Last night, while DISH residents and animals were sleeping, there was a massive release of toxins into their air.
The TCEQ recently installed a permanent monitoring station in DISH as a response to concern about air quality throughout the Barnett Shale area. The monitor takes hourly air samples and displays the analysis online.
Important points about this air monitoring device:
- It does not monitor any sulfides which cause neurological problems in people and animals.
- It does not monitor H2S which can be lethal.
- It does not monitor methane releases and methane is the most powerful GHG.
Despite TCEQ's attempt to trivialize the level of toxins in Barnett Shale air, recent actions by TCEQ prove they know our air is a concern. Originally, they planned to install the one monitor in DISH then suddenly we learned a permanent monitor was also installed at Eagle Mountain Lake. Now TCEQ plans to install 2 more permanent monitors and hire 6 more inspectors to keep up with the odor complaints.
According to the Denton Record Chronicle, TCEQ is making a huge capital investment in monitoring equipment.
$1 million dollars in equipment alone is quite a bit of cash to monitor toxins if they are of no concern.
TCEQ needs to determine why these releases happen and take steps to prevent them. They need an alarm system on that monitor to warn people when the toxins are this high.
You can check the new monitors online HERE. Warning, it can be habit forming.
NOTE: The ethane released last night was 378.39 ppb. According to Wikipedia, methane, which is 25 times more powerful than C02 as a greenhouse gas, consists of 1% to 6% ethane. So last night's release allowed somewhere between 6 and 37 ppm of methane into the air.
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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how much do those permanent air monitoring systems cost?
Just another way the gas industry externalizes it's costs so the taxpayer gets to subsidize their activity. Lucky us.
In other words, don't light a match or BOOM!
Why are they monitoring if no action is taken? Can this information be used to force compliance? or is there such a thing as compliance?
Those sneaky gas companies, they like to do naughty things at night because they think no one is watching. They were busted this time. Now let's see if they get fined. Don't hold your breath.
Good questions. They are finally starting to take some enforcement actions but it's pretty slow. We need to keep raising hell.
As I watched the news last night about the massive landfill fire in Dallas, I thought to myself, "self, this would be a great time to open the release valves on my tank batteries and such, if I were a gas drilling company."
After all, I've got a built-in excuse. It was all the methane coming off that burning landfill!
Of course, I wouldn't have said that to myself if I was operating in Dish, with its 24×7 monitoring equipment. That would just be stupid…
I'll betcha Dish wasn't the only place around DFW taking advantage of the fire…