Barnett Shale Air: Nothing but the facts

Ramon Alvarez, Ph.D. who is a SCIENTIST for EDF responds to outright deception perpetrated by Ed Ireland who is NOT a SCIENTIST but a Barnett Shale Energy EdUkAsHuN Council spokesperson.

No one can fault the natural gas industry for trying to make its case before influential policy makers and the public. But there’s a certain responsibility associated with billing yourself as the purveyor of “facts:” Your information needs to be true. Loose use of facts will backfire on the natural gas industry.

In other words, Ed, there is only one set of facts here.

I found two factually-challenged statements made by the Council’s spokesperson, Ed Ireland, especially disappointing given the heightened public concern (in the Barnett and elsewhere) about air pollution associated with natural gas production.

Read the entire response. Here is the Reader’s Digest version.

1. Natural gas contains benzene and everyone knows it. So quit trying to fool people by saying your dry gas doesn’t have any benzene. Suddenly, all operators in the Barnett Shale have dry gas.
2. Natural gas extraction is effecting the air quality.

The TCEQ air quality sampling results are contained in a 330+ page document. Reading almost any page in that document will make you certain that death is eminent despite the TCEQ’s rosy spin. Thanks to Dr. Alvarez for his detailed summary of the TCEQ air quality sampling. I suggest you read it thoroughly.

Bottom line on TCEQ’s results: When one out of every three areas sampled throughout the Barnett Shale show elevated levels of benzene, it suggests that harmful air emissions are not a rare occurrence.

The truth about “facts” from the Barnett Shale Energy Education Council