Dave Fehling's 11 News report

Been to the beach lately?

Some people bring those big umbrellas you stick in the sand.

But some Houston companies are stinking a lot more than that into the beach: They’re drilling for oil and gas.     

11 News

Oil companies are turning some Texas beaches into drilling spots.

Is that what our beaches should be used for?    

No place but in Texas is there a stretch of beach like this: Padre Island just south of Corpus Christi.

More than 100 miles of undeveloped barrier island beachfront, the longest of its kind in the world, most all of it now a National Park — a park with strict rules to protect the seagulls, turtles and wetlands.

“You cannot hunt in most of the park,” park ranger Darrell Echols said. “You cannot drive off-road.”

But you can drill for oil.

A couple months ago, Houston company Kindee Oil and Gas erected a drilling rig just inside the park entrance and a short walk from the Gulf.

Beachgoer Al Sondern asked the rangers about it and was told it wouldn’t hurt anything.

11 News: “Did you buy all that?”

Sondern: “No! I said that’s a bunch of bull----! Oh, excuse me.”

“Our position is that we have a law that we have to adhere to,” ranger Echols said. “That law allows this activity to take place.”

Energy prices are up so oil and gas exploration is booming in Texas. But drilling almost on the beach? Environmentalists sued to stop this, asking: Is no place sacred in the Lone Star State?

“It doesn’t seem to be compatible with the idea of a seashore,” activist Hal Suter said.

Compatible or not, these local activists found that the law protects the rights of drilling companies to look for oil and gas, even here.

“There’s nothing you can do to legally stop them,” activist Patricia Suter said.

“Oil trucks going up and down daily on the beach; it’s not part of the pristine natural environment,” activist Roland Gaona said.

Those pristine beaches are now used by the exploration companies to run truck convoys to and from drilling rigs.

Photos show a bulldozer filling in the tire-ruts, just one of a myriad of measures the companies are suppose to take to lessen any damage.

They even have to use trained lookouts to make sure trucks don’t run over sea turtles.

The rigs themselves have all sorts of extra protection to contain leaks and spills, but the added expense apparently is outweighed by the promise of the riches under the beach.         

“What’s out there on the National Seashore is a drop in the bucket,” Gaona said. “However, that’s a several billion dollars worth of a drop.”

In fact, the Park Service said it initially drew up a plan for 18 wells to be drilled over a period of 30 years.

Instead, it said all 18 wells should be in the works within months.

Is it becoming a stampede to drill in this otherwise untouched national park?

Kindee Oil and Gas, one of two so far involved here, told us no, it plans only a couple more wells.

The environment is its No. 1 priority. An official said, “We know all eyes are on us.”

The difference maybe what they see: a valuable source of energy to be tapped, or a threat to a Texas treasure that’s like no other in the world.

If it’s happening on Padre, could Galveston Island be next?

Engineers said the geology is different under Galveston and not as promising.

Also, state regulators said no companies at present are asking for permission to do seismic testing that helps locate oil and gas deposits.