Dallas/Fort Worth Encourages EPA Rules on OIl and Gas Industry

By: Duane Craig

Some people in the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, area are facing down the well-financed oil and gas industry in calling for the Environmental Protection Agency to implement its proposed rules that will limit pollution at petroleum wells and help to reduce their list of environmental issues, according to this story in Bloomberg Businessweek.

One state representative said the rules would finally curb the pollution of drillers because the state has so far turned a blind eye to the public health issues and local environmental issues created by the oil and gas industry. He also lauded the EPA’s approach, which would actually increase industry revenues. But, the increase in revenues was discounted by at least one industry spokesperson who said the EPA’s numbers were wrong. Others at the hearing held September 29 included a woman who claimed her child has leukemia because of nearby natural gas drilling. Another industry spokesperson said the rules would be too cost prohibitive for many of the oil and gas well operators because they don’t have the capital the large oil and gas companies have.

The proposed rules would require drillers to recapture and sell gas that now escapes into the air. There are thousands of oil and gas wells in the counties including and surrounding Dallas and Fort Worth.