Texas regulators are nearly doubling the number of ambient air quality monitors in the Barnett Shale region of North Texas to 15 from eight, officials said last week.

State Sen. Jane Nelson, a Republican who represents Flower Mound, TX, one of the most prolific shale drilling areas in the gas play, joined other state legislators and area officials to announce the additional monitors to be installed across the region.

“Our economy — especially in Texas — cannot flourish without energy,” Nelson, who chairs the Senate Health & Human Services Committee, stated. “But none of us can flourish without our health, and that has to be our top priority moving forward.”

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), which regulates air pollution in the state, monitors ambient air data in some of the busiest drilling areas of the Barnett Shale. However, most of the ,monitor readings earlier this year were “well below” acceptable chemical exposure limits (see NGI, Feb. 1). The automated gas chromatograph monitors collect emissions data 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to measure the levels of 45 volatile organic compounds.

Last month an industry-funded assessment also found no harmful levels of benzene or other compounds (see NGI, July 19).

“So far the department has found that our area’s testing is in line with what you would find in similarly populated regions,” Nelson said. “But we have to remain vigilant.” The new monitoring sites “are going to be welcome news to our community.”

Nelson said she is working closely with the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS), which conducted biological tests on Denton County residents, to determine if they had elevated levels of any drilling byproducts in their systems.

Members of the Texas Legislature last week also directed the TCEQ to contract with a third party to evaluate and air quality data. In addition, the DSHS has been asked to examine whether any cancer clusters exist in the shale play.

According to the TCEQ, there are 11,627 producing wells in the Barnett Shale’s 23-county area. Including the Barnett play, there are 59,541 producing wells in the state.

TCEQ has proposed a new permit by rule and standard permit package to update the requirements for production facilities to minimize drilling emissions (see NGI, Aug. 2). A series of public meetings to explain the proposal are set to begin across the state on Tuesday ( Aug. 31); a TCEQ public hearing is scheduled for Sept. 14 to receive comments on the proposed rulemaking.

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