Gas Drilling Polluting The Metroplex

I have posted several times about how insane it is to drill for natural gas in metropolitan areas. I think it is not only ugly and damaging to the environment, but it poses a danger to the urban citizens. Of course, no one listened. There was too much money being offered by the gas companies and greed got the best of common sense.

Several metroplex cities have allowed the drilling within their city limits, including the city of Fort Worth. In fact, Fort Worth is allowing the drilling to even go on in its downtown area -- an insane idea for a city spending millions to revitalize the downtown.

I wasn't the only one talking about how bad an idea this was. SMU professor of engineering Al Armendariz put some figures together and tried to warn people that allowing urban gas drilling would pollute the metroplex as much as all the automobiles in the DFW area.

Vehicle traffic puts about 120 tons of pollution into the air of the DFW metroplex area each and every day. Armendariz estimated the gas drilling puts 112 tons of pollution into the metroplex air each day. Of course, the gas companies cried and whined about Armendariz's numbers, and said it couldn't be anywhere near that bad.

So the SMU professor recalculated, using data collected by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). The recalculation, using TCEQ figures, shows that Armendariz was right. The new figure showed the gas companies are dumping a minimum of 90 tons of pollution into the air each day.

Most gas drilling in the past has been in rural areas and therefore doesn't add to an already unsafe pollution problem. But it's different in the DFW area. This area is already in trouble with the EPA for its poor air quality, and is cracking down on motorists to try and improve the air quality.

There were two main causes of the air pollution in the past -- auto & trucks and big business polluters (like electric companies, cement kilns, etc.). The state and local governments have refused to make big business clean up its act, and have put the onus for the clean-up on motorists, making it much more expensive to own and drive a car. This, of course, punishes the poor much more than the rich (because mass transit is rudimentary at best in the area).

A reasonable person would expect the TCEQ to take some action to prevent the gas drillers from polluting the air and destroying what progress is being made with cleaning up autos. But they aren't. They claim they can't single out the urban drillers, since they don't require the rural drillers to clean up their act. I admit I don't understand that. It's a different and troubled environment, and needs different rules.

And citizens can't expect any help from the Railroad Commission, which is supposed to control the drillers. That commission doesn't even try to get these companies to follow the present rules in force. They're not about to force the drillers to use safer and greener procedures.

A bill was introduced in the past session of the legislature to force the drillers to use greener procedures and stop much of the urban pollution. But it never made it through the Republican-controlled legislature. There was just too much gas company money finding its way into campaign coffers.

Just another example of Republicans protecting corporations at the expense of the ordinary citizens. Just business as usual!

Tougher Ozone Standard Is Needed

Ozone is not just a pollutant, it is one that comes with safety risks to the public. These health and safety risks are not in the future, but affect many Texans now. Bad ozone days can trigger asthma attacks and cause other respiratory problems.

The current acceptable level of ozone is 85 parts per billion. The EPA's science advisors say that should be lowered to at least 70 parts per billion. However, many local urban officials in Texas oppose lowering the accepted level, because they are having enough trouble meeting the current level.

If any of an area's ozone detectors show a higher than acceptable level more than four times, that entire area is deemed to be out of compliance with federal standards, and could be subject to severe federal penalties. Last year, monitors in the Dallas-Fort Worth area showed levels of ozone over 70 parts per billion at least 642 times.

This is not a good reason to not lower the acceptable level. In fact, it shows just how unsafe the air quality is in North Texas. The level must be lowered because Texas will not act to create a healthier air quality until it is forced to do so.

The Republicans in our state government have been no help at all. They have repeatedly failed to act to stop industrial pollution, and are fixing to allow several new coal-burning power plants that will just exacerbate the problem.

Sadly, the technology exists to bring all areas into compliance with lower standards. What doesn't exist is the political will to force industrial compliance and mandate cleaner vehicles.

