(Dallas)---- Stung by a last minute industry-fueled rollback of safeguards they thought they’d won through a special task force process, Dallas residents concerned about allowing “fracking,” or natural gas drilling, in the city’s neighborhoods and parks will gather Tuesday evening to begin planning on how to make the final ordinance more protective of public health.  They think they have a compelling argument. “Our goal is simple, “ said Jim Schermbeck with clean air group Downwinders at Risk, one of five organizations participating in the meeting. “We want the City of Dallas to protect neighborhoods from the risks of toxic gas drilling at least as well as they protect them from the risks of seeing people naked.” Under pressure from gas operators to open up more Dallas land for drilling, the City’s gas task force reversed previously-approved measures at its very last meeting on February 28^th, and recommended allowing drilling in parks under certain circumstances, and as close as 500 feet to homes, schools and hospitals. Dallas prohibits strip cubs from locating 1000 feet from those same “protected uses” including parks, under current zoning law. Schermbeck says being tougher on strip clubs than sources of toxic pollution that can make people ill shows how shortsighted the Task Force’s last-minute roll back was.  He pointed to the release of a Colorado School of Public Health study this week that concludes those living within a half mile, or 2640 feet, of gas wells were exposed to air pollutants five times above a federal hazard standard and suffered an estimated 66% higher risk of cancer than residents living further away.  “Instead of shrinking the level of protection, the City should be expanding it, “ said Schermbeck. During a citywide organizing meeting being called for Tuesday night at 7 at the Center for Community Cooperation, 2900 Live Oak, residents will be regrouping to push for the inclusion of what they call “five basic protections” in the final Dallas ordinance: Restoring and expanding the 1000-foot buffer zone and prohibition of park drilling the task force had originally voted to recommend before the last minute rollback in February. They also want a ban on drilling in the floodplains, which they say is the historical dumping ground for Dallas. 2) Protecting Dallas water resources better from the thirsty fracking industry, including charging more for using city water in drilling, banning its export to other cites for drilling, and cutting off water for drilling during Stage 3 drought conditions like Dallas experienced in the summer of 2011. 3) Off-setting, or balancing increases in air pollution by industry sponsorship of projects that reduce air pollution in Dallas so that our illegal and unsafe air quality doesn’t get worse.  4) A local database that fully discloses all the chemical ingredients used in drilling, their amounts and locations, to Dallas First Responders. 5) Establishing an industry-funded, fully staffed, fully-equipped office of gas drilling enforcement providing effective responses to complaints as well as conducting independent monitoring. Sponsored by the Dallas Residents at Risk alliance, Tuesday’s meeting is the first to try and mobilize the public after the Task Force’s conclusion in February, and it’s attracting a lot of attention.  Candidates for the newly-created Congressional District 33, which incorporates many areas already identified as likely drilling spots within its boundaries, will be sending staff, or attending themselves. So will representatives from local Homeowners Associations, churches, and Dallas PTAs. All of the city’s most active environmental groups are already on board. Dallas City Council member Scott Griggs, who defeated a pro-drilling incumbent last year to win the District Three seat, will give welcoming remarks to the gathering.  Two members of the Dallas gas drilling task force, attorney Terry Welch, and environmental chemist Cherelle Blazer, will be on hand to offer their assessment of what went wrong with that effort. Ft. Worth attorney Jim Bradbury will be giving a presentation on what to expect when you let drilling happen inside your city limits and why Cowtown’s example is a bad one for Dallas to follow.  They’ll be a basic introduction to the fracking process for newcomers, as well as a chance to sign-up to make appointments with city council members who need persuading. Despite being disappointed about how the Task Force ended, Schermbeck believes the residents have a good chance to strengthen the final ordinance. “Almost everyday, there’s a new study or report about the dangers of fracking that supports our arguments. It’s going to be hard for any Council member to tell a constituent they don’t deserve the same level of protection against gas drilling as they voted to impose on strip clubs. Last time I checked, strip clubs can’t give you cancer.”   Read More

Word on the street is that a TV documentary crew from New Zealand, (which is facing its own controversies over fracking), will be in Dallas on March 27th to catch the citywide Organizing Meeting on Gas Drilling at the Center of Community Cooperation, 2900 Live Oak, sponsored by the Dallas Residents at Risk alliance that Downwinders and other groups have formed to fight for the best fracking ordinance we can get. If you want to know more about what fracking means for Dallas, you need to be at this meeting. If you want to find out how to plug into the fight for a more protective ordinance at the City Council level, you need to be at this meeting. If you want to make sure Dallas doesn't end up like Fort Worth, or other Shale cities that have been forced to constantly re-write their fracking ordinances every other year or so - you need to be at this meeting. This struggle won't wait for you. It's happening now. Dive in, or forever hold your breath.   Read More

