Ed, is that egg on your face?

Oh, Dear Readers! You are going to love this.

At the TCEQ public hearing on the new smog plan this morning, Ed Ireland, the main spokesperson for industry in the Barnett Shale, was irate with the TCEQ because he said they “wildly” overstated the amount of VOCs industry is pumping into our air. According to Ed, industry only emits 21 tons per day of VOCs in the entire 9 county non-attainment area.

UPDATE: Here’s Ed’s quote from the Star-Telegram.

But Dr. Ed Ireland with the Barnett Shale Energy Education Council disputed the amount of VOC emissions that the state commission has calculated the oil and gas industry will generate next year. While the TCEQ estimates those industries will emit 114 tons of those chemicals each day, Barnett Shale drillers say their own study, which was requested by the state, shows that the region’s 10,721 wells only emit 21 tons of VOCs per day.

Gas drillers in DFW urged to do more to curtail emissions

Then the Fort Worth air quality study final results were released.

It turns out that in Fort Worth alone, industry emits 57 tons of VOC’s per day. It looks like Ed “wildly” understated the amount of VOCs industry emits.

I was the first speaker at the hearing so I made good use of that. Thanks Ed.

It is obvious that industry cannot be trusted to estimate their own emissions.

But don’t worry Ed, this guy is still your friend:

Thanks to Downwinders for the head’s up.