Davis wants Barnett Shale to be focus of interim charges

Texas State Senator Wendy Davis told Shale Energy Symposium attendees Oct. 29 of a request she has made to Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst’s office for a concerted study of North Texas air emissions after growing citizen concern over whether development of the Barnett Shale is playing a role in the area’s air emissions issues.

The request is one of the several Barnett Shale-related issues Davis is asking to be included with the interim charges expected to be unveiled by Dewhurst in the next month.

Davis was one of several speakers at the Shale Energy Breakfast Symposium held Oct. 29 at the Historic Hilton Downtown Fort Worth Hotel. Though speakers ranged in topics from oil and gas disputes and the Railroad Commission to bankruptcy and recent legislation that could affect the natural gas industry, the topic of air emissions dominated.

Davis said she formally has requested that the lieutenant governor’s office begin a study and urged natural gas industry professionals to take a proactive stance in assisting with such a study. Davis said she has requested an appointment for such a study so industry professionals and state and local leaders can engage in conversation about the area’s air emissions. The potential outcome could be legislation impacting how the energy industry conducts drilling and production operations in urban areas. Davis expects to hear a decision on the request in the next 30 to 60 days.

“It’s more than what you read in the papers,” she said. “… We can be part of a cooperative conversation or we’re going to wind up in a negative situation where I’m afraid you’re going to find some things not to your liking and you don’t have a voice.”

Issues have recently been raised in North Texas by environmental groups relating to air quality issues and Barnett Shale drilling. Though the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) continues to monitor the area via ozone monitors placed throughout the region, citizens are raising health concerns as related to the Barnett Shale and any emissions the gas play might be creating, according to Davis.

 In fact, Dish, a North Texas city near Denton, recently funded its own air emissions study after several citizens complained of smelling odors and feeling sick. The TCEQ is currently conducting its own study air emission issues in the Barnett Shale.

But industry professionals, such as Chesapeake Energy Corp. Vice President of Regulatory Compliance Paul Hagemeier, say the region had air emissions issues long before the Barnett Shale exploration picked up steam in the last decade – and, he said, the largest impact on the area’s air emissions comes from vehicles.

According to TCEQ numbers, vehicles account for 46 percent of the Nitrogen Oxides in the North Texas ozone compared to the 13 percent produced by the Barnett Shale, Hagemeier said.

“Vehicles are key to air quality,” he said. “We need to take a look at public transportation, mass transportation in North Texas and … it will work – we need to convert to using natural gas vehicles,” adding that natural gas vehicles create less emissions than gas-powered vehicles.

The push to reduce air emissions comes at the cusp of tightening federal EPA regulations that soon will push mandatory emissions standards from the current 85 ppb down to 75 ppb. Howard Gilberg, an environmental attorney with Guida, Slavich and Flores law firm, said the latest numbers for North Texas show the area has 91 ppb, and new numbers will be available in June 2010.

“Chances are likely that we’ve not met those standards,” Gilberg said of the current 85 ppb standard. “Then it goes to the North Texas Clean Air Steering Committee to come up with some options … my call to action to this industry is to work with the TCEQ on its updated permitting program – it will either be drafted with you or without you.”

Gilberg said more stringent air emissions regulations are eminent and the industry will be more regulated than it is today.

“And what that looks like is up to you,” he said.