Air Quality
Dallas Gas Wars: Residents 1, Joe Barton 0
Can we just admit up front that we're disappointed The Man himself didn't show up to personally lead the Charge of the Light Crude Brigade at yesterday's Dallas Plan Commission public hearing on a new gas drilling ordinance? We thought after Wednesday's passionate personal pleas for turnout at the Society of Petroleum Engineers' monthly meeting, Ol' Smokey Joe would surely have the courage of his convictions. Sadly, no.
Instead, he left the righteous fight against radical environmentalists to seven or eight heavily-outnumbered industry engineers and attorneys who showed-up and told the Commission that a 1,500 foot setback was tantamount to a ban on drilling in Dallas. Almost to a man, (for they were all men) they accused the extremists of persecuting a trouble-free, non-polluting industry that was guilty of none of the awful things being said about it by their opponents. In particular, they sought to tag the environmentalists as uninformed, as out of touch with research and the facts, as hypnotized disciples of Josh Fox. In doing all this however, they could muster no science of their own.
Given over 20 minutes of time to make their industry's case, not one engineer or attorney working within the industry cited even one peer-reviewed, journal-published health study to support their claim of benign impact on public health or the environment. Not a one.
For some time, and through many a fight, we've seen a common thread of industry criticism of the uninformed civilian. It has its roots deep in the pat-them-on-their-well-meaning-head sexism that greeted women like Rachel Carson and Lois Gibbs. It's grown to include anyone that challenges the industry's own cost-benefit analysis. It accuses residents of being "emotional" instead of rational when they disagree with that analysis by asking too many good questions.
And yet…when it comes down to the crunch, it's the industry representatives who appeal to the emotions the most when they raise the flags of jobs and growth and try to get everyone else to salute. It's the industry reps who do the most name-calling and make the most personal charges characterizing their opponents. Call it the Foxifying of industry rhetoric. And it was on full display at the Plan Commission on Thursday. Dallas was denying itself untold riches by effectively sealing off thousands of acres to fracking. It would be a devastating to job growth. No actual studies to prove that mind you, but industry assertions should be treated as facts, especially when they're assertion about economic growth – no matter how self-serving.
There was testimony that parks "are some of the best places to drill." That "there was no way" the industry would ever pollute the air or water. The language was absolutist and, dare we say, non-rational and not supported by the facts. At least, they didn't cite any facts to support those assertions yesterday.
And those radical environmentalists Smokey Joe warned about?
As usual, they included Dallas homeowners association members and presidents, people who owned wells themselves or or leased land for drilling, cancer patients, asthma sufferers, 25 year-olds, 81-year olds, Sierra Club members, Downwinders' board members, long-time Dallas residents and people who just moved here, plus a sprinkling of folks from Farmers Branch, Ft. Worth, Garland and Irving (30 of 35 speakers in favor of a 1,500 foot or more setback gave Dallas addresses) and a lot of women. One of the starkest contrasts between the two sides during the hearing was gender.
And, again, as usual, their representatives did cite studies. Lots of them. Because we've been through this before, because we know we'll be accused of being uninformed civilians, we know what's coming and we load for bear. The most comprehensive epidemiological study in a gas field to date showing increased cancer risks. Check. The most recent CDC study on silica pollution at well pad sites showing ever site tested exceeding federal limits by magnitudes. Check. USGS studies of the small earthquakes caused by fracking and the large ones caused by injection wells. Check and check. Proximity to benzene sources raises Leukemia risks. Check. NOAA study on actual methane releases from gas field being twice industry estimates. Check.
Were there appeals to preserve a good quality of life, clean water and cleaner air? Of course. But in most instances these were backed up by specific facts about fracking that challenged those goals. So that at the end of the day, not only was the Light Crude Brigade outnumbered, they were out-researched by the very bunch of know-nothings they were charging with the crime of misinformation. Most of them women.
That sweetly ironic resonance was the anti-climatic capping of a full day's worth of work for the Commission that included an affirmation of the 1500 foot setback originally agreed to back in June by lunchtime. All of the rhetoric back and forth in the public hearing was over an issue that had been argued and decided behind closed doors in Executive Session some five or so hours before. (You can follow the blow-by-blow live blogging of the Commission's morning meeting at our group Facebook site here, and read accounts of the decision in the DMN, Business Journal, & Observer,)
Winning the second affirmation of the 1500-foot setback at the Commission level now is no small accomplishment, especially since we had staff working against us. Dallas would be the largest city, by far, in the Barnett Shale to adopt such a lengthy setback (Fort Worth has only a 600-foot requirement, with variances even lower than that). As our Vice President might say, it's a BFD.
