Third-Generation Texas Rancher Explores Fracking's Effect On His Family's Land

Hugh Fitzsimons III is a third-generation rancher from South Texas. He intended his new book, A Rock Between Two Rivers, to be a sort of exposé on the environmental hazards fracking posed to his family’s ranch.

But that’s not exactly what it became. It’s a chronicle of the complicated ways his family has changed the land over the generations — and how the land has changed them.

In the audio above, he tells Houston Matters producer Michael Hagerty the core of his ranch’s story all has always been  water — and the threats to it that have changed over the centuries, including fracking.

Fitzsimons will be in Houston Thursday night for an event at Brazos Bookstore.

Copyright 2019 Houston Public Media News 88.7