Barnett Shale

TCEQ says EPA fine with air monitor data from DISH

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said Friday that the Environmental Protection Agency found no problem with the data the agency collected from its air monitor in DISH.

Earlier this month, DISH Mayor Calvin Tillman said he thought the air monitor was either malfunctioning or that the results were being manipulated. A town-funded study found levels of benzene and toluene at higher levels than what's been reported by the air monitor.

In a statement, TCEQ said, "The EPA has evaluated TCEQ’s monitoring operations in DISH, Texas and documented there is no reason to doubt the validity of the data from the DISH AutoGC monitor.  The monitor is also being audited by the University of Texas to ensure the equipment is operating properly."

The TCEQ installed an air monitor in Dish in April and immediately began posting the results online. The move was in response to concerns that the town's air was being polluted by natural gas compressors and drilling facilities in the area.

-Aman Batheja

TCEQ launches interactive Barnett Shale map

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality launched an interactive online map of the Barnett Shale region Friday containing air quality monitoring data collected by the agency.

The map allows users to pinpoint down to the street level where the agency has collected air samples and the results of those samples. Green dots are for locations where the testing found no elevated levels of toxins. Blue and red dots are for samples that exceeded the commission’s standards for long-term or short- term exposure, respectively.

“The public needs access to this complex scientific data and we’ve developed a tool that is timely, meaningful, and easily accessible,” TCEQ Executive Director Mark Vickery said.

The map can be viewed here.

The environmental commission didn't begin its own testing until last year, nearly a decade after drilling began in earnest. The agency's staff members came under fire in the spring when an audit showed that they had not released results of tests that found higher-than-normal concentrations of benzene at gas sites in Fort Worth.

Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, also announced Friday that she is planning to co-host a public workshop with TCEQ this fall focusing on how the public can make use of the agency’s new online tools. The TCEQ is also planning an “open house” event in the Barnett Shale region in October.

-Aman Batheja

Range posts Marcellus well fracturing details

 As promised, Fort Worth-based Range Resources Corp. began releasing detailed information Thursday about new natural gas wells in the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania, including the chemical additives used in hydraulic fracturing.

The disclosures include data about the volumes of fracturing fluids -- water, sand and chemical additives -- used in "fracking" each well. Other information includes sizes of steel casing and production tubing used, a log outlining geological layers the wellbore penetrated, and the total number of feet drilled in each well, including the vertical portion and the horizontal leg where fracturing occurs.

Range's voluntary disclosure initiative "will increase transparency and allow people to better understand that the Marcellus Shale is a valuable resource that can be pursued responsibly," Range CEO John Pinkerton said in a release.

"We understand that there is the perception among some that the additives used in hydraulic fracturing present a risk to the public, even though the Marcellus ... is more than a mile below the water table."

Information about three new Range wells in the Marcellus and an explanation of the disclosure effort is provided on the company's website at www.rangeresources.com. The information was also submitted to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, which regulates oil and gas drilling in the state.

Read the entire report here.

-- Jack Z. Smith

DISH Mayor says state air monitor giving false readings [UPDATED]

DISH Mayor Calvin Tillman announced late Sunday that he believes the air quality in his tiny Denton County town is far worse than a state-installed air monitor is letting on.

An independent study of the town's air quality found levels of benzene and toluene at higher levels than what's being reported by the air monitor operated by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, according to Tillman.

The TCEQ installed an air monitor in Dish in April and immediately began posting the results online. The move was in response to concerns that the town's air was being polluted by natural gas compressors and drilling facilities in the area. 

The air monitor has shown the town's air to be fairly clean. The project was initially praised by DISH residents including Tillman.

The town recently contracted with Wolf Eagle Environmental to test the air themselves. Tillman said the independent study found triple the levels of benzene and 50 times the level of tolulene reported by the state's air monitor.

Tillman said it is not clear whether the state's air monitor is malfunctioning or if the results are being "manipulated."

In a statement, Tillman said, "We really thought our air quality was improving, this is devastating to find this information is inaccurate...It is also very disappointing that the State of Texas has spent a million dollars on equipment that is not accurate."

UPDATE: TCEQ spokesman Terry Clawson said the agency was confident in the data it is collecting from its air monitor in DISH. The monitors is operated under contract by the University of Texas.

Clawson also sent the following statement:

"TCEQ would also like to understand why the results were different.  Staff asked Mayor Tillman for the scientific data backing up his results at an August 2nd meeting and we have yet to receive any data.  For the record, even the mayor's own alleged data indicates readings barely above long term thresholds that would only be of concern after 70 years of continuous exposure."

-Aman Batheja

New York may temporarily ban Marcellus drilling

New York moved a step closer to a temporary state ban on drilling for natural gas from the Marcellus Shale that would delay plans by companies led by Chesapeake Energy, Bloomberg News reports.

The state Senate approved a measure late Tuesday that would suspend drilling until May 15 in the New York portion of the Marcellus Shale formation pending further environmental studies. The moratorium passed 48-9. The Assembly has yet to take up the measure.

The state is concerned about the environmental effects of fracking, in which water, sand and chemicals are injected deep underground to break up rock and allow gas to flow. The New York-based Natural Resources Defense Council says greater safeguards are needed to ensure that fracking chemicals don’t contaminate drinking water.

“Not only did they pass it but it passed overwhelmingly,” Assemblyman Robert Sweeney, a Democrat from Suffolk County, said in an interview. “That opens the way for us to do to the bill in the Assembly where I would expect it to pass with similar overwhelming numbers.”

Drilling for gas using fracking has proven to be environmentally safe, said Brad Gill, executive director of the Hamburg, New York-based Independent Oil and Gas Association.

Chesapeake, Talisman Energy  of Calgary and closely-held Vertical Resources, based in Sugar Grove, Pa., have filed 58 applications for drilling permits in New York. The proposals are on hold while the state Department of Environmental Conservation reviews guidelines for gas drillers.