Study claims Barnett Shale emissions staggering
By DAVID SCHECHTER / WFAA-TV Channel 8
Video at link
A new study finds pollution from Barnett Shale is equal to all of the vehicle emissions in North Texas.
The oil and gas industry disputes the numbers, but it could be a blow to the region’s efforts to clean up the air.
Dr. Armendariz addresses the industry’s questions:
Barnett Shale Air Quality: Errors and Misstatements by Texas Oil & Gas Association
More from WFAA:
According to his findings, Barnett Shale emissions had the potential to cause more smog than all the cars on the road in North Texas or all the region’s airports.
He also found amounts of greenhouse gases equivalent to “two very large coal-fired power plants.”
In his response, Armendariz said:
The unsophisticated level of understanding, sophomoric statements, and errors of fact are even more numerous and glaring than I would have expected from one of our state’s regulatory agencies.
Here is a perfect example of “unsophisticated level of understanding and sophomoric…” from the WFAA story:
Ed Ireland, with the Barnett Shale trade group, said the research incorrectly assumed the wells emit more pollution than they actually do and that prevailing winds actually blow pollution away from the D-FW area.
DUDE! That’s just really pathetic! It’s STILL IN THE ATMOSPHERE not to mention the poor people downwind. Oh yeah, that’s ME!
The bottom line is they are not going to include oil & gas emissions in the current clean air plan. Oh brother!
Graphic: Lori Thomson, One Smart Canary
UPDATE the commenter, Don Lokke, owns a public relations firm and he represents Big Oil. Too bad Big Oil would rather pay all these PR firms to dish out propaganda than do things right. A much smarter business decision would be to do it right in the first place.
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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The WFAA story was absolutely correct. If you are concerned about the impact on DFW residents, the prevailing winds do blow most Barnett pollution away from the Trinity Valley where summer inversions concentrate industrial and auto emissions. The health hazard for humans relates to the pollution levels in parts per million that we breath. Conditions in the Trinity Valley concentrate emissions that would otherwise blow away and is responsible for elevated concentrations that generate our alerts.
The Barnett doesn’t generally increase Trinity Valley pollution levels because Barnett releases get blown away from the Trinity Valley. It may contribute to an increase west of Fort Worth or and increase in global pollution in general but far less than open pit coal or oil in production or use.
The decreases in production and drilling as a result of lower natural gas prices insures that most of the projections made in that report, even if accurate and they were not, would fall far short of the sensational numbers being promoted.
If you want a cause that holds water, let’s talk about creating a local market for natural gas so that DFW stops importing dirty energy and benefits from from the clean fossil fuel we are producing locally.
Um, Mr. Lokke, I live right on top of the Barnett Shale and have for a long time now. Please don’t insult my intelligence or that of my readers by referring to natural gas as a clean fossil fuel. Have you bothered to look at some of the pictures or videos on this blog? When the oil & gas industry cleans up its act it will be a happy day for me because then I can sit back and enjoy my royalty checks. Until then I'm saying, Thanks, but no thanks to that dirty old bridge fuel.
How true! Natural gas is NOT a clean fuel! Never was, never will be! Looks like the “Don” above is doing the Landman or Oil company type PR story!