德州页岩天然气事件前后的悲剧故事

In the great shale-drilling frenzy that spread fracking across America, Fort Worth, Texas—located at the center of the 5,000-square-mile Barnett Shale natural-gas field—was ground zero.

沃思堡市位于方圆5000平方英里的巴奈特页岩天然气田的中心地带。在全美国陷入页岩钻探“大跃进”的年代，沃思堡市是天然气钻探搞得最红火的地方。

The drilling boom has moved on now—first to Arkansas (Fayetteville Shale) and Louisiana (Haynesville Shale), then Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, and New York (Marcellus Shale and Utica Shale). More recently, the excitement has centered on shale fields that produce crude oil, which is far more lucrative, such as the Bakken Shale in North Dakota and the Eagle Ford in South Texas.

但是现在，“钻探热”在沃思堡已经“退烧”，转而传染到阿肯色州（费耶特维尔页岩田）、路易斯安那州（海恩斯维尔页岩田），然后是宾西法尼亚州、西弗吉尼亚州、俄亥俄州和纽约州（玛西拉页岩田和尤蒂卡页岩田）。由于原油钻探的利润更高，高近人们的兴奋点也自然转移到了能产出原油的页岩田，比如北达科他州的巴肯页岩田和德州南部的鹰堡页岩田。

It’s now a decade since the boom began, and that makes it a fit moment to look back at what started in Fort Worth—and to see what it left behind. Like any economic mania, it came and went fast. In December 2004, drilling leases in North Texas brought a signing bonus of $500 an acre, plus a percentage of drilling royalties; four years later, bonuses topped $30,000. Today, any landowner signing a new lease gets a bonus of about $5,000 an acre. (I have some first-hand experience: I live in Fort Worth and in 2011, my wife and I signed a lease with Chesapeake Energy CHK 2.05% for drilling rights on the one-third acre of land under our home. We received a signing bonus of $1,239. Our most recent monthly royalty check was for $51.54.)

“页岩热”已经持续了十年了，所以现在也该对沃斯堡的今昔做一个对比，看看它在当年页岩热刚兴起的时候是什么样子，现在又留下了什么。像很多其它被炒热的经济概念一样，页岩热来得快去得也快。2004年12月，德州北部的土地所有人每签订一英亩土地的租约，能获得500美元的签约奖金，以及一定比例的开采使用费。而四年以后，一英亩土地的签约奖金最高达3万美元。到了今天，一英亩土地的签约奖金大约是5000美元。【我在这方面有第一手的经验：我本人就住在沃斯堡，2011年，我和我妻子与切萨皮克能源公司（Chesapeake Energy）签订了授权其钻探我家所有的三分之一亩土地的租约，我们获得了1239美元的签约奖金，最近我们每月获得的开采使用费是51.54美元。】

At the peak, in 2008, there were about 200 active drilling rigs in the Barnett Shale, seeking to tap into new gas-production sites. Today, there are 22, according to RigData.

据RigData公司统计，2008年，在页岩热达到最高潮的时候，巴奈特页岩田大概有200个活跃的钻井平台，而且还在不断有人寻找新的钻井点。但是到了今天只剩下了22个。

With 17,546 existing wells steadily producing less over their natural lifespan, the Barnett now yields about 4.9 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day—a drop of more than 20% from its 2011 peak, according to Gene Powell, publisher of the Powell Shale Digest, an online industry newsletter. Barnett gas production will continue for decades—and could rise again if a big jump in volatile natural gas prices (now about $4.55 per million BTU) makes new drilling more profitable. In the meantime, the fracking boom has created thousands of local jobs, and cushioned the area’s pain since the 2008 recession. Fort Worth’s unemployment rate remains well below the national average.

据行业网络通讯《鲍威尔页岩摘要》（Powell Shale Digest）的出版方吉恩鲍威尔公司估算，受自然寿命所限，巴奈特页岩田现有的17,546口油气井所出产的油气量正在日益减少，每天大概只能产出49亿立方英尺天然气，比2011年的鼎盛时期下跌了20%多。巴奈特页岩田的天然气储量还能继续开采几十年，如果天然气价格出现了重大跃升（现价格约为每百万BTU4.55美元），使得钻探新井变得更有利可图的话，那么这里的天然气产量可能还会再次上升。同时页岩热也为当地创造了好几千个就业岗位，缓冲了2008年经济危机给本地区带来的冲击。正因为这样，沃斯堡的失业率要远低于美国平均水平。

But the get-rich-quick dreams have faded, amid a considerably less thrilling reality. The Barnett boom has generated far less royalty income than many public officials and homeowners expected. Permitted even in Fort Worth’s residential neighborhoods, gas drilling has also generated industrial eyesores, broken roads, pollution concerns, and lawsuits. Geologists even link fracking—specifically, the disposal of liquid drilling wastes in underground wells—to dozens of small local earthquakes.