So if you sent an e-mail to the Commissioners this last week, we thank you very much, because that was the only direct advocacy they saw on this issue from our side before yesterday's decision to stick with 1500 feet was made.
But we've only won this provision as long as we can protect it. That's why it was good to come down to City Hall yesterday and support it anyway. Many of the speakers brought up the example of the last-minute Task Force rollbacks that occurred almost two years ago. With the same staff people who tried to scuttle the 1500 foot agreement still in charge of the ordinance-drafting process and rumors of some vague land swap with Trinity East still floating around, we all need to stay vigilant. And of course, if it reaches the City Council as an official recommendation there's no doubt it will come under fresh attack. But if we can hold it at the CPC, it will make it hard for the Council to change it. That's why it was important to show up yesterday afternoon. Thanks very much to everyone who did.
Another Commission public hearing on the new gas ordinance is scheduled for September 12th in the afternoon – but once again, it's scheduled after the regular zoning cases are heard so no certain start time will be available other than 1:30 pm. It will concentrate on Air and Water Quality issues, as well as compressors – a subject never broached by the Task Force. We'll be working with our allies in the Dallas Residents at Risk alliance to get information on these issue areas to you, so that you'll once again be able to talk circles around the industry. Stay tuned.
And of course next Wednesday, August 28th will see a final vote on the Trinity East permits we've been battling since right after Thanksgiving. Thanks to the work of council members Scott Griggs, and Philip Kingston, who stopped by and gave a good pep talk to the troops before the hearing began, we believe we have the four council votes it will take to uphold the Commission's denial, but we need your help in bringing other, more reluctant members on board the band wagon. Beginning Monday, Downwinders' featured Citizen Action will be e-mails to the Council, urging them to vote to deny the permits.
After Wednesday's expected final Trinity East permit denial at Dallas City Hall, we're going to have a party to celebrate what is among the most important victories for public health and the environment in Dallas history. We don't know where and we don't know when, but such victories are too few and far between not to officially recognize. Please keep your calendar that night open.
Yesterday's Commission vote was a skirmish, inside a battle, inside a larger war with many fronts. But it was a critical skirmish. And residents won. Next week, we'll bury very bad and unethical gas permits that were "a done deal" as recently as March. Then we'll only have the new ordinance on which to focus.
Slowly but surely, we're doing what we said we would – drawing a line in the Shale in Dallas and stopping the steamroller of industry favoritism that's resulted in so much bad policy and public health harm elsewhere in the region. Dallas is becoming the place where the bad stuff stops rolling east and the good-thinking begins rolling back west. See you on Wednesday.
Joe Barton Rallies Gas Industry for Today’s Dallas Public Hearing on New Ordinance; Councilman Kingston to Address Citizens at 1pm
Well lookey here, Ol' Smokey Joe himself was out trying to fire-up the troops in the oil and gas industry yesterday at the monthly meeting of the Dallas chapter of the Society of Petroleum Engineers.
The theme of the talk was "Hydraulic Fracturing: Shattering the Radical Environmental Lobby, Unlocking America's Energy Future" and a lot of the time was spent trying to convince the audience they needed to show-up at today's Dallas Plan Commission public hearing on a new gas ordinance to counter those wacky citizens who think living immediately next door to a billowing plume of diesel smoke and dust is a bad idea. Of course, having not attended any of the commission meetings for the past year or so when the topic has come up more than once or twice, their slide show didn't have any real pics of Dallas residents, so they had to use pics from demonstrations elsewhere, like the one above. Tsk, tsk,
It's also a big stretch to tie the "Radical Environmental Lobby" to what's been going on in Dallas, where there's been no serious mention of a moratorium or ban on drilling, and leading opponents have been members of the Dallas Homeowners Association. But for Joe Barton, the World Wildlife Fund is a Radical Environmental Group.
Audience members were told to come to the hearing at 1:30 pm, but to make sure they spoke last, and "were not polite."
