Petropolis: A Study of Urban Growth Patterns with reference to Hydraulic Fracturing in the Greater Midland-Odessa Region

Energy sprawl is the most significant driver of land use change in the United States. US energy production is predicted to rise 27% by 2040, directly impacting over 200,000 square km of additional land. Presently, the majority of US oil and gas comes from unconventional drilling. Unlike other energy sources, extractive energy must continually be drilled and mined to sustain production, significantly impacting land use land cover (LULC). Hydraulic fracturing uniquely affects urban growth due to its rapid production and distribution process. Being at the forefront of domestic production, the Permian Basin played an essential role in the economic development of cities such as Midland and Odessa. Due to the advancement of seismic imaging and other technologies, producers widely started using hydraulic fracturing around 2010. Hydraulic Fracturing or Fracking is the controversial technological process of petroleum extraction that involves injecting a high-pressure liquid mixture to open up the subterranean rock formation. Although debated for its negative environmental consequences, fracking is commonly considered an agent of accelerated economic growth. This rapid expansion, combined with the environmental impacts, becomes an actor of change in urban fabric. Although many researchers have studied the significant habitat loss and fragmentation directly associated with energy sprawls, the land use implications, especially the urban growth patterns, need to be better understood. The urbanizing impacts of hydraulic fracturing are both spatial and temporal; this study aims to understand how oil and gas extraction has influenced the urban growth in the Greater Midland-Odessa region before and after the implementation of widespread fracking within the timeframe 2001-2011 and 2011-2021. NLCD land use data and other relevant data sets are acquired, and urban sprawl's extent and spatial characteristics are analyzed. In the later part of the study, the growth characteristics are explained by re-conceptualizing urban spatial elasticity. The analysis reveals a ‘ripple effect’ of upward and downward curve of growth rings with approximately 10-mile radius with peak density in the mid-zones. This research also identifies multiple types of sprawls and more satellite growth after widespread fracking. The key land use change patterns are identified along with a trend that indicates the fusion of both Midland and Odessa into a larger metropolitan area. An explanation is provided for the mechanism of how the extraction activities attract urban growth as ‘pull-factors’. Based on this analysis, a set of guidelines are suggested for planning and policy, addressing strategies for adaptation as well as future growth. This study is one of the earliest to examine the urbanization driven by oil and gas production in the US, and recommendations are also made in the end for much-needed future research.