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Residents, officials disagree on air quality study results
By Chris Roark, croark@starlocalnews.com
Area residents and officials on both sides of the natural gas drilling issue are at odds over a recent air quality study that indicates an elevated level of dangerous compounds at a pad site in Colleyville, near the Southlake border.
The pad site is located at 7504 Pleasant Run Road, where Titan Operating, LLC had been conducting mini-hydraulic fracturing (fracking) drilling activities earlier this year.
GD Air Testing, an independent company, conducted a brief study Feb. 1, Feb. 2 and Feb. 9 for 12 hours each day.
“We paid for tests because we can’t depend on the city or the fracking industry,” said Colleyville resident Kim Davis, one of the residents who paid for the test. “The tests confirmed our worst fears while Colleyville ignored their own tests to let fracking continue. Apparently the city represents Titan and the gas industry instead of local residents.”
One of the residents, Gordon Aalund of Southlake, said the timeframe for the test was small because of the cost of the study.
But he said the results are still cause for alarm.
Among the findings that concerned some residents was the level of benzene, a known cancer-causing agent. According to the residents’ data, benzene was detected at 12.8 parts per billion (ppb) on Feb. 2 at 1,700 feet northeast of the site. Those who paid for the test claim that surpasses the long-term health level of 1.4 ppb, established by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).
“We thought that this might prove that there is no problem,” Aalund said. “But what we got was the opposite. We had a canister 1,700 feet away [from the pad site], and that had one of the highest readings.”
However, Modern Geoscience’s Dr. Kenneth Tramm, who in February performed a longer and more in-depth study at the site for Colleyville that indicated no readings surpassing safe levels, said the wrong criteria is being discussed.
First, he said, short-term levels should be used since the test itself was considered short-term. Tramm said the correct criteria is Air Monitoring Comparison Values, (AMCVs), which refers to all odor-, vegetative- and health-based values used in reviewing air monitoring data. ESLs are used for air permitting. That number for benzene is 180 ppb.
Tramm said the Texas State Department of Health Services (TSDHS) uses a 50 ppb criteria for benzene for indoor air within schools as part of the “Texas Voluntary Indoor Air Quality Guidelines for Government Buildings.”
Also on Feb. 2, 76 ppb of naphthalene, a possible carcinogen, was discovered in the Earthworks study. Residents feared that it surpassed the long-term level of 10 ppb. Tramm said the AMCV is 500 ppb.
Carbon disulfide, a neurotoxin, was detected at 13 ppb on Feb. 1 and 19.7 on Feb. 2. That surpasses short-term levels (10 ppb). There is no established AMCV level for carbon disulfide.
However, Tramm said the carbon disulfide reading was likely an artifact of the laboratory method used and probably didn’t exist at all.
Tramm also said wind patterns were not conducive to seeing emissions’ impact where the samples were collected.
Others said there are more flaws with the study.
One resident, who wished not to be identified, said GD Air Testing is not National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Conference (NELAC) accredited to perform studies on carbon disulfide and said since it is a common laboratory solvent, proper care must be taken when analyzing it.
The resident also said no instrument calibration was performed prior to reporting the carbon disulfide result.
Colleyville officials say it is standing by the results from the Modern Geoscience study.
“We feel comfortable that the report provided by the independent inspector was an accurate reflection of activity on the site during Titan’s fracking operations,” a statement from the city reads. “Our role is to protect the public’s safety and we took every precaution to do that. We believe that the scientific processes used by the independent inspector and his findings are valid, fall within state and federal standards, and complied with our city ordinance.”
Aalund questions Titan’s compliance, saying that the city’s study included recommendations of vapor recovery units and separator pipes.
“Colleyville's own final report recommends vapor recovery units and separator pipes based on the vented gases they detected during this stage one fracking,” Aalund said. “This exposure could have been prevented or reduced if Titan had not violated Colleyville's ordinance and vented gas.”
When asked for comment, Titan issued a statement that reads, “Titan Operating, LLC is in full compliance with the city of Colleyville’s ‘Gas Well Drilling’ Ordinance.”
Aalund points to Southlake’s ordinance and hopes it stands up against any type of dangerous emission release.
“Southlake's current ordinance requires vapor recovery and prohibits venting,“ Aalund said. “Some residents in Southlake want to weaken our ordinance. This case makes me question that logic.”
Aalund is referring to the Citizens for Property Rights (CPR), a group that is seeking enough signatures on a petition to prompt changes to Southlake’s gas drilling ordinance or to put the issue on the ballot for a November special election.
But CPR members deny that claim.
“CPR wants to make it clear that we have not removed any of the new Southlake drill site testing requirements for airborne toxins and potable water sources,“ said Keith Houser, secretary of CPR. “We support air and water quality testing for our citizen’s safety.”
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