We must put pressure on state and local officials to clean up the air. But the onus should not be just on one area such as autos. Both the auto owners (and makers) and the industries must do their part to clean up the situation. Politicians who will not act to enforce cleaner air standards should be voted out of office, regardless of party affiliation.

The political will to clean up this situation will not exist until the public demands it. Now is the time to demand it!

State Weakens Pollution Controls For Corporations

It's no secret that the Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex area has some of the dirtiest air in the state of Texas. It's been many years since they met federal air pollution standards. The EPA is tired of it, and has demanded that the area clean up its air, especially the ozone level, by 2010 or lose large amounts of federal funding.

In order to clean up the air, city leaders in the area had joined with enviornmentalists and come up with a plan. It wasn't a bad plan either. The EPA was ready to sign off on it, because they thought the plan had a good chance of bringing the area into compliance with federal standards by 2010.

But that was before the politicians and corporations got their grubby hands on the plan.

You see, a large part of the pollution comes from the huge cement kilns located southeast of Ft. Worth. These cement plants are the largest industrial producers of ozone-forming pollution in the area. But the corporate owners of these plants went whining to the state commission, saying the plan was "too tough" on them.

The plan called for the companies to try out new technologies that would cut their pollution by 90%. Instead, the state decided they only needed to cut their pollution by 40%. This is not surprising.

The Republicans running our state government have shown us time after time that they believe corporate profits are more important than anything else. More important than breathable air or the health of metroplex citizens.

The failure to make these huge corporate kilns stop polluting has now called into question the validity of the plan as a whole. EPA regional director Richard Greene believes the revised plan will not let the area meet federal standards by 2010, and says the EPA may not approve the plan passed by the state.

Greene says, "I am very concerned by these reports, and worry that the changes from the proposal, if adopted, would convert the (plan) from one that I believed had a strong chance of approval to (a plan) that...may not be approvable."

There are already many summer days in the metroplex when the ozone level is so high that it's unhealthy to spend much time outdoors. I guess this will get even worse, as the state sacrifices public health on the altar of corporate profits.

Personally, I think if these companies can't stop the polluting without going out of business, maybe they should go out of business. I bet it wouldn't take long for someone to take their place - someone willing to try the new pollution-free technologies.

Alliance For A Clean Texas vs. TXU

A group of enviornmental organizations, known collectively as the Alliance for a Clean Texas [ACT], announced plans today to lobby the new Texas legislature to stop TXU and others from building up to 19 new coal-burning power plants. TXU is planning to build 11 of those plants.

TXU is trying to scare Texans by telling them the new plants must be built quickly, or Texas will suffer a shortage of electricity. Our governor, who has either been paid off or has fallen for the TXU propaganda gibberish, has "fast-tracked" the new coal-burning plants.

ACT wants the legislators to stop this fast-track process so a thorough study can be done on the pollution effects of the new plants. They believe a study will show the plants will increase pollution in Texas, including ground-level ozone. The DFW area is already having trouble meeting federal pollution regulations, and the new plants will only worsen the problem.

ACT believes Texas' energy needs can be met with solar and wind power combined with a more efficient use of our energy. TXU says this won't be sufficient to meet Texas' needs. I tend to believe ACT since their motivation is to clean up the air we all breath. TXU's motivation is bigger and bigger profits.

While I approve of ACT's program, I believe it ignores a couple of other clean energy options. Both of these options involve gasification.

A plant is being built near Stephenville that will turn cow patties into a clean-burning gas. There is no reason more plants of this type can't be built. Texas certainly has the raw material needed, and more is being produced every day.

The other option is the gasification of coal. We do have an abundance of coal in the United States, and the technology exists to turn this coal into a clean-burning gas. This would cost more than just burning straight coal, but it would result in a cleaner Texas for all of us. ACT is right that coal-fired plants would worsen Texas' pollution problems, but that doesn't mean that coal cannot be used in a cleaner way.

Wind and solar power and conservation may or may not be all we need, but if we combine these with gasification of coal and cow patties, I believe all of Texas future electric needs can be met without further polluting our air.