Parents voice health concerns
Gas drilling near Argyle schools making kids ill, residents tell board Sunday, October 24, 2010
By Lowell Brown and Britney Tabor / Staff Writers
http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/dws/drc/localnews/stories/DRC_Argyle_Drilling_1024.1bd9f97c2.htmlARGYLE — Kelly Gant once worked for an oil refinery in Port Arthur — an area nicknamed “Explosion Coast” and “Cancer Alley.”
When she left the job, the company was in the midst of a $200 million government-mandated soil cleanup project, she said. She couldn’t flee fast enough.
Gant and her husband settled in Argyle, thinking it would be an ideal place to raise a family. Fifteen years later, she feels like she’s back in harm’s way.
Since gas drilling began near Argyle High School in recent weeks, her daughter has experienced severe symptoms of asthma, a condition she had controlled for years, Gant said. Twice in the last two weeks, Gant said, she had to pull her daughter out of high school marching band practices because of dense fumes on the field.
Her daughter was dizzy, jittery. Her head ached and she couldn’t concentrate.
“She said, ‘Mom, I just feel like pacing and I don’t understand it,’” Gant said.
Gant described the scene for Argyle school board members Monday night, joining a group of parents, residents and local environmentalists with expertise on Barnett Shale community impacts, all concerned about increasing natural gas development in the area.
The concerns centered on two gas drilling sites along U.S. Highway 377 near Old Justin Road, where Hillwood Energy plans to drill up to 36 wells. Argyle Town Council members approved zoning changes to allow drilling at both sites in March, but drilling at the first site didn’t start until recently.
That site, known as the Whitehead pad, is about half a mile from Argyle High School, said Susan Knoll, a member of the Argyle-Bartonville Communities Alliance, a group formed in March that has fought the placement of gas facilities near homes and schools. The other drilling site, known as the Jenkins pad, is about 1,500 feet from Argyle Intermediate School and about half a mile from Hilltop Elementary School, she said....
Natural gas production in North Texas’ Barnett Shale region has been linked to emissions of other harmful chemicals including formaldehyde, carbon disulfide, ethane, toluene and xylene.
The January TCEQ report analyzed more than 100 volatile organic compounds but focused primarily on benzene. Although most of the sites weren’t emitting pollutants at levels that required immediate action, state officials said the findings showed that long-term exposure to natural gas facilities could cause health problems.
The federal Environmental Protection Agency is working on new oil and gas rules, but finishing them will take time, said Sharon Wilson, a representative of the Texas Oil and Gas Accountability Project, which pushes for cleaner drilling practices and stronger regulations in the state. In the meantime, it’s up to local communities to protect residents from the industry’s harmful effects, Wilson said.
Parents at the meeting Monday urged school board members to have school nurses keep a detailed log of any student health issues, especially asthma cases; to encourage district employees to log and report any odors they smell to the TCEQ; to pass a resolution to consider fumes entering school property a nuisance and trespass; and to put other parameters in place for keeping students safe.
“Frankly, the health and environmental impacts of living near natural gas production are well known and well documented,” Wilson told Argyle school board members. “And anyone who disputes or ignores it at this time is just willfully ignorant or negligent.” (more at link)
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Something that we all need to learn about.
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