Eagle-eyed readers will have already noticed that, starting today, along with a flier for the March 27th citywide organizing meeting on gas drilling in Dallas, this front page also gives you the opportunity to download a resolution that states your group's support for the Five Basic Protections the Dallas Residents at Risk alliance is advocating to add to the City's new drilling ordinance.  We're asking that you download this resolution, fill in your organization's name, pass it at your next meeting, and let us know so we can add you to the group of supporters. What are these Five Basic Protections? 1) Larger Buffer Zones. 1000-foot buffer zones between a gas well and homes, schools, hospitals and other "protected uses," along with restoration of a ban on any drilling on city park and or in the Trinity River floodplain. Right now, the city is recommending they be allowed as close as 500 feet. 2) Dallas Water for Dallas Drinking. Charge more for water that can never be used again. Ban the taking of Dallas water for frack jjobs in other cities, and ban water for fracking at Stage III drought conditions. 3) Don't Make Bad Air Worse. Dallas has promised to help led the effort to clean the air in DFW. It can't do that without making sure the increases in air pollution from drilling are off-set by reductions in air pollution someplace else in Dallas. We must make sure that new pollution caused by heavy industry is balanced by industry-funded measures to cut this same kind of pollution. 4) Full Disclosure of ALL Chemicals to First Responders BEFORE an Accident. Even under a new state law that supposedly makes this information public, companies are still allowed to keep "trade secrets" from first responders until after an accident. This isn't fair or safe. Our front line defenders must have all the knowledge they need to handle an emergency situation at a gas well, including knowing how much of what potentially dangerous chemicals are on site. 5) Industry-funded city oversight that is well-staffed and well-equiped. Neither the state nor EPA can be relied upon to timely answer a Dallas resident's call for help when something goes wrong at a gas well - and it will. the city must have its own response team and full-time oversight to ensure compliance with the law and public safety. Look, there are lots of reasons to be skeptical of fracking. Lots. Some we know about. Some we're still learning about. These are the five things that citizens following the process for almost two years have decided to spotlight based on their ability to prevent harm before it happens. You may think there are stronger measures to be taken. And you'd be right. Feel free to add those as an addendum to the resolution we offer. But please take this opportunity to show the Council there's a strong grassroots desire to strengthen the safeguards surrounding how drilling is done in Dallas. And then join us at the March 27th organizing meeting.  Read More

We're pleased to announce that Dallas Council member Scott Griggs has agreed to open up the March 27th citywide organizing meeting on Gas Drilling in Dallas, sponsored by the Dallas Residents at Risk coalition that includes Downwinders, the Sierra Club, Texas Campaign for the Environment, Dallas Residents for Responsible Drilling and the Mountain Creek Neighborhood Alliance. Griggs is the freshman Council member from Oak Cliff who upset incumbent Dave Neumann last year, and anti-gas drilling momentum in the district was one reason why. The meeting is from 7 to 8:30 pm at the Center for Community Cooperation, 2900 Live Oak in Old East Dallas and will also feature Dallas gas Drilling Task Force members Terry Welch and Cherelle Blazer, as well as Ft. Worth activist Gary Hogan. Nothing wold please the gas industry more than for Dallas to use Ft. Worth as its template and Gary speaks eloquently as to why that's a really bad idea. You'll not only hear a review of where we stand after the disastrous last Dallas Gas Drilling Task Force meeting, but you'll be able to help plan how we get to 8 or more votes for the five priority protections we need the City to adopt as part of the new re-written gas drilling ordinance. Whether you're concerned about drilling in parks, the toxic air pollution caused by drilling, the amount of water and water contamination caused drilling demands, the incredible Greenhouse gas pollution that will force Dallas to abandon its commitment to clean air - whatever the issue, now is the time to come together and mobilize. A council vote could happen as soon as April. This is the most important environmental issue Dallas faces since the lead smelter fights of the 80's and 90's. Don't be MIA.   Read More

State Representatives Lon Burnam, Rafael Anchia and Roberto Alonzo, along with the American Lung Association, are sponsoring a DFW road show on either side of the Metromess next week on the important subject of Latinos and Air Pollution.  On Tuesday, March 13th, from 9:30 to 11:00 am at the Tarrant County Medical Society at 555 Hemphill in Ft.Worth, Adrianna Quintero of the Natural Resources Defense Council will discuss that group's recent report, "U.S. Latinos and Air Pollution: A Call to Action" on the disproportionate effect of air pollution on Latinos in the United States and what can be done about it. Frederick Lopez of The American Lung Association will discuss the ALA's report, "Luchando por el Aire: The Burden of Asthma on Hispanics" which looks at how asthma affects Latinos and what can be done to reduce and prevent it. Then from 12 Noon to 1:30 pm that same Tuesday, at the Center for Community Cooperation at 2900 Live Oak, the whole thing is being repeated for the benefit of a Big D audience.  In 2005 the CDC found that ER visits due to asthma were almost twice as high for Hispanics than for non-Hispanic Caucasians. These new reports should be able to update those kinds of trends and track existing disparities among US Latinos.Y'all come.   Read More

