ARLINGTON — From the street they’re easy to miss. But in the self-proclaimed “American Dream City” — famous for its roller coasters and sport stadiums — residents know where to spot them. Oil and gas wells and compressor stations are tucked in between houses, schools, businesses and strip malls, woven into daily life.
And at times, methane, a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change by trapping heat in the atmosphere, escapes from the equipment. Often, the methane comes out with other chemicals, including volatile organic compounds that contribute to smog formation, creating a cocktail of chemicals that are harmful to human health.
Earlier this year, a long-anticipated federal climate rule was finalized requiring oil and gas operators to dramatically reduce how much methane is released in many oil fields, including those in Texas.
The rule, written with input from industry, calls for operators to identify and fix equipment leaking methane and curb the practice of flaring — or burning off excess natural gas. Under the rule, operators will have to monitor emissions, wasteful flaring and leaks from most existing and new well sites.
States are now on a timeline to submit plans to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency detailing how they will implement the rule. Texas regulators are taking input from the public on the state plan until Dec. 31.
Some residents in Arlington, home to about 400 gas wells and 50 drilling sites, want the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to do more than the bare minimum outlined in the EPA’s guidelines and submit a plan before President-elect Donald Trump assumes office.
Trump reversed a methane reduction rule during his first term. Experts say rolling back the current rule would take years, and support from industry for the rule might help keep it in place.
At a public meeting last month in Arlington, Texas environmental regulators heard from more than a dozen residents about the proposed rule. One woman with severe asthma said “air quality is a life or death issue,” and asked state regulators to prioritize the health of citizens over economic interests. One man pointed out that oil and gas equipment sits close to schools and day care centers and called on regulators for speedy implementation of the rule to protect people from the health risks of urban fracking.
“The flares are not fun, smelling the rotten eggs is not fun,” Rogelio Meixueiro, who lives in Arlington and is a member of the nonprofit organization Sunrise Tarrant, told TCEQ regulators. “I can only trust that you’re going to do your job. I can only trust that you’re going to do everything possible to reduce methane emissions.”
Fracking in Arlington can be traced back two decades, when drillers discovered they could use horizontal drilling to access natural gas in the Barnett Shale formation underneath the city. Today in Tarrant County, which includes Arlington, more than 1…
Read More: Growing oil industry support for methane reduction rule could help it
