State Politely Requests Barnett Shale Operators Not to Kill Too Many People
Tests show some wells are emiting benzene, a carinogen whose “long-term effects” are highly dangerous. The Texas Commission on Environment Quality seems to define ”long-term” as a year or more, which seems fairly short-term to me. These are not little whiffs, either.
Air samples showed significant levels of benzene in several locations. One sample taken downwind from a tank seven miles west of DISH showed a level of 1,000 parts per billion, which is more than five times the commission’s short-term exposure limit of 180 parts per billion.
The Commission has known about these emissions since 2007 but forgot to share its test results with the Legislature or the Fort Worth City Council. I can understand why. The elected officials might have gotten a little upset, and in Texas we don’t want people to get upset, especially with the oil and gas industry. (It goes without saying that all three members of the Commission are Rick Perry appointees.)
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Notice that TCEQ says in one breath that exposure to high levels of benzene for one year will cause cancer then next breath they say it will take 5 years to get new laws in place.
Also, Chesapeake says it’s not us because our gas us uber clean. Yet they have to run a pipeline through the front yards of poor folks who live on Carter Ave because that clean gas is so dirty it has to be processed.
Also notice that the media, TCEQ and Big Gas only mention the benzene and completely ignore the neurotoxins. That way they can say we don’t have any health effects. They can’t say that about the neurotoxins. I mentioned to the WFAA reporter, Chris Hawes, that Dr. Theo Colborn says the neurotoxins are of most concern. Chris Hawes says, “Who is Dr. Colborn?”
Peggy Heinkel-Wolfe reported on the Barnett Shale emissions on May 30, 2006. http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/dws/drc/localnews/stories/052806drcozone.2dedb11b.html But suddenly it’s “Breaking News.”
Wick, If you are a stockholder, and it smells way over on the other side of Ft. Worth, then a year is short term. If, on the other hand, you are raising your children within it’s cloying grip, I would imagine a year is very long.
Oh for the good ole days when reaping big bucks was a cheap thrill.
Watch the usual suspect political consultants pitch benzene as a ‘Barnett Shale free-gift-with-purchase’ bonanza for Texans, touting their ‘contributions to MD Anderson’ while citing benzene’s ‘relaxant’ properties for otherwise hyperactive children’ and ongoing uses as an ‘affordable by-product’. Partisan gubernatorial insiders alleging that KBH’s ‘campaign’ was somehow ‘exposed’ to this gas, resulting in the senator’s ‘recurrent comatose lethargy’.
Where to begin on this issue…The person named in the article, Rogers, initiated independent testing some time ago, tests came back for high levels of carbon disulfide.
When she finally coaxed the TCEQ into monitoring the situation, they performed a variety of tests. Except for testing for the presence of disulfides.
Benzene is bad but a loophole also allows the oil/gas industry to use radioactive materials in the fracking process. “Allowing” means that chemicals and agents they use are protected as trade secrets. (Thank Cheney for that exclusion clause.)
I’ll stop here, this issue really gets me fired up. Quite right, Perry appointees are a major problem. It is clear they are pro-business, but are they pro-people?
Let the free market decide how much cancer I get.
Does Rawlins win the prize for most ‘quotation marks’ in one post?
As a retired Environmental Professional, it is truly outrageous what has been deemed “allowable” by the state regulatory authority. Having grown weary of the energy business field “exemptions” and coziness between the TCEQ and Railroad Commission, over time the untenable position of trying to do the “right” thing on O&G-related projects became wearisome.
Not a zealot here (seventh generation Texan), just truly amazed at the benign acceptance for lack of regulatory oversight at the state level, compared to both east and west coast counterparts.
Too bad for us residents that a pro-business agenda does not consider quality-of-life concerns, unless “not-in-my backyard” indeed becomes “their” backyard.
This is what happens when you get the government off our backs.
Benzene looks worse the more it’s studied for health effects. And, what ever happened to the “precautionary principle”? When are those in charge of regulating all this guilty of malfeasance, and when are they just unwise?
What’s really nuts about this is that a vapor recovery system on the wells will eliminate fugitive emissions AND the well operator recovers enough product to pay for the VRS in about a year. Keep in mind your Texas regulatory history…while the TCEQ does have authority over air emissions, the Railroad Commission has authority over the oil/gas field. Guess which has greater political power. In the meantime, if you don’t like breathing benzene,toluene, ethylene, and xylene, stand upwind when you fill your gas tank.