In preparation for what could be a vote on a new ordinance as soon as April, The Dallas Residents at Risk Alliance, which includes Downwinders, is hosting a 4-Alarm, All Points Bulletin, city-wide organizing meeting on Gas Drilling in Dallas, 7 to 8:30 pm Tuesday, March 27th at the Center for Community Cooperation, 2900 Live Oak in Old East Dallas. We'll go through a brief overview of why fracking in densely urban areas is an especially bad idea, look at what the current situation is with gas well sites already in the pipeline, as well as what we know about the location of current gas leases. We'll have members of the Dallas Gas Drilling Task Force who were our reliable allies in the process. We'll look ahead at the work we have to do to get the industry-fueled last-minute rollback of protections set-aside by the Council in favor of more adequate safeguards. It doesn't matter what part of Dallas you live in - you'll be affected by gas drilling and your council member will be voting on a new ordinance governing how it should be done. Think climate change is an important issue? You can't make a better investment of your time on the issue than seeing that Dallas requires mitigation of gas industry Greenhouse Gas pollution. Want to protect water supplies? Preventing a water-intensive industry from robbing Dallas blind of its own water and then causing spills and leaks that will contaminate surface sources of water is worth your effort for the next two months. Want to see less smog? According to the state of Texas, local gas industry sources now emit more smog-forming Volatile Organic Compounds than all the cars and trucks n DFW. Just about any global or national environmental problem you can think of has a connection, or is made worse, by fracking in Dallas. We need your help now. This is not a drill. Mark it on your calendar and be one of the active citizens that keeps this intrusion from becoming a takeover.   Read More

