Tests detect Barnett Shale emissions toxins in Dish residents' blood, urine

Here on the home front, we spend a lot of time concentrating on drilling's adverse impacts on water. I think this has drawn our attention away from all the other elements like air. You can survive without water for a few days, but not air. Lets not forget that our ability to live on earth means breathing (nontoxic please) air.

07:02 AM CDT on Wednesday, April 14, 2010
By PEGGY HEINKEL-WOLFE / Denton Record-Chronicle
pheinkel-wolfe@dentonrc.com

Tests on blood and urine samples taken from Dish residents by state health officials in January have found the same toxic compounds in people's bodies that have been detected in the air and water here.

The results showed that exposure is occurring, according to Louisiana chemist Wilma Subra.

"Clearly, it's connecting the dots – which we didn't want to happen," Subra said.

Subra, the recipient of a 1999 MacArthur Fellowship ("genius" grant) for her work as an environmental health scientist, has been working with the community since Dish spent $15,000 last year to commission a study of the western Denton County town's air quality.

Eleven gas gathering pipelines converge in southern Dish, where five energy companies run major compression and metering facilities in a side-by-side complex of plants on Strader Road.

Allison Lowery, Texas Department of State Health Services spokeswoman, confirmed that the department sent results last week to all 28 residents who were tested, far fewer than the 50 people the agency originally planned to choose at random for testing.

In addition, the department will release a summary report, since individual results are considered confidential. The aggregate report is being drafted now and should be released the last week of April or the first week of May, Lowery said.


Angry at explanation

Resident Amber Smith said she was troubled that it took so long to get the individual results. When investigators came to take a water sample along with blood and urine samples in January, she was told it would take four to six weeks to get results.

As she read the April 2 cover letter that came with her results, she said the words seemed carefully crafted.

She was angered, however, at how the letter suggested she had been exposed to the solvent N,N-dimethylformamide through "the production of electronic components, pharmaceutical products, textile coatings, and synthetic fibers."

"I'm around none of that," Smith said. "They found the same compounds in all my neighbors, but in trying to explain that, they failed to associate that it could be the drilling. They never once did even mention that in their explanation."

Mayor Calvin Tillman said he was reassured at first when he received his results, since the levels detected in his blood did not exceed any average values for the general population.

But no such baseline comparison exists for urine, where toxic compounds show up as metabolites in the body. And, after Smith and Tillman compared their individual results with several other residents, they became more concerned.

The same toxic compounds found in their own blood and urine tests were detected in other residents. Tillman said he asked Subra to make some comparisons. More>>>

Most Barnett Shale facilities release emissions

09:48 AM CDT on Sunday, April 11, 2010
By RANDY LEE LOFTIS / The Dallas Morning News
rloftis@dallasnews.com

Plumes of toxic, smog-causing chemicals from Barnett Shale natural-gas operations are so common that inspectors find them nearly every time they look, a Dallas Morning News examination of government records shows.

What's more, the inspectors have rarely looked.

Hundreds of pages of documents obtained by The News under federal and state open-records laws, plus other reports and studies, reveal a pattern of emissions of toxic compounds, often including cancer-causing benzene, from Barnett Shale facilities.

More than 90 percent of the gas-processing plants, compressor stations and wells that agencies have examined with leak-detecting infrared cameras since 2007 were lofting otherwise invisible plumes of chemicals. In the most recent surveillance late last year, every facility checked was emitting pollution.

Many were near homes, emblematic of drilling's spread into North Texas urban areas. One was next to the University of Texas at Arlington. Another was just over the right-field fence of a Decatur softball field.

Gas operators say most pollution the cameras caught was routine and legal, requiring no repairs. Even authorized emissions face new scrutiny as state and federal regulators cope with drilling's impact in Tarrant County and areas to its north, west and south.

The infrared cameras – the newest ones cost $106,200 each, including lenses, plus $1,000 per user for training – are potentially powerful weapons against environmental violators and sloppy operators, revealing problems that neither inspectors, neighbors nor companies can see. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has two new ones and six older models.

State and federal agencies have aimed infrared cameras at only a tiny fraction of the 13,000 natural-gas wells and support facilities that have appeared across North Texas since 2005.

The fact that regulators find chemicals rising virtually every time they aim the camera suggests that a comprehensive search might reveal thousands of releases of volatile organic compounds into the air – some authorized, some not.

Months after companies told the TCEQ that they had fixed any problems the state's cameras detected, other scientists found chemicals wafting into the atmosphere.

"We found emissions from wells, condensate tanks, compressor stations" – just about every component of the Barnett Shale production system, said Wilma Subra, an environmental scientist helping the Denton County town of Dish monitor air pollution.

"There are toxic air emissions being released by the majority of the facilities that we have looked at."

Texas officials acknowledge that just about every Barnett Shale installation emits invisible air pollution.

"When we aim the camera at any one of these facilities, be it a compressor station or a condensate tank battery, we are going to see some emissions," said John Sadlier, the TCEQ's deputy director for enforcement. More>>>

Flower Mound Says "No Fracking Way"

Written by Ladd Biro
Thursday, 04 February 2010 21:10
The sleepy Town of Flower Mound is under siege from a deep-pocketed army of 21st Century robber barons, and many of the town’s elected officials have hoisted a white flag high above Town Hall.

For roughly three years, few residents of this quiet suburb paid much attention as gas-drilling rigs periodically sprouted from huge tracts of ranchland along the western edges of town.