Apparently, citizens have been doing such a good job in Dallas that the industry is now concerned about setting "bad precedents" that won't allow for any drilling in Dallas at all, like the 1500-foot setback that is one of the major issues in contention today.
You should always use your opponents reactions to events to judge how well you're doing. From the pleas coming from Barton and others yesterday, it's clear Trinity East is out trying to portray itself as some kind of corporate martyr for the cause. They're trying to elevate the Dallas debate over new gas regulations into a proxy for the national fight over fracking. It's a good sign when your opponent begins to panic like this, but it's also a warning that your effectiveness is now under attack.
And if Smokey Joe's entreaties aren't enough to get you down to City Hall this afternoon, what about the official debut of new Dallas City Councilman Philip Kingston at the 1:00 pm citizens press conference planned right before the hearing's start? Kingston was elected with the help of many of the same citizens that will be showing up today to testify and has pledged to help write a much stronger gas drilling ordinance. He joins Scott Griggs as leading critics of the Trinity East deal and attempts by the Mayor and Industry to soften the new ordinance.
Industry is getting organized, shouldn't you too? Meet us downtown at City Hall today at 1pm for the press conference and then stick around to say a few words to the Plan Commission on what you want to see in a new gas drilling ordinance. If you can't join us in person, follow the Plan Commission meeting and hearing on the Downwinders' FaceBook site, where we'll be live-blogging the day's events.
Yawn. Another of Exide’s Fake Public Meetings Tonight in Frisco
We haven't said anything about it until now because the expectations have become so very low for these things, but the bankrupt Exide Technologies Corporation is holding another public information meeting on its clean-up of its former smelter site in Frisco at The Depot behind Babe's in downtown, starting at 6:30 pm tonight.
That will be about 1500 miles from where all the action is really taking place concerning the clean-up – in Connecticut state bankruptcy court. Filings have been flying back and forth between the company, the City of Frisco, and the EPA about how much money should be set aside for cleaning-up acres of lead, arsenic and cadmium waste sitting in the middle of town along Stewart Creek.
There's a September 6th deadline for comments on the company's plan to rehabilitate its still-active hazardous waste dump into a non-hazardous waste dump and leaving it in Frisco for the next umpteen years. This will be the first time Frisco has had an opportunity to respond to the company's plans to leave landfills behind since Exide went belly up. It's also the first time for the City to comment since its own consultant laid out the "Kia vs Caddy" approach to the site's clean-up – one low-ball estimate for leaving everything in the ground and building a 40 acre waste site with a mile-long surry wall, and a much higher bill for complete removal of all wastes so the land can be developed.
Despite the recruitment of the Cowboys training facility to town, Frisco has not yet declared itself in favor of he Caddy approach, although its hard to imagine how the Chamber of Commerce folks are going to sell the advantages of moving to a town with the most recent Superfund site in Texas.
Tonights "meeting" is actually just another open house where Exide employees and consultants will be forced to staff a ring of tables, and be prepared to answer evasively answer questions about any topic concerning the clean-up. Since no new information is offered, citizens have to guess at the right questions to ask, assuming any show up. Tonight is also the Frisco School District's open house, so most parents will be checking out their kids' teachers rather than showing up to another useless Exide meeting. All in all another massive PR fail by a company that's rapidly specializing in such things
Vaguely Reminiscent of the ’70’s: Successful Occupation of British Site Drives Off Frackers For Now
A long time and many galaxies ago, German citizens began occupying the construction site of the Weihl nuclear power plant in hopes of bringing the project to an end. Over 10,000 local residents flooded into the site and established not only an encampment, but an extension of the village itself, complete with school, library and governing council. The idea of such demonstration spread throughout the world, including here in the US, where the Seabrook, New Hampshire occupation in 1977 brought 2000 people out in one of the largest mass acts of civil disobedience in the US, and Texas where there were over over 200 arrests at the Comanche Peak site from 1979 to 1981.
Taking a page from this history, British fracking foes recently established an occupation of a pad site in Balcombe, West Sussex. Approximately 1000 people showed up for at least a six-day "Reclaim the Power Camp" that resulted in energy firm Cuadrilla suspending its operations until "it is safe " to resume them. Yes, nothing so frightening as British villagers.
