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Pondering about TCEQ air testing in the Gas Patch

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Ponder, Texas is not the only area troubled by shale gas emissions that cause health effects but it’s the most recent area to make the news. Rumor has it that people in Flower Mound have been troubled by releases at the Williams sites in their neighborhoods.

What Ponder residents and Flower Mound residents have in common:

  • fracking in their neighborhoods;
  • shale gas emissions that cause odors and health effects;
  • frequent nosebleeds and other health complaints from the emissions.

TCEQ did some testing in Ponder but, according to this news report, several toxins were at or slightly above acceptable limits. This happens repeatedly:

  1. fracking comes to town
  2. shale gas leaks and accidental releases happen
  3. people get sick
  4. TECQ tests and says the toxins are at acceptable levels.

NEWS FLASH!!! 

Things that are not acceptable:

  1. stinking, putrid smells in our neighborhoods that ruin our quality of life and diminish our property value and our ability to enjoy our property whether or not they make us sick;
  2. toxic emissions that make us sick;
  3. little kids getting nosebleeds from the Big Gas Mafia’s mess.

Something does not add up with the TCEQ’s testing. They are either cooking the books, or they need to calibrate their levels of acceptable toxins STAT.

Please tweet: @EPAgov help TCEQ #fracking calibrations http://t.co/b8GQAELa

 

 

About Sharon Wilson

Sharon Wilson is considered a leading citizen expert on the impacts of shale oil and gas extraction. She is the go-to person whether it’s top EPA officials from D.C., national and international news networks, or residents facing the shock of eminent domain and the devastating environmental effects of natural gas development in their backyards.

Comments

  1. Jane says

    The rig in my neighborhood has been up since last week and the air stinks! I’ve called TCEQ nearly each day/night filing complaints but they tell me that they are not picking anything up with their air sampling. One of the big problems is that diesel is not regulated; therefore, they can legally poison us with that. Tomorrow is Halloween and this neighborhood is full of children who will be out trick or treating breathing in this toxic brew. Our quality of life has greatly diminished overnight. We cannot even enjoy taking our kids out trick-or-treating without worrying about what cancer-causing effects which might come about as a result of breathing this toxic air.

  3. Westchester Neighbor says

    Why can’t you just get used to the smell of diesel in the neighborhood’s air? It’s all the rage and it’s not “deleterious” to human health at all!! A certain Arlington, TX City Councilman thinks it’s just a little inconvenience that you should not be concerned about. And he said more.

    Councilman Mel LeBlanc spoke during the Public Meeting of the Dallas Gas Drilling Task Force this past Thursday night

    […]
    “Urban drilling can be an inconvenience … but it is not deleterious to human health … and it is certainly not a matter of life and death,” said Arlington city council member Mel LeBlanc, who focused on the economic benefits drilling has provided his city.
    […]

    What a disaster.

    • kim Feil says

      Forbes reported on 12/23 that “Fracking fluids are believed to contain benzene, ethylbenzene, formaldehyde, methanol, naphthalene, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, toluene, xylene, boric acid, hydrochloric acid, isopropanol, and diesel fuel. Drillers are usually not required to disclose the chemicals they use.

      The brine that returns to the surface has been found to contain these chemicals and others, including up to 16,000 picoCuries per liter of radium-226 (pdf). The discharge limit in effluent for Radium 226 is 60 pCi/L, and the EPA’s drinking water standard is 5 pCi/L.” http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2011/12/23/u-s-offers-35-million-for-fracking-pollution-solutions/”

      But you won’t find TCEQ looking for any of those effluents.

  5. Westchester Neighbor says

    Can an elected official (who regularly “votes” to approve permits on gas drilling issues in his own municipality) speak to a neighboring city about the BENEFITS of gas drilling during a Gas Drilling Task Force Public Meeting?? Is that lobbying for the industry?

  6. Kim Feil says

    “Fracking fluids are believed to contain benzene, ethylbenzene, formaldehyde, methanol, naphthalene, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, toluene, xylene, boric acid, hydrochloric acid, isopropanol, and diesel fuel. Drillers are usually not required to disclose the chemicals they use.

    The brine that returns to the surface has been found to contain these chemicals and others, including up to 16,000 picoCuries per liter of radium-226 (pdf). The discharge limit in effluent for Radium 226 is 60 pCi/L, and the EPA’s drinking water standard is 5 pCi/L.” http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2011/12/23/u-s-offers-35-million-for-fracking-pollution-solutions/

    But alas, TCEQ will only look for the BTEX and there is this dilution factor and ESL levels threshold that make me NOT believe them when they say no violation found…I mean come on…a TCEQ investigator was sickened in August at DWG Compressor Station with TVA showing 123,000ppb VOC and the suma came back clean..no violations..TCEQ rep has a new nob…I’m glad he quit.

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