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TCEQ: Air Near Drilling Sites OK

Barnett Shale Tanks
Barnett Shale Tanks

By BJ Austin, KERA News

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-879832.mp3

Dallas, TX –

The air in Fort Worth, around Barnett Shale drilling sites, is not dangerous.

That's the report from John Sadlier, with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Sadlier: Nothing that we detected would give us any cause for concern. So, what we're really saying is that what the sampling event, this three day event, shows us that the air in Fort Worth is pretty clean.

The special sampling was at the request of the Fort Worth City Council after independent air testing in a Barnett Shale area in Denton County showed high levels of benzene, a known carcinogen.

The TCEQ expects to release more in-depth air quality studies covering a larger area of the Barnett Shale later this month.

Email BJ Austin