While the original German protests did result in nuclear power plant cancelations, all the imitations since then have realized their power as symbolic protests. In Texas, the arrests at Comanche Peak were used to put the power plant on trial in Glen Rose itself – a trial that resulted in a hung jury and a huge PR victory at the time. Of course, you can recall that symbolic protest next time you drive by the completed nuke south of Granbury.
So far, no US group has adopted the occupation tactic to protest fracking in domestic gas fields, choosing larger mainstream mass legal actions like marches and rallies to express their displeasure instead. But maybe it's time to pick a pad and make a stand.
Send an E-mail to Dallas Plan Commission Today, Turn Out for Setback Showdown Tomorrow
Thursday's showdown at the Dallas Plan Commission over a 1500-foot setback between gas wells and "protected uses" like homes and schools is picking up steam.
After Commission members get lobbied during their morning session by City Attorney Tammy Palomino to "reconsider" their previous support of the extended buffer zone, local municipal Attorney Terry Welch, who's advised Flower Mound and Southlake on their gas drilling ordinances, has agreed to come to the afternoon public hearing and give a detailed presentation defending the distance. He'll also highlight other issues critical to a truly protective gas drilling ordinance, including drilling in parks, full disclosure of chemicals, and requiring first-ever air pollution off-sets of the gas industry.
Welch was a member of the Dallas Gas Drilling Task Force and his presentation of its "minority report" to the full City Council last August drew a lengthy and sustained standing ovation from the audience that even got Mayor Rawlings' attention.
From 8:30 am to 12 noon on Thursday the Plan Commission will continue its March through the construction of a draft gas drilling ordinance, including revisiting the 1500-foot setback provision, and discussing other issues like Emergency Response.
At 1:00 pm, citizens will start to gather for a pre-hearing news conference. At 1:30 we'll go into the council Chambers and wait for the public hearing on the draft ordinance to begin. It's very possible the Commission will have already decided to support or revise the 1500-foot setback by the time the hearing begins – we'll know by the press conference. If we win retention of 1500, then please thank the Commission and tell them what else you think should be included in a new ordinance. If they back down in the face of pressure from Palomino, then be prepared to raise hell and complain loudly. It's bad enough we have to fight a billion-dollar industry. We shouldn't also have to fight city staff that's supposed to be deciding policy based on the public interest, instead of secret agreements.
Remember, a 1500-foot setback for gas wells means a practical end to any attempt to bring back the Trinity East permits if the Plan Commission's denial of them is upheld at next Wednesday's Council vote. It also means fewer Dallas neighborhoods at risk from being fracked at all. This is a big deal.
We really need butts in the seats to show them you still care and they're still being watched. If you can make it down on Thursday, we know your presence will have an impact.
But we also realize that the Powers That Be are making it hard for the public to participate in their public hearings by scheduling them only during weekday business hours.
So whether you're planning on showing up or not, we've made it easy for you to let the Commission know before Thursday morning how you feel about any reconsideration of the 1500 foot setback. In less than a minute, you can click and send an e-mail to the Commission members supporting the extended buffer zone. JUST CLICK HERE. Please do this today so that when we roll into Thursday morning, Ms. Palomino will have to swim upstream against overwhelming public opposition in trying to persuade the Commission to reduce the setback. We win this round, we go a long way toward winning the whole fight. Thanks very much for hanging in there with us.
“March of the Incinerators” is Killing Recycling in Britain
For the first time in 30 years recycling rates in the UK are going down and a influx of incineration capacity is being blamed.
New European Union directives favoring waste burning over recycling are now spreading throughout Great Britain and having a big impact. Landfill disposal has gone down by almost 50% in just over a decade. Meanwhile there are now 39 incineration plants in the UK that have either been built are under construction or are at the planning stage – so many that there are now concerns about overcapacity. Moreover, every time an incinerator is chosen over other options, it institutionalizes the economics of incineration.
Experts said the use of incinerators had consequences for recycling as local authorities were forced to divert waste to feed the plants. "The choice to invest in thermal treatment can hold back recycling efforts," Adam Baddeley, principal consultant at Eunomia, said. "At one level, the money invested in such plant simply isn't available to put into building recycling plants or collection infrastructure. And once you've built an incinerator or gasifier, there's a strong incentive to keep it fed with waste, even if that means keeping on collecting as 'black bag' rubbish, material that would be economically practicable to collect separately for recycling."
