisant les données accessibles par les planificateurs locaux, nous démontrons comment identifier les routes qui seront probablement les plus touchées et comment obtenir et utiliser des données sur l'utilisation du volume d'eau, qui est directement reliée aux impacts de la route et qui a été sous-utilisée comme composante dans les planifications futures. Cet article comble aussi une lacune en incluant des perspectives d'opérateurs sur des approches locales pour remédier aux impacts de la route.

Author Biographies

Leah A. Dundon, Vanderbilt University

Leah graduated from Vanderbilt Law School in 1997 and has been a practicing attorney in the field of environmental law since that time. She is currently a PhD Candidate in Environmental Engineering at the Vanderbilt School of Engineering focusing on risk, resiliency, transportation, and climate change and regularly publishes in and presents on these topics.

Mark Abkowitz, Vanderbilt University

Mark is Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Professor of Engineering Management, and the Director of the Vanderbilt Center for Environmental Management Studies. His research interests include risk management, risk assessment, infrastructure resilience, freight transportation, and spatial analysis.

Janey Camp, Vanderbilt University

Janey is Research Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Her research interests focus on risk and reliability, energy and natural resources, and big data science and engineering and spatial analysis.

Craig Philip, Vanderbilt University

Craig is Research Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Director of the Vanderbilt Center for Transportation Research (VECTOR). His research interests include management and sustainability of freight transportation networks and operations, and Infrastructure resilience and application of risk management tools to public policy making.

Downloads

Published

2018-05-29