"Someone to watch over me…"

When I read Peggy Heinkel-Wolfe’s latest article about NORM radioactive waste in the Barnett Shale, Firms monitor selves for NORM, I heard the Gershwin song echo in my mind.

Theres a somebody I”m longing to see
I hope that he turns out to be
Someone who’ll watch over me
Im a little lamb who’s lost in the wood
I know I could always be good to
Someone who’ll watch over me

Oil and gas is on the “honor system” that they will put their rampant greed aside and take the quite expensive clean up and protect the public route. Yeah, that’s the ticket, just trust me baby…

As Peggy noted in her previous columns, the Barnett Shale is different when it comes to radioactive waste since NORM is normally found in oil and not as often in natural gas.

Our tax dollars go to the Texas Railroad Commission, the agency charged with protecting the public, but their conflict of interest seems to be unending. Here’s what their attorney told Peggy:

Railroad Commission attorney Debra Ravel said the agency would not attempt to collect the records because it would be an unreasonable demand of a private business, and it could be interpreted as using public money to conduct a private investigation.

The agency we fund thinks it would be unreasonable to require an industry that makes hundreds of billions in profits to keep some records regarding a potentially dangerous substance. And just how dangerous is NORM:

The risk from NORM accumulations can vary widely, from virtually none to potentially ruinous to human health and the environment.

Be careful and thoughtful before signing those lease agreements Cowtown residents because we’re on our own folks, we “ain’t got nobody…”