但是在渐渐变得沉重的现实面前，“赚快钱”的美梦已经失去了它的光环。巴奈特页岩田分给土地所有者的开采使用费要远低于许多政府官员和土地所有者的预期。另外，它还给沃斯堡当地带来了许多负作用，比如道路破损、市民对环境的担忧，以及层不出不穷的官司。地质学家甚至表示，钻探页岩气所使用的液压破碎法，即利用高压将液态的钻井废弃物打入地下的方法，很可能正是导致了当地几十次小型地震的元凶。

For a time, euphoria prevailed, amid talk of a vast new clean energy source that would move America toward independence from foreign oil and generate a local economic windfall. After drillers launched a bidding war to snatch up local drilling acreage, industry experts proclaimed the dawn of “a golden age” for natural gas. “Barnett Shale properties are like the beautiful woman at the prom,” one company PR man told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in 2005. “Everybody wants to dance with her.”

有一段时间，由于很多人深信开采页岩会给美国带来大量的清洁能源，从而使美国摆脱对外国石油的依赖，同时刺激地方经济的发展，因而“页岩狂热派”一时占据了上风。随着钻井公司为了吃进土地而展开投标大战，不少行业专家断言天然气的“黄金时代”即将拉开大幕。2005年，一家公司的公关人员对《沃斯堡明星电讯报》表示：“巴奈特页岩田的财富就像是舞会上的漂亮女人，每个人都想和她跳舞。”

And no one put the moves on Fort Worth quite like Oklahoma City’s Chesapeake Energy, led by then-CEO Aubrey McClendon. (Through a spokesman, Chesapeake declined to comment for this story.)

对沃斯堡展开最猛烈的追求的是总部位于俄克拉荷马市的切萨皮克能源公司，当时这家公司的CEO名叫奥伯雷o麦克兰登。（切萨皮克能源公司的发言人拒绝对本文发表评论。）

Vying for favor—and acreage—with XTO Energy, a Fort Worth homeboy, and other companies, Chesapeake lavished all manner of blandishments to win the locals’ hearts and minds: $100,000 toward a memorial for police and firefighters; $1 million to help build a new building for the city’s science and history museum (four other drillers chipped in $1 million apiece); $1 million to the YMCA to create the “Barnett Shale Endowment Fund.” The Oklahoma company helped underwrite Fort Worth’s biggest holiday event, rebranded the “Chesapeake Energy Parade of Lights.” In nearby Westworth Village (population 2,300), Chesapeake celebrated its drilling deal by providing three new elegant city-limits signs carved into giant stone slabs—with Chesapeake’s full-color logo etched in a corner of each.

为了与沃斯堡市本土的XTO能源公司以及其它油气企业争夺当地人的芳心，切萨皮克公司使出了浑身解数。先是花了10万美元为当地警察和消防员建立了一座纪念碑，然后又出资100万美元帮助当地盖了一座新的科学历史博物馆（另外还有四家钻井公司也各掏了100万）。另外还向当地的基督教青年会捐赠100万美元，成立了“巴奈特页岩捐赠基金”。这家总部位于俄克拉荷马州的公司还资助了当地最大的节日活动，将其冠名为“切萨皮克能源公司灯火游行”。为了庆祝钻探协议签订成功，这家公司在城郊附近一个名叫温特沃斯的村子（人口2300人）树立了三块城市界碑，每块界碑的角落上都刻着切萨皮克公司的彩色Logo。

Meanwhile Barnett Shale propaganda was everywhere. Chesapeake promoted the economic benefits of drilling with an ad campaign featuring actor Tommy Lee Jones. It produced a 30-minute infomercial called “Citizens of the Shale” and bought time to run it on local stations. It planned a regular TV broadcast—called “”—to be hosted by a retired local anchorman. It joined with ten other energy companies to form the Barnett Shale Energy Education Council, and hired a veteran industry economist to conduct local “outreach” programs.

