I want to acknowledge that feedback from Barnett Shale residents tells me that the TCEQ response since our meeting in DISH has improved. The odors are still there and people continue to have health effects–increasingly dramatic health effects–from exposure. But, the response has improved. Thank you, Tony and Alyssa.
Whether Barnett Shale residents believe it or not, Tony Walker listened to us and was affected by your stories.
We residents, need to keep helping the TCEQ help us and we can do that by:
- Letting them know when they get it right.
- Letting them know when they get it wrong.
From a reader:
I went to the open house given by TCEQ. They had about 15 to 20 tables with displays. They also had a mobile air tester sprinter van and a FLIR camera setup outside. An interesting side note here. Some of the equipment in the sprinter van (only 1 of 2) was out of calibration. I inquired; they said they would calibrate it before going out. The equipment was calibrated in 09 and expired in April this year! You mean to tell me this EXPENSIVE VAN has not been used since at least April, more likely when it was calibrated in 09. See photos:
I think it’s a cry for help. Why didn’t they just pull the tag off? How can you not see it?
- Giving them new bosses. For the most part, the people in the field are trying to help us but they are thwarted by the people at the top, namely the TCEQ commissioners. The commissioner are appointed by Rick Perry. IJS.
About Sharon Wilson
Sharon Wilson is considered a leading citizen expert on the impacts of shale oil and gas extraction. She is the go-to person whether it’s top EPA officials from D.C., national and international news networks, or residents facing the shock of eminent domain and the devastating environmental effects of natural gas development in their backyards.
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As Rob Lawrence (EPA) said Wednesday night…we here in the Barnett Shale are more informed than any other area of the country.
I'm shocked they don't realize that, yet.
My cowboy dressed, maniquin with a respirator named Ben Zene was on wheels as I pushed him around the NCTCOG where TCEQ had their open house yesterday. One person actually objected to "Ben" as he sported the ad for the Gasland movie and a picture of a blownout gaswell spewing high into the sky. The man pointed at Ben and said "that thing doesn't belong here". I wondered what was on his glasses as he protested and I was distracted by the tiny tubes that were seemingly coming from the bridge of his glasses that fed into his nostrils. As he turned to walk away in disgust, I noticed he was strolling somthing too….an oxygen tank. I'm sorry, but everybody standing around taking in the scene was fairly amused at this person who is walking proof that our air is not breathable. Guess he wants his royalties really bad?
That oxygen-tank-toter was Mr. Gene Powell, editor of the Barnett Shale newsletter.
I started to ask if that was Gene. Who cares what he says?
TCEQ vans–they are equiped and operated so as to ALWAYS give low numbers! Just what the industrial polluter wants–everybody's happy, except the ordinary citized who is getting gassed and posioned!
Gene Gene on a breathing machine…snicker snicker snicker