SAN ANTONIO – Week after week, Sister Elizabeth Riebschlager loads up her tour van for a free backroads look at fracking operations in the Eagle Ford Shale.
She is not an expert, rather a citizen who wants to be informed and help raise the consciousness of others.
"In order for urban people to know what's happening, they need to go down and see it," Riebschlager said.
The people who take her tour run the gamut from international journalists to nursing students.
On a recent Saturday morning, University of Texas nursing professor Adelita Cantu booked a tour for her class.
"I knew about fracking and what was happening with fracking, but I really didn't know about what the sites looked like. And then the signage that's there and the closeness of the fracking sites to homes and schools," Cantu said.
She is hoping the tour was an eye-opener for her students.
"I'm concerned about children's health. I'm concerned about clean land, clean air, clean water. All those activities are being threatened by these activities if they're not done right," Riebschlager said.
While she may be critical of what's going on in the shale, it's worth noting, she is also making money from it.
A few years ago Riebschlager realized she was the beneficiary of oil and gas royalties inherited from her grandfather's land in La Salle County.
"From a moral standpoint and from an ethical standpoint, if I'm going to profit in any way, even the smallest way, then I have that much more of an obligation to make sure it's done right, to make sure no one is harmed in the process of making money for me," Riebschlager said.
To learn more about the tours, call the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center at 228-0201.