与此同时，关于巴奈特页岩田的宣传无处不在。切萨皮克公司为了宣传钻探页岩气的经济利益，特地重金聘请著名演员汤米o李o琼斯拍摄了一支广告。另外，它还摄制了一部名叫《页岩田的公民》（Citizens of the Shale）的电视宣传片，买断黄金时间在当地电视台播放。它还打算专门开设一家名叫的电视台，由当地一名退休主播担任主持人。另外切萨皮克公司还与其他10家能源公司一道，成立了巴奈特页岩能源教育委员会，聘请一名经验丰富的行业经济学家负责本地的“推广”计划。

On a drilling site next to a busy shopping mall in suburban Grapevine, the company erected the “ChesapeakeLearningCenter,” where visitors could go on self-guided tours to watch natural gas operations up close. (“Local families will benefit from multiple wells drilled on this site,” explained one sign.) What was soon dubbed “fracking tourism” led the local mayor to gush that it was a “one-of-a-kind attraction.”

在Grapevine郊区一座繁忙的购物中心附近有一个钻井点，切萨皮克公司就在这里成立了一座“切萨皮克学习中心”，游客可以在这里来一次“自游行”，就近参观这里的天然气钻探操作。（有一块牌子上写着：“当地家庭将通过本钻探点的多口油井受益。”）这种“钻井一日游”很快被当地市长吹嘘为“独一无二的吸引力”。

In 2008, with gas prices briefly over $10, Chesapeake spent $104 million to buy a flashy 20-story office building in Fort Worth for its regional headquarters.

2008年，就在天然气价勉强突破10美元时，切萨皮克公司斥资1.04亿美元，在沃斯堡市买下了一座20层的大楼，作为区域总部。

In drilling-friendly Texas, all this—and the lure of money for nothing—overwhelmed the few cautionary voices. Other cities would remain wary about the sights, smells, and sounds of urban drilling, which requires rigs, pipelines, noisy machinery, and heavy trucks. Even after the rigs go elsewhere, producing the gas requires wellhead equipment, storage tanks, and (often) a compressor, on a fenced or walled industrial site of three to five acres; heavy trucks come and go to haul off drilling wastes. That’s hard to ignore in a residential neighborhood. Pittsburgh would later ban drilling inside its city limits altogether.

尽管其他城市可能考虑到了城市钻井可能导致的视觉污染、空气污染和噪声污染（因为钻井必然需要设备、管道、大噪音的机械和重型卡车），但是在热情接纳了钻井业的德克萨斯州，金钱的诱惑还是战胜了少数警惕的声音。哪怕把钻井平台搭在别的地方，开采天然气还是需要井口设备、储存罐、压缩机，一个平台经常要围上三到五亩地的围墙或栅栏，重型卡车来来回回倾泻废料……这些问题在人口聚居区域很难被忽视。因此匹兹堡市后来干脆禁止在城市界内进行钻井。

But Fort Worth, led by an oilman-mayor—and a citizenry thrilled with the prospect of a leasing windfall—imposed only modest restrictions. Soon there were rigs everywhere: near parks and country clubs; in leafy residential neighborhoods; in downtown Fort Worth (considered a “sweet spot” in the Barnett field); even on the grounds of a local cemetery.

但是沃斯堡市在一位石油市长的领导下，由于坚信土地租约会给当地带来经济效益，因此只对页岩气开采出台了一些不痛不痒的限制。很快沃斯堡市开始遍布油井——在公园和乡村俱乐部旁边，在人口稠密的居民区附近，在沃斯堡市中心（因为这里被认为是巴奈特油田的一个“最佳出气点”），甚至连当地的一座公墓陵园里，都能看到高大的钻井机在轰鸣作业。

Everyone with a piece of land, it seemed, was signing leasing deals, including the city of Fort Worth itself. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram sold rights to drill under its printing plant. Dallas-Fort Worth Airport received a $186 million signing bonus from Chesapeake; airport officials and McClendon toasted the deal with champagne.

当时，沃斯堡市掀起了“全城租地”的风潮，似乎但凡名下有立锥之地的人，都在签订钻探租约，甚至连城市本身也不例外。前文提到的《沃斯堡明星电讯报》就把自家印刷厂的钻探权卖了出去。达拉斯-沃斯堡机场也从切萨皮克公司获得了1.86亿美元的签约奖金，机场官员和切萨皮克公司CEO麦克兰登还在签约仪式上开了香槟。

Then, suddenly, the boom was over. Even as natural gas production soared and gas prices plunged, energy companies had kept bidding to sign new leases, driving some signing-bonus offers for neighborhood drilling rights over $30,000. One umbrella group of 28 southwest Fort Worth neighborhood associations, representing about 50,000 properties, had painstakingly negotiated a group deal with Colorado-based Vantage Energy, which agreed to pay a bonus of $27,500 an acre, abide by tough drilling restrictions, and donate $500,000 for area projects. Residents of the different neighborhoods would each have a turn to sign a lease during separate meetings that were expected to continue for months at a local Baptist church.