Because Texas is still home to relatively cheap and abundant land, it hasn't seen the wave of incinerators that swallowed up the budgets of East Coast and Midwestern towns throughout the 1980's and 90's. But that may be about to change with increased urbanization, the desire of cities to profit from their garbage somehow, and new regs that are written to encourage incineration of "biofuels" that can include waste. Some local observers think it's only a mater of time before a large garbage incinerator is proposed for the Dallas area.
But why wait when you've got three large cement plants down the road?
Hazardous waste was burned in two out of the three Midlothian cement plants for decades and now all three are burning different kinds of solid wastes, including tires, car parts, and "non-recyclable" plastics. They're the front line in the March of Incineration in North Texas.
State Ignores Latest Failure and Local Air Committee, Will Host “Public Information Meeting” on DFW Smog
This curt announcement went out last Friday courtesy of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality:
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) will host a public information meeting to provide information on the development of revisions to the SIP for the 2008 ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) in the 10-county Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) nonattainment area. The meeting will take place on Thursday, September 5, 2013 at 10:00 a.m. at the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG), Transportation Council Room, 616 Six Flags Drive, Arlington, Texas 76005. NCTCOG and United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) representatives will also provide updates on local and federal initiatives.
What this doesn't say is that the last local clean air plan drafted by Rick Perry's TCEQ failed miserably last summer when DFW actually ended up with worse air than when it had begun in 2010. The state can't even bring itself to admit that. It's never had a successful smog plan in DFW, but only Rick Perry's TCEQ plan actually made the air worse. Maybe that's why they're holding this "public information meeting" at a mid-morning time guaranteed to result in a low rate of participation by actual DFW citizens.
You'd also never guess from this release that DFW has a local advisory board for drafting its own clean air plans. The North Texas Clean Air Steering Committee was constituted specifically for the purposes of working with the state on such plans. It hasn't met in two years. Nor is it likely to meet anytime soon if Rick Perry's TCEQ has its way – the state considers it a nuisance to have to come up here and explain itself to local elected officials and environmentalists.
Did we say environmentalists? Since the 2006-2007 smog plan, citizen groups have held three seats on the Committee to balance out the three seats given the local Chambers of Commerce. Right now those seats are held by Downwiders at Risk, the Sierra Club/Public Citizen and the Environmental Defense Fund. The rest of the slots are filled by local city council members, Mayors, County Commissioners and County Judges.
Downwinder's own Jim Schermbeck is a member and has used the meetings of the Committee to cross-examine Rick Perry's TCEQ officials who otherwise receive a mostly unquestioning welcome everywhere else they go. Committee meetings are the one place that representatives fo citizens groups can ask questions like a legislator in an Austin hearing. And the TCEQ reallly doesn't like that. Especially when we've been right about so many things and the TCEQ so wrong.
It's also true that Rick Perry's TCEQ really doesn't even bother to start any kind of consultation or planning process in DFW until a year before the plan is due. Since a new plan to achieve the new ozons/smog standard of 75 parts per billion doesn't kick in until 2015, it's doubtful the Committee will be called to order before next Spring. That way the pollution control measures needed by any plan have no chance of passing a state legislature at the last moment in 2015, ensuing that no real changes take place and DFW remains smoggy.
Perhaps you think that's way too cynical a perspective. But that's exactly what happened this last cycle in 2010-2011. And it was actually worse, because the biggest part of that last plan was to sit back and watch as DFW residents bought new cars. No moving parts.
Meanwhile, can anyone name a current local elected official who's known for their advocacy of clean air? Dallas Mayor Laura Miller fought Perry's coal plants in 2006. in 2013, her successor, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings protects secret deals with gas drillers. Dr./Mayor Cluck in Arlington has voted in favor for dozens, if not hundreds, of gas wells near homes, parks, and day care centers even as he recites his familiar litany about running into childhood asthma victims in the hospital emergency room. Fort Worth? Bought and sold to Chesapeake. Dallas County? They're too busy indiscriminately dropping pesticides on us. Mayor Evans of Plano used to be a voice of reason in Collin County. Now you've got Judge Keith Self who never met an air polluter he didn't liked.
Some stalwarts like Parker County Judge Mark Riley and Tarrant County Judge Glenn Whitley still represent moderate Republican views, but many of their peers have been replaced by Tea Party members who think smog is as imaginary a problem as climate change. We're actually going backwards in our local political engagement of the issue.
