Fort Worth residents object as city approves air-test panel

By MIKE LEE

mikelee@star-telegram.com

FORT WORTH -- For months, state regulators, neighborhood groups and the natural gas industry have gone back and forth about the level of air pollution produced by natural gas drilling in the Barnett Shale.

The industry has maintained that drilling is generally safe. State officials have sent mixed messages, which prompted Fort Worth officials to pay for their own tests.

But now, even that effort has bogged down. The City Council voted 8-1 Tuesday to appoint a committee to choose the contractor for the tests, only to be met with protests from neighborhood groups that think the committee designing the study has too much input from the gas industry.

"It's not composed of the right people," said Fernando Florez, one of about a dozen people who spoke against the idea. "Slow it down for a week or two and let's do it right."

Mayor Mike Moncrief defended the process, saying it was his idea to appoint a committee. "That was a decision I made, to make sure that there was inclusion -- to make sure we did have representation in that process from the neighborhoods," he said. "I also know, and I think we all do, that you need to have the industry representation in that process because otherwise it does no good."

Councilwoman Kathleen Hicks cast the only vote against appointing the committee.

Committee makeup

Fort Worth has more than 1,000 gas wells in the city limits, and hundreds more are planned. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality didn't conduct any air tests in the Barnett Shale until summer 2009 and didn't test in Fort Worth until December.

The slow pace of the tests caused Moncrief to announce at the end of January that the city would pay for its own air tests, using revenue from gas drilling on city property.

At first, city staffers wanted to use the same engineering firm that had already been hired by the Barnett Shale Energy Education Council, an industry group. At a Jan. 5 meeting, they discussed the plan with XTO Energy, Chesapeake Energy, Devon Energy, the Barnett Shale council and the Texas Pipeline Association.

At the same meeting, the parties discussed developing a "communications plan" that included educational materials from the energy companies, according to notes from the meeting.

The city quickly backed away from that plan after consulting with neighborhood groups and opted to appoint a committee to design the study and recommend the qualifications for a contractor.

The committee is expected to get input from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the North Central Texas Council of Governments -- which coordinates air testing in the Metroplex -- and the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund. But Devon, XTO and Chesapeake will have three of 10 votes on the committee.

New tests

Meanwhile, new tests in the Denton County town of Dish show that it's possible to create extremely accurate maps of emissions from oil and gas facilities.

The tests, conducted with a mobile analyzer linked to a global positioning satellite system, can track the emissions plumes on Google Earth. The analysis showed that the level of methane in the air around gas sites can quadruple in about 20 minutes, depending on the weather and other factors, said Wilma Subra, a researcher with the Oil and Gas Accountability Project.

The machine tracks only methane, which is not toxic by itself. But finding the highest levels of methane can allow more accurate tests for toxic substances that are often released at the same time. Subra said she took several samples in Dish and expects the results in a week. "You could use it for well sites, compressor sites," Subra said. "It has great applications."

Fort Worth Planning and Development Director Susan Alanis said late last week that the committee is expected to hire a contractor by April and that the tests could be done by midsummer.

Meanwhile, the industry groups will also conduct their own tests, said Ed Ireland of the Barnett Shale council. "I don't know how much testing has to be done before there can be a consensus of opinion hopefully that is forthcoming at some point," he said.

Devon spokesman Chip Minty added, "Our purpose is to work with the city and the TCEQ in whatever manner we can and answer the questions need to be answered."

MIKE LEE, 817-390-7539

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