It was the entirety of the last ten years of the Barnett Shale compressed, geologic-like, into one meeting. There were the traditional clean air allies melting into the woodwork when it came time to not only protect the air, but the water, and people affected by gas pollution. There was the Big Green, conflicted environmental group representative shuffling between voting for industry and with citizens. There was the transparent duplicity of public officials. There were the minority of steadfast Cassandras, trying to explain over and over again why putting a 25,000 tons-a-year polluting compressor station 500 feet away from a home is a bad idea. There were the angry residents on the outside looking-in, complaining that their voices were not being heard over the din of drilling rigs. And there was the industry, happy to lead a last-minute assault on all the previous protections citizens had won in prior meetings. In the end, the majority of Dallas gas drilling task force members decided they wanted the city to learn about the Shale the hard way. The way that rural Wise and Parker County residents have learned. The way that residents of Ft. Worth, Arlington, and Grand Prairie have learned - by experiencing the poisoning and industrialization of their communities up close and personal. It was truly hard to watch Chairwoman Lois Finkelman, in perhaps her last civic role for the City, transform herself from a long-time clean air advocate to someone who rode roughshod over recommendations that would make Dallas air dirtier, and DFW smog thicker. She voted with industry when it would otherwise would have lost, and abstained from voting when it meant citizens might win. But she often seemed so embarrassed by what was taking place that she appeared to almost gag in announcing the results of votes, or often didn't bother to announce the results at all. Joining her was former Dallas County Judge, and green cement advocate, Margaret Keliher, who had previously argued that gas drilling in the Trinity Floodplain was OK because it had always been used as a dumping ground anyway. Even Dr. Ramon Alvarez with the Austin-based Environmental Defense Fund chimed in and helped industry roll back various protections depending on whether it was drilling in parks (for), or reducing the original setback from schools (against). But none of them matched the 9th circle of Hell soul-selling of Joan Walne, President of the Dallas Parks and Recreation Board (originally appointed by Council member Jerry Allen), who in almost consecutive sentences, first protested that she had, of course, never been in favor of allowing drilling on city park land, and then proceeded to offer a motion to do just that. As she began to do so, a handful of Occupy Dallas members stood up and began one of their "mic checks," i.e. a call and response. Finkelman directed the police squad that was already lining the conference room wall in anticipation of such an outburst to please remove the People Who Were Talking Too Loudly and then led the whole task force membership in a hasty run out of the room and into a hallway like frightened little children. It as an embarrassing overreaction.They were followed by Downwinders Director Jim Schermbeck, equipped with a digital camera, to make sure no official business was being done while the rabble was being cleared. Awkward, but necessary as it turns out because that was the first instinct of a couple of industry reps before Finkelman reminded them they couldn't talk shop in the hallway. Rabble cleared, and reconvening, the vote was taken, and Walne's motion to allow drilling in parks, with council approval, passed 8 to 3. That's when Schermbeck began Talking Too Loud in complaining that they had just rolled back a protection that had passed unanimously only two months earlier with no real reason for doing so other than industry's complaint that prohibiting parks removed too many potential drilling sites. Apparently his arguments were so compelling that the police got caught up in the moment and failed to shuffle him out of the room as fast as Finkelman wanted. "Can you move more quickly to end the disruption," she scolded the cops. He sat out the rest of the meeting watching it on Dallas City Hall TV at an undisclosed location (and for the record, had a very congenial talk about drilling in Dallas with the nice officer who escorted him out of the building) After that, it was one a steady whittling away of one protection after another. Instead of a solid 1000-foot buffer zone, or setback, for "protected uses" like homes, schools and parks, there is now a less protective sliding 500 to 1000 foot zone. Instead of the straight-ahead 300 foot property line-to- property line setback for business and offices, there is now a 300 foot setback from structure-to-structure, meaning you could be soon looking out your office window at a gas rig next door. And so forth. What does it say about the quality of this entire last-minute policy reversal when you know in advance that your decisions will be so unpopular as to require police protection? There were a few bright spots. There are now more "protected uses" like churches, and hospitals, and such...even though they're less protected than they were when the meeting started. Thanks goes to Downwinders board member Cherelle Blazer, who fought valiantly on behalf of residents, as did attorney Terry Welch, and Dr. David Sterling of the UNT Health Science Center.  Also, to their credit, Finkelman and Keliher did bequeath an opportunity to begin looking at ways to address the huge amounts of Greenhouse Gas emissions produced by the gas industry at all phases of production by supporting a "suggestion" to the council to explore the issue. While short of an official recommendation, this does give the Council a chance to clean-up the gas industry the way it cleaned-up the cement industry with passage of the nation's first green cement procurement policy in 2007.  Gas drilling is the Keystone Pipeline of Dallas. It's the local in the "think globally, act locally" cliche. An innovative policy that would require gas companies to reduce as much GHG pollution as they generate in Dallas has the potential to be a huge incentive to reduce pollution of all kinds from the gas industry and other sources. This tantalizing possibility and all the rest of the Task Force recommendations now go to the council. There could be a vote as soon as April. This is going to be an issue where the margins are going to be 1 or 2 votes. We need your help as a Dallas citizen..... Now is the time to become active in this issue if you don't want Dallas to suffer the same fate as its sister cities in the Shale. The Dallas Residents At Risk alliance is sponsoring a city-wide organizing meeting on Gas Drilling in Dallas on Tuesday March 27th, from 7 to 8 pm at the Center for Community Cooperation at 2900 Live Oak in Old East Dallas. Representatives from neighborhoods, civic groups, PTAs, and churches are invited to attend. We're going to be laying out what issues we need to concentrate on and what strategies we need to pursue to win back the protections we must have for urban drilling in Dallas. Please come and plug-in to the largest and most important environmental fight in Dallas' city limits since West Dallas residents rose up in revolt over inner city lead smelters in the 1980's and 90's. They did their part then. We need to do ours now. Only you can prevent this environmental disaster.   Read More

A radical notion, no? That thousands of concentrated small horizontal smokestacks emitting the leftovers of burning petroleum based products could cause breathing problems for people who live next to these areas of concentration, otherwise known as highways. It may strike you as common sense, but that common sense had no scientific foundation until fairly recently. In the last ten years, there's been a remarkable wave of research connecting a variety of ailments to proximity to freeway pollution, including asthma, lung disease, bronchitis, emphysema, heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, and autism. So how should urban planners respond in routing traffic through a city when they know the people living near the traffic will statistically be at higher health risk? That's the question starting to be debated in Los Angeles thanks to citizens and groups like the Natural Resources Defense Council. They've sued the local air quality district to make authorities locate monitors near or beside the most congested freeways in LA because they believe such monitors would show new violations of the Clean Air Act that could then be addressed. They're also challenging city planners to take a new look at how roads are run through communities. For decades it was standard practice to slice up minority communities with freeways. Now, it seems likely there are Environmental Justice lawsuits that could be filed based on the same MO. This local fight has the potential to set a national precedent that could begin to affect many different proposed highway projects. Read this story and take note because the science is already here - the policy has to catch-up.   Read More