If TCEQ is emasculating the local advisory group on clean air, it's certainly getting a valuable assist from a feckless DFW indigenous officialdom, who seemed to have all walked away as a group from clean air as a goal they were willing to strive to achieve.
So mark your calendars for another citizen-friendly TCEQ "public information meeting"….at 10 am on a Thursday morning, September 5th, in Arlginton at North Texas Council of Government headquarters, when most people will be working and unable to attend. For for the sensitive among you, we suggest also attending with some handy BS protectors for your ears so as not to irrevokably damage logic receptors in the brain.
Study: Carbon in Particulate Matter Air Pollution Kills
Carbon soot found in Particulate Matter air pollution is responsible for increasing death risks in US cities according to a new nationwide study conducted by John Hopkins, Yale and Harvard.
“Our work indicates that some constituents of PM2.5 may be more toxic than others and therefore regulating PM total mass alone may not be sufficient to protect human health,” the authors wrote in Environmental Health Perspectives.
Figuring out which ingredients are the most dangerous could help local air pollution agencies hone in on certain sources, making regulations more targeted.
“By identifying PM2.5 constituents that are more toxic, we can move towards developing source-specific air pollution regulation that may be more effective at protecting public health,” the authors wrote.
The study included data from 72 American cities, but that data was limited in a way familiar to downwinders – PM monitors often only took measurements every 6th day.
Particulate Matter, or PM, are microscopic leftovers of combustion that you can not only breathe, but also absorb into your blood stream. PM pollution has been linked to an increasing number of health effects, including asthma, heart attacks, strokes, and immune and brain disorders. Many scientists identifying these effects have concluded there probably isn't a "safe" level of exposure to PM – that any amount is capable of doing some kind of short or long-term harm.
PM pollution comes out of everything that burns something – fires, boilers, furnaces, and internal combustion engines. Locally, cars and trucks, the Midlothian cement plants, and the natural gas industry are the largest sources of industrial PM.
To the Barricades: 2 Hearings in 2 Weeks to Protect What We’ve Already Won in Dallas
What residents have accomplished in Dallas since last December is nothing short of amazing when you step back for a moment. They took a "done deal" constructed by the Mayor to award Trinity East three gas permits in short order and ground it to a halt. They forced the disclosure of the notorious secret agreement underlying that done deal between the company and City Hall, and in doing so hastened the departure of the City Manager who had been its architect. They repeatedly turned out crowds in the middle of the day for what the Morning News has described as "one of the biggest zoning fights in Dallas history." And they've now begun to construct one of the most protective gas ordinances in the region.
But all of that progress gets put to the test in quick succession over the next two weeks. That why we're putting out the call again.
1. PUBLIC HEARING ON WHAT YOU WANT IN A NEW GAS DRILLING ORDINANCE, THIS THURSDAY, AUGUST 22nd, 1:00 PM DALLAS CITY HALL 6th Floor
This Thursday at 1:30 pm in the Dallas City Council chambers, the City Plan Commission will hold the first public hearing on the draft of a new gas drilling ordinance for the City of Dallas. There will be only two of these before it heads to the full City Council, with the second scheduled for late September right before a final vote by the Commission. So if you want the Commission to understand how strongly you feel about regulating gas drilling in Dallas while they're actually writing the ordinance, you need to show-up this Thursday.
As with previous encounters with Dallas City Hall, nothing takes the place or sends the message as loudly as butts in the seats. Nothing. We know it's a pain to make these work day hearings. They intend them to be. They want to discourage you from showing up. Don't let them.
Please plan on being there in the Flag Room outside the City Council Chambers on the 6th floor at 1:00 pm on Thursday for a pre-hearing news conference with some special guests.
Among the most important things at stake this Thursday is the strong stand taken a month ago by the Plan Commission to impose a 1500-foot setback separating gas wells from "protected uses" like homes and schools. This distance equals what both Southlake and Flower Mound require in their gas ordinances, and is the longest setback currently used by any North Texas municipality.
City staff, led by City Attorney Tammy Palomino, knows that a 1500 foot setback will severely limit the availability of land where fracking is allowed to take place in Dallas. Ms Palomino and company are still trying to produce a weak ordinance that will allow Trinity East, or other operators, to go back to the same areas that were being proposed before – park land, flood plains and new recreation centers. A 1500-foot setback would not allow that to happen. That's why they're trying to scuttle it.