但是就在一夜之间，“页岩热”熄灭了。即便在天然气产量激增、价格猛跌的情况下，各大能源公司依旧争相签订新的租约，使有些买断钻探权的租约价格达到每亩3万美元之高。当地一个由沃斯堡市西南28家社区协会组成的联合会代表大约5万户家庭与总部位于科罗拉多州的Vantage能源公司进行了艰苦的谈判，最终达成了一项集体协定，Vantage公司同意以27,500美元每英亩的价格租赁土地钻探权，同时表示愿意遵守严格的开采限制，并且向该地区的民生项目捐赠50万美元。当地各个社区的居民可以轮流在当地的一座浸信会教堂里与能源公司签订协议，整个签约过程可能会持续好几个月的时间。

Instead, on Oct. 14, 2008, with only a fifth of the leases signed, Vantage’s CEO summoned three top neighborhood leaders to a downtown office to tell them that day’s signing meeting—already underway—would be the last. The $500,000 charitable donation was also off the table. All this was to be kept secret until Vantage officially announced its action the next day, recalls Tolli Thomas, the neighborhoods’ lead negotiator.

但是到了2008年10月14日，在只签订了原定计划的五分之一的租约的情况下，Vantage公司的CEO将三位社区领袖召集在市中心的一间办公室里，告诉他们当天的签约会（当时已经在进行中）将是最后一场签约会了。50万美元的慈善捐助也宣告免谈。社区首席谈判代表托利o托马斯回忆道，在Vantage公司第二天正式宣布行动计划之前，一切都处于保密状态。

Instead, word quickly leaked out, and more than 1,000 frantic people rushed to the church, hoping to sign leases and collect on the offer, knowing the deal was about to be called off. But many of their leases hadn’t even been prepared. “We were trying to help pull files and get as many people signed up as possible,” says Thomas. As time ran short and the crowd grew angry, cursing and pushing and shoving in line, police were summoned. “There was panic in the air,” she says. The event was shut down around midnight. (In an “open letter” to area residents apologizing for “any inconvenience,” Vantage CEO Roger Biemans said his company would honor all executed agreements, but would sign no more leases under the negotiated terms due to “market turmoil” and “the drastic drop in natural gas prices.” Any future leases, he added, would need to “more accurately reflect current and expected oil and gas fundamental economics.”)

但是消息很快泄露了出去，1000多名愤怒的群众得知协议将被取消的消息后，一齐涌至教堂，希望签订租约，继续履行协议。但是他们很多人的租约甚至都没有准备好。托马斯说：“我们当时想帮忙打印文件，尽可能让更多的人签约。”随着剩下的时间越来越少，人们变得越来越愤怒，一边咒骂一边在队列中推推搡搡，警察也赶到现场维持秩序。托马斯说：“当时空气中弥漫着恐慌的气味。”这次活动持续到午夜才结束。（在一封公开信中，Vantage公司CEO罗杰o毕曼斯表示对给当地居民造成的“任何不便”表示道歉，并称公司会遵守所有已经执行的协议，但是由于“市场波动”和天然气价格“显著下跌”的原因，公司将不再根据已谈妥的条款签订更多租约。他还补充说，未来签订的任何租约都需要“更精确地反映当前和预期的石油与天然气的基础经济因素。”

Chesapeake, XTO, and the other drillers also yanked big bonus deals off the table. The new high-end offer (from the few companies still signing leases): $5,000 an acre. Angry residents who were shut out by Vantage, Chesapeake, and other companies filed dozens of suits against the drillers, seeking to force them to honor the original deals for them, too. But the litigation was unsuccessful.

切萨皮克和XTO等钻探公司也砍掉了大量租约。对于少数仍在吃进土地的公司来说，每亩5000元的签约奖金已经是高端合同了。被Vantage和切萨皮克等公司砍掉租约的居民在愤怒之余，纷纷将这些公司告上了法庭，希望强制他们执行原来的协议，但是结果并不成功。

Homeowners who had signed leases were also disappointed to discover that drilling would provide only a modest ongoing windfall—for owners of an average residential lot, perhaps $25 to $50 a month. Several prominent landowners—including the city of Fort Worth, the school district, DFW Airport, billionaire Ed Bass, and the Star-Telegram—sued Chesapeake, accusing it of shorting them. (In 2012, Chesapeake paid $5.3 million in back royalties to settle with the airport. It continues to contest other cases, insisting it has paid what it owed in each instance.)

