Barnett Shale Inconveniently Located Below Dallas Suburbs; VOCs, Methane Regularly Released In Them
The Barnett Shale, rich in natural gas, lies inconveniently beneath sprawling suburbs of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. The fracking boom began here almost 20 years ago, leaving in its wake a mixture of wells and compressors in close proximity to residential neighborhoods and strip malls. When officials from the EPA followed community members and representatives of the nonprofit Liveable Arlington on a tour of the area Thursday, the visit was the first for the federal environmental regulators based nearby in Dallas. “What I did learn is how close the facilities are to the daycare center, schools and houses. They’re so close it was striking,” said Earthea Nance, administrator of EPA region six, from a liquor store parking lot between a high school and a gas compressor facility in Arlington. “We’ll pay more attention to what’s happening here.” Only Los Angeles County in California has more residents living near oil and gas wells than Tarrant County, according to the Oil and Gas Threat Map from Earthworks and FrackTracker, with about 1 million county residents located within a half mile of active oil and gas wells, compressors and processors.
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Wanda Vincent, owner of Mother’s Heart, said work at the drill sites has lately shifted to night hours, lessening its impact on the day care. But she still worries. Previously, she said, workers opening hatches on tanks or trucks can release clouds of fumes that have made her and other center staff nauseous. She said she reported the problem to state environmental regulators, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Several weeks later, after requests from multiple advocates in the area, the TCEQ set up a temporary air monitor near the center in December 2021, Vincent said.
“According to what they told me, they didn’t find anything. But this was well after the times that I had been exposed,” she said. “It would be good if there was a way they could monitor it ongoing.” She is worried, she said, that in five or 10 years she or the children may find out they’re sick from exposure to the gases. Leaking gas infrastructure emits methane and volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, which cause cancer and other ailments. VOCs also help form ozone, which produces smog and particulate matter, both of which can lead to heart, lung and respiratory problems, and can cause premature death. Short-term exposure to particle pollution can lead to hospitalizations and early death, according to the EPA.
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“There are ongoing egregious emissions no matter how many complaints citizens make,” said Sharon Wilson, an optical gas thermographer with Earthworks who has monitored fracking emissions in Texas for a decade. She pointed her $100,000 gas imaging camera at the smokestacks on a gas compressor facility, located a few hundred yards from a high school, revealing the invisible plumes wafting from the tops. “What’s coming out of that smokestack is unreal,” said Nance, peering at the camera screen. “It’s methane and benzene and everything else.”
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https://insideclimatenews.org/news/16032023/epa-region-six-texas-barnett-shale-fracking/