After all, the towers were few and far between, and Flower Mound had a well-earned reputation as a family-friendly residential community unreceptive to commercial and retail development. Let Southlake, Grapevine and Highland Village become shopping Meccas. We’ll stick to our horses and buffalos, our quiet restaurants and shops, and our modest traffic.

Then, seemingly overnight, the gas wells started creeping closer to our peaceful neighborhoods and exemplary schools. Huge tanker trucks began rumbling down residential streets. And kids started getting sick.

The news traveled fast, prompting the locals to start asking questions. But answers were elusive. Representatives from the drilling firms, most notably The Williams Companies, smiled and assured everyone that they had only the best interests of the community in mind. But they refused to address the tough questions, while making it patently clear they had no intention of slowing down.

Though the numbers keep changing, Williams plans to drill at least 100 more wells throughout Flower Mound over the next few years, with many of the new pad sites in close proximity to homes, schools and businesses.

Meanwhile, Mayor Jody Smith and her allies on the Town Council fiddle while Flower Mound is systematically pillaged.

Despite increasingly strident pleas from constituents to tap the brakes and assess the short- and long-term consequences of their actions, a firm majority of the council stubbornly votes in lockstep on behalf of the gas interests. On January 21, roughly 600 Flower Mound citizens packed a Town Council hearing to voice their concerns with the latest sell-out to Williams. An overwhelming majority of those present voiced their opposition to the proposed ordinances, just as a similarly vociferous group had advocated a temporary moratorium on new drilling permits at a December 17 hearing. In both cases, three of the five councilmembers thumbed their noses at the irate crowd and sided with the drillers.

Mayor Smith and her pro-drilling cohorts offered various defenses for disregarding the will of their constituents. They claimed to be prohibited from preventing drilling within the town, citing the takings clause of the U.S. Constitution. They dismissed as overblown “scare tactics” many of the health and safety concerns raised by their opponents. They worried aloud about the inevitability of lawsuits brought by Williams should the town dare stand in its way. And, in true political fashion, they insisted upon having more “facts” before they would reconsider their position.

Perhaps most insulting, the officials inexplicably ignored the words of caution offered by the mayors of several nearby towns, including DISH, Texas, which have been grappling with drilling issues far longer than Flower Mound.

Nothing, it seemed, could dissuade the Council from moving forward, leaving most observers scratching their heads in disbelief. In fact, Mayor Smith and Councilmember Jean Levenick each have leased their mineral rights to Williams, which has forced the officials to recuse themselves from certain votes tied directly to the company. A loophole allowed them to skirt the strict, legal definition of “conflict of interest” in the key votes held on January 21. However, many questioned if their actions passed the smell test.

Yet, as concerns abound about ethical conflicts within the Council, even more crucial questions centered on Williams’ conduct in the area remain unanswered. Among the most significant – More>>>

Big Bully

Recent air quality tests in Dish Texas found high concentrations of carcinogenic and neurotoxic compounds. The mayor of Dish has been working very hard for the citizens in an effort to protect their health. Apparently industry doesn't appreciate his efforts. Here is a letter regarding from Calvin Tillman, Mayor of Dish Texas regarding some less than friendly correspondence sent by industry:

Many of you have told me to let them know if ever needed your help. Well, I could use your help at the moment. As you may have noticed I have become a lightening rod for personal attacks from our friends in the natural gas industry. The latest is that they are accusing me of not providing the information that they asked for in a public information request to the town of DISH. Please know that I completely cooperated with their request. The only thing that I questioned with the request was that they were asking for personal medical information from the citizens of DISH. Of course they only wished to use this information to vilify the very citizens that they are poisoning. So, I questioned the legality of their request, like any good mayor would do. However, from the latest letter they are threatening to file suit against the town and file a complaint with the attorney general. However, we have been more than cooperative with with those in the Texas Pipeline Association, who made this public information request. What they are trying to do is come of with frivolous allegations, to run up the legal fees for our community. As with with everything that I have done thus far, I am only trying to protect the citizens of this community, and I will not back down. I have long ago quit worrying about myself, and now only worry about my family and my citizens. I would ask that each and every person who supports what I have done and what am doing, please call the following people and ask them to clean up their mess in the town of DISH, and to LEAVE US ALONE!!!! Please see attached threatening letter.

Patrick Nugent 512.478.2871

Celina Romero 515.472.8800

Please forward this message to as many people as you can and ask for their help. "Together we bargain, divided we beg".

Calvin Tillman
Mayor, DISH, TX
(940) 453-3640

"Those who say it can not be done, should get out of the way of those that are doing it"

Industry and Idiots

Okay, so today I am actually not being entirely lazy and am going to do a bit of real blogging. Novel concept.
While investors are applauding Shell's decision to exhibit some caution while drilling in the Tar Sands, the rush is on here at home to "drill baby drill." I'm thinking their new found take on the Tar Sands is purely economical. Industry has a bottom line and it's not the welfare of their "neighbors." It's doing whatever they can to keep the profits going up.
The Barnett Shale Coalition is urging industry shareholders to protest hydraulic fracturing. At the same time, some idiot (forgive my language, I try to keep an even temper and open mind; however, I find it disgraceful when adults behave like small children), is spouting about "anyone who supports the EPA is a traitor," and claims that the EPA is a product of the rich and power hungry. Excuse me, but isn't the EPA supposed to protect the environment from destruction by large industries with lots of money?