已经签订了租约的土地所有人也失望地发现，钻探带来的后续分红远没有当初想象得那样多——平均到每户也就是每月25到50美元。有些在当地比较有地位的土地所有者，包括市政府、校区、沃斯堡机场、亿万富翁艾德o巴斯和《电讯报》都纷纷状告切萨皮克公司，称对方亏欠分红。（2012年，切萨皮克公司向沃斯堡机场支付了530万美元钻探费，双方达成和解。目前这家公司仍在就其他案件进行争辩，坚称它已经支付了每起诉讼中应付的分红。）

Meanwhile, a state transportation official announced that repairing road damage throughout Texas caused by heavy drilling-industry trucks would cost as much as $2 billion. Residents have complained of groundwater pollution and contaminated air. (The industry has said there is no proof that drilling caused pollution problems.)

与此同时，德克萨斯州交通部门的一名官员称，要修复钻探业的重型卡车导致的路面破损可能需要最高20亿美元的费用。当地居民也经常抱怨地下水和空气遭到的污染。（钻探行业则表示没有证据表明钻探导致了污染问题。）

On May 23, a local jury awarded $20,000 in damages to one Fort Worth man who filed suit against Chesapeake complaining that a well site behind his home was a nuisance. Other similar suits are pending.

5月23日，在一起当地居民状告切萨皮克公司的油气井扰民的案件中，当地法院的陪审裁定这位居民胜诉，并获得2万美元赔偿。其它类似案件仍在审理中。

And finally there are the earthquakes—dozens of small localized rattlers that have frightened residents. Experts have linked them to disposal wells used to inject liquid fracking wastes deep underground. Although energy companies and state officials say there’s no firm proof of what causes the quakes, a string of temblors at Dallas-Forth Worth Airport lasting through 2009 ended after two disposal wells were shut down. An ongoing string of quakes near disposal wells northwest of Fort Worth remains under study.

最后还要说说地震——近年来当地发生的几十起小型地震让居民深感恐慌。已经有专家表示，这些地震与钻井公司用来向地下注入液态废弃物的废液处理井有关。虽然能源公司和该州官员表示，目前还没有确切的证据表明导致这些地震的具体原因是什么，但是就在沃斯堡机场附近的两口废液处理井关闭后，这座机场2009年以来发生的一连串地震的确停止了。现在专家们仍在对沃斯堡西北部几口处理井附近接连发生的一连串小型地震进行研究。

Chesapeake is far less visible around Fort Worth these days. It has sold off much of its Barnett acreage, cut back its local staff, and, in 2012, put its 20-story regional headquarters building—purchased just four years earlier—on the block. (It still hasn’t sold.) The company’s highly visible CEO, McClendon, announced his resignation in January 2013, amid big losses from the company’s huge bet on natural gas—then at near-record-low prices—and revelations about his sweetheart deals with the company. And Chesapeake has receded from the press. In 2008, Chesapeake was the subject of almost daily mentions in the Star-Telegram—309 in all. So far in 2014, it has been mentioned only 21 times. The company’s now down to just two Barnett Shale drilling rigs.

这些日子以来，切萨皮克公司在沃斯堡的出镜率远远没有以前高了。它已经卖掉了巴奈特页岩田的很多土地，裁掉了很多当地员工，并且在2012年将那座20层的区域总部大楼送上了拍卖台。2013年1月，随着这家公司在天然气上的豪赌遭遇巨额亏损，加上天然气价格达到接近历史新低，再加上CEO麦克兰登与公司的私下交易被公布于世，这位高调的CEO只得宣布辞职。媒体上也很难再寻觅到切萨皮克公司的踪影。2008年，切萨皮克公司基本上每天都会在《电讯报》上露面——全年总共见报309次。但到了2014年，这家公司只见报了21次。目前，它在巴奈特页岩田只剩两套钻井设备。

Chesapeake also no longer has its brand on the big downtown Fort Worth holiday festival of lights. For 2014, that event will be sponsored by XTO (now owned by ExxonMobil) instead.

切萨皮克公司也不再冠名沃斯堡的灯火节了。2014年，这项活动将由XTO公司赞助（现已被埃克森美孚控股）。