State Tests Air Around Drilling And Pipeline Sites

By BJ Austin

Dallas, TX – State environmental officials are testing the "air" around Barnett Shale natural gas wells and pipelines in five North Texas counties. KERA's BJ Austin says the monitoring comes after a study done in the tiny town of Dish.

Dish is a small town of nearly 200 people in Denton County between Justin and Ponder. Mayor Calvin Tillman says it's also home to a huge natural gas compressor complex used by five different companies. He says people living near the compressors have repeatedly complained about a foul odor, nausea and headaches. So, the city decided to spend ten thousand dollars, or 15% of its annual budget, to find out what was in the air.

Tillman: Most of the people thought well, we've got to know one way or the other. If it comes back clean, then at least we know that it's clean. If it comes back bad, well, then we know that too.

Mayor Tillman says it came back with 16 chemicals that were over the established environmental limits. Atmos Energy, one of the five operating compressors in Dish, says its compressors do not make any significant contribution to emissions of the chemicals in the study.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is testing air quality this week in Denton, Tarrant, Wise, Parker and Johnson counties.