By Bill Zeeble, KERA News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-985855.mp3
Dallas, TX – A group of gas drilling critics calls Fort Worth's recent air quality study flawed, manipulative and misleading. KERA's Bill Zeeble reports the city stands behind the research, but also says more work remains to be done.
Fort Worth paid more than one million dollars for the study that found pollutants at a few sites above allowable levels, but there were otherwise no significant health risks, or the need to change most safety standards. Esther McElfish, who heads the North Central Texas Communities Alliance, does not believe the results, based on six weeks of research.
McElfish: If you want to have a study that is weak or shows little or no pollution or toxins in the air, then you design a process for that study that will give you that outcome.
McElfish says that's what happened. And she is supported by the Texas Sierra Club's Neil Carman, who spent a dozen years working for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Carman says state-of-the-art technology could have been used but was not. He also says 24-hour air samples, used in this study, mislead.
Carman: If you want to see the highest concentration of formaldehyde, benzene and other gas emission components, you're not going to see them in a 24-hour sample.
Carman says the method dilutes emissions. He says that would be like enforcing the speed limit by taking a driver's 24-hour speed average instead of using a radar gun that captures the spike.
Carman: There's no law enforcement agencies in the United States that have a speed limit that's based on a 24-hour average. No one would ever get a speeding ticket. So 24-hour averaging is a way to get low pollutant values.
The city stands behind the study. Fort Worth spokesperson Jason Lamers says the study was prepared to ensure public safety, not to hide dangerous emissions.
Lamers: It is one of the most comprehensive studies ever to be done on air quality with respect to gas drilling. And we think it's the only one that's done where you're actually having folks go on the pad site with probes looking at all the fixtures, and taking a real hard look at all the emissions coming off the site. So we believe it's a good study.
Lamers says Mayor Price and city council members will still discuss efforts to further reduce emissions, but they've always said that.
Link to full report: http://www.fortworthgov.org/gaswells/default.aspx?id=87074