Beginning at 8:30 am Thursday morning – before the public hearing even begins – Palomino will be giving a formal briefing on the setback issue to the Plan Commission aimed at getting the Plan Commission to "rescind" their support for 1500 feet. Staff wants a 1000-foot buffer zone that can be adjusted through "variances" down to only 500 feet – a distance even the Dallas Morning News has called "unacceptable." They want the Commission to vote for a lesser distance even before members hear from the public at the afternoon hearing. That's right, if Attorney Palomino has her way, this issue will have already been decided when you show up to speak at Thursday's afternoon public hearing.
What can you do besides work up a head of steam at the idea of staff once again short-circuiting democracy in this process? Let the Commission members know how you feel before Thursday by sending them a quick click and send e-mail that requests them to stand fast by the 1500 foot setback they've already voted to support. Please spend a minute doing this right now. We only have three days. Click here. Then mark your calendars to be at Dallas City Hall this Thursday at 1:00 pm to make sure we keep what we've worked for up to now. We need you again.
2. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 28th: FINAL COUNCIL VOTE ON THE NOTORIOUS TRINITY EAST GAS PERMITS
Can we possibly be about to nail the final nail in the coffin of the never-say-dead Trinity East gas permits? Yes. Yes we can.
Two Wednesdays from now, at their regularly-scheduled meeting on August 28th, the Dallas City Council will be voting on whether to uphold the Plan Commission denials of the Trinity East permits – the three permits that have set-off the last nine months of citizen vs staff and council battling at City Hall.
Since the Plan Commission voted to deny the permits (twice, but who's counting?) the council must have a three-fourths majority, or 12 members out of 15, to overturn that denial. At last count, citizens have at least four or five council votes to uphold the denial, meaning the permits would die a final certain death, even if a majority of the council still supports them, as appears to be the case. Here's the tally as of today:
Against the permits:
Scott Griggs
Philip Kingston
Adam Medrano
Sandy Greyson
Uncertain, leaning against:
Carolyn Davis
Monica Alonzo
Uncertain, leaning for the permits:
Lee Kleinman
Jenifer Gates
Rick Callahan
For the permits:
Mayor Mike Rawlings
Jerry Allen
Sheffe Kadane
Terrell Atkins
Dwaine Carraway
Vonciel Hill
As you can see, despite months of overwhelming public opposition, editorial opposition form the Dallas Morning News, and two votes against the permits from its own Plan Commission, residents have exactly no margin of error in this vote. We must have four to win a permanent denial.
As we know more about when the vote is going to be scheduled during the Council's day-long agenda, we'll post it so you don't have to waste all day waiting to speak.
Rumor has it that the City of Dallas hired an outside law firm to assess the lawsuit threat thrown around by Trinity East in case they don't get their permits. What came back was an assessment that said the City wouldn't be on the hook for anymore than the original $19 million paid by Trinity for the six years time on their unexploited leases even if the city lost. But more than this, the outside firm recommended that the city forgo any threat at all and go ahead and award the permits, taking a huge gamble on the company not being able to take drill in the 6 months left on the leases with gas prices so low.
So now council members feel like they've been given permission to vote for the permits, public be damned.
And what if the legal firm is wrong and Trinity East does go ahead a drill by February of next year? Well then the council in its infinite wisdom will have carved out a one-time only, one-operator only special class of gas fracking that violates its own rules about such things and can never be undone.
Last August, residents came together in front of the Council and literally blew away the members with their show of support for a strong protective gas ordinance. We need that kind of showing again, not once, but twice in as many weeks. We need you to stand with us to defend what we've already won. We can't guarantee that your presence will automatically insure victory, but we do know that we can't win the final rounds of these fights without it. Please try to stick with us as we get the job done. Thanks.
Groups: Dallas City Attorney is Blocking Stricter Gas Drilling Ordinance, Call for Independent Counsel
(Dallas)—- Citing City Hall official audio recordings, neighborhood and environmental groups are accusing Dallas City Attorney Tammy Palomino of blocking the City Plan Commission’s intentions to adopt a stricter gas drilling rule governing how far wells can be located from neighborhoods and schools.
