North Texas has some of the worst air in the nation.
Drilling the Barnet Shale for natural gas is responsible for most of the smog in North Central Texas, according to a new peer-reviewed study. Currently, there are nearly 10,000 functioning gas wells in the Barnett Shale, with thousands more holding permits from the Texas Railroad Commission.
The following video was taken on February 4, 2009. I have more video from this same site so this is not a one time occurrence. I’ve been watching this rig for several weeks now. There are tens of thousands of gas wells in North Texas.
After this well is complete, it will undergo hydraulic fracture which takes a week or more. A video showing emissions from hydraulic fracture can be seen here.
Environmental groups in other parts of the country are suing EPA for failing to write emission rules for the oil and gas industry.
Other sources of air pollution caused by natural gas production include:
sludge pits
leaks
venting
flaring
Texas has the weakest drilling regulations of any state, but now we have a way to fight back.
UPDATE: Reader submitted photo from South Wise County…
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.
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You should find out what you are looking at before you make a false video! What you are seeing is steam from the drilling mud, which has no bearing on the earth, unlike your car…. Oh let me guess, you ride a bike year round!
Ahmmm, the video is not false, and I know it’s drilling mud. I also know what’s in drilling mud before it goes down the hole and what’s in it when it comes back up, is exposed to the cooler air, and the “steam” plus the chemicals go into our air. So your statement that it has no bearing on the earth is false. It is a big source of VOCs.
So, even though you know it’s drilling mud, and what you’re showing is steam from drilling mud, you intentionally misled any viewers you may have into believing that the steam was actually “emissions from a Barnett Shale drilling rig”?
Now that’s just sad. Since the vapors are emitting from the drilling mud that contains toxins and this is all happening at a drilling rig, how exactly is that misleading?
Emissions — Anthropogenic releases of gases to the atmosphere.
OK IF THE VAPORS OF THE DRILLING MUD ARE SO HARMFUL TO THE ATMOSHPERE THEN WHY IS IT PERMITTED TO DUMP THIS MUD IN LANDFARMS APPARENTLY IF IT WAS SO BAD THEN THE EPA AND THE RAILROAD COMMISSION WOULDNT ALLOW THE DISPOSING OF IT ON THE GROUND
This is the common mistake that many people make, thinking that the RRC who is actually in charge of the landfarms, not the EPA, is looking out for our interest. They are not. They do not test the mud before it is landfarmed. The industry does the testing declares it safe and does not share the test results.
Would you put a fox in charge of watching your hen house?
There are many examples of toxic drilling mud that has contaminated water. Just recently 2 private water wells in Montague County were contaminated from EOC burying their drilling mud. Another case was in East Texas.
There have also been hundreds of cases of groundwater contamination from landfarming. I have reported those on this blog. Check it out.