With the boom in Eagle Ford Shale drilling in South Texas, pipeline rights of way are becoming corridors for entry into the U.S. for Mexican cartels, according to Texas Railroad Commissioner David Porter. In a letter to U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske, Porter demanded to know what the federal government intends to do about it.

During the last several years, large areas of brush have been cleared within the rights of way for thousands of miles of South Texas pipelines to allow inspectors to conduct mandated inspections. In his letter, Porter quoted Border Patrol agent Robert Fuentes, who in a Bloomberg interview said, “With oil explorers expected to drill tens of thousands of wells in the Eagle Ford over the next decade, smugglers’ travel options will only increase.”

In the same article, Bloomberg quoted Swiss company Weatherford International’s claim that the area state highway, FM 755, is a “main corridor for drug and human trafficking.”

The commissioner shared that worry, writing to Kerlikowske, “There are numerous tragic and gruesome reports of Mexican drug cartels using pipeline rights-of-ways to transport narcotics and illegal aliens. Many of these reports specifically relate to the Vicksburg Fault Zone, where crude oil is transported by pipeline to Texas refineries.”

In addition to the danger that cartels may pose to pipeline inspectors, oilfield workers and ranchers along the rights of way, Porter claimed that the unsecured borders threaten U.S. national security and the economy.

Citing a report that Breitbart called “a leaked intelligence analysis from the Customs and Border Protection,” Porter said that “non-Hispanic, illegal aliens are taking advantage of the flood of illegal alien children in Texas and as a result, occupying the attention of your agents. These illegal aliens are not just known to be from the Mexican drug cartels but also from nations that sponsor terrorism.”

According to the report, 28 people from Pakistan, 13 Egyptians and four people from Yemen were caught trying to sneak into the U.S. in 2014. Another 211 Pakistanis, 168 Egyptians and 34 Yemenis turned themselves in or were caught trying to sneak through official entry ports. In his letter, Porter called known numbers of attempted infiltrations “shocking.”

This sentiment echoes fears expressed by Porter and others that terrorists could sneak into the U.S. by way of its border with Mexico. Porter mentioned in his letter an interview given by a former CIA operations officer on the “Laura Ingraham Show,” where former officer Mike Baker said that given information the CIA had about al Queida’s efforts over years to organize with Mexican cartels, ISIS is likely doing the same. Porter called that likelihood a “very serious situation.”

The possibility that terrorists might seek to destroy U.S. oil and gas pipeline infrastructure particularly concerns Porter. He cited recent attacks in Egypt and Yemen by terrorists native to those countries to destabilize governments by disrupting oil and gas transportation infrastructure. A Yemini oil minister told CNN that attacks on major oil pipelines in the country cost it about $1 billion in lost revenue for 2012 and even more in 2013.

“I shudder to think what these terrorists would do to the U.S. when they are willing to do this to their own country,” Porter said in his letter.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, energy production and other mining activity made up about 11% of Texas’ economy in 2013. That amount adds up to about 40% of U.S. crude oil and almost 30% of U.S. natural gas. In his letter, Porter said that to produce that amount of energy requires infrastructure including more than 425,000 miles of pipeline, a significant portion of which is in South Texas and the Eagle Ford. Dozens of Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) inspectors and field staff in South Texas are put in danger every time they are required in the course of their jobs to work in areas with high cartel activity, Porter said.

In his conclusion, Porter said that dangerous conditions due to the federal government’s failure to secure the U.S./Mexico border is preventing the RRC from fully accomplishing the purpose for which it was created. He asked that Kerlikowske disclose what steps Customs and Border Protection was taking to assure Texas’ pipeline infrastructure would be secured.