“It’s a clumsy attempt to steamroll the Commission, made even more embarrassing by the fact that it’s captured on tape,” said Zac Trahan with Texas Campaign for the Environment. “She’s stepped out of her role as an objective advisor, and become an advocate for a much less protective ordinance – even after the Commission made it clear they want a stronger one. Residents can’t trust her.”
In a letter to Mayor Mike Rawlings and the Dallas City Council, Trahan’s group, along with Downwinders at Risk, FracDallas, Dallas Area Residents for Responsible Drilling, Climate Reality Leadership Corps, and the Dallas Sierra Club complained that the evidence of Palomino’s bias was so blatant that the Council needs to appoint an outside lawyer to advise it and the Plan Commission on the writing of the new gas drilling ordinance.
At issue is one of the most important restrictions a municipality can place on gas drilling – the buffer zone or “setback” distance between a gas well and a home, school or other “protected use.”
Currently Dallas allows drilling within 300 feet of those kinds of structures, a holdover from the original 2007 drilling ordinance that is now being rewritten by the Plan Commission. At an earlier June meeting, Commission members reached a consensus to lengthen that distance to 1500 feet, with no objection. But when it was time to recap the results of that meeting, Attorney Palomino denied such a consensus ever occurred as part of the official record.
However, the city maintains audio recordings of every Plan Commission meeting and according to the recording of that June meeting, the intent of the Commission was clear, despite Palomino obvious attempts to get them to back down to a less protective distance. The groups released excerpts from the June meeting:
Commissioner Anglin: “The mandate generally would be, in my view, 1,500 feet generally and a 2/3rd [vote] waiver down to 1,000 feet.”
Commissioner Ridley: “I agree with that.”
Chair Alcantar: “OK, any comments?”
(The audio is silent)
Assistant City Attorney Tammy Palomino: “Commissioner Anglin recommended 1,500 feet, do we need to have more debate on that? Is there a majority that wants to go back to 1,000 feet instead of 1,500?”
Chair Alcantar: “I think we are all in agreement on 1,500…you got that, Tammy?”
Assistant City Attorney Tammy Palomino: “I do…I will draft the changes to the spacing.”
Despite this promise, Palomino showed up at the next meeting with no such changes reflected in the draft. Surprised at the omission, a Plan Commission member quizzed her. Again, the groups point to excerpts from the July meeting:
Commissioner Paul Ridley: “At the last meeting we had a consensus on 1,500 feet. Why is that not reflected in the base draft?”
Assistant City Attorney Tammy Palomino: “Because at the last meeting at the end I said that staff needed to look at that because those numbers are different….from what the task force recommended….and we need to come back and provide information on how that may or may not affect land use….We did not have a consensus on that, either.”
Despite a consensus from the Commission itself to adopt a setback of 1,500 feet, Attorney Palomino is unilaterally vetoing the recommendation in the running draft of the ordinance – a draft that only she is allowed to keep.
“When she says ‘we did not have consensus on that,” she’s not telling the truth” said Jim Schermbeck of Downwinders at Risk. “In fact, the Commission did reach consensus, but it was one that Attorney Palomino didn’t like. Apparently she feels like her vote counts more than all of those on the Commission combined.”
Representatives from the groups say Palomino’s motive is clear – to weaken the new ordinance enough to allow the resubmission of the twice-rejected Trinity East gas permits that have been the center of controversy for the last nine months.
They claim the same thing that’s happening now with the Plan Commission has happened before. According to their letter, “This problem of staff bias towards the Trinity East permits has been omnipresent at Dallas City Hall since the 2007 secret deal between Trinity East and City Manager Mary Suhm was signed. There has been a long trail of contorting the process over the last six years.”
To prevent the same bias from twisting the process this time, the groups request the Mayor and Council appoint outside counsel for the drafting of the gas-drilling ordinance.
The Plan Commission’s next workshop on the gas drilling ordinance is this Thursday, August 8th, beginning at 8:30 a.m. in Room 5ES of Dallas City Hall. The agenda calls for a discussion of a wide range of issues concerning how to regulate drilling in Dallas, including a “review of the draft ordinance” so far, and a revisiting of “previous topics.”
Because of Ms. Palomino’s insistence that the 1,500ft setback has not been decided, the groups expect more debate within in the Plan Commission itself on Thursday in any review of the process-to-date.