U.S. to Issue Tougher Fuel Standards for Automobiles

By JOHN M. BRODER - The New York Times - May 18, 2009

WASHINGTON — President Obama will announce tough new nationwide rules for automobile emissions and mileage standards on Tuesday, embracing rules that California has sought to enact for years over the objections of the auto industry and the Bush administration.

The rules, which will begin to take effect in 2012, will put in place a federal standard for fuel efficiency that is as tough as the California program, while imposing the first-ever limits on climate-altering gases from cars and trucks.

The effect will be a single new national standard that will create a car and light truck fleet in the United States that is almost 40 percent cleaner and more fuel-efficient by 2016 than it is today, with an average of 35.5 miles per gallon.

Environmental advocates and industry officials welcomed the new program, but for different reasons. Environmentalists called it a long-overdue tightening of emissions and fuel economy standards after decades of government delay and industry opposition. Auto industry officials said it would provide the single national efficiency standard they have long desired, a reasonable timetable to meet it and the certainty they need to proceed with product development plans.

Yet the industry position represents an abrupt about-face after years of battling tougher mileage standards in the courts and in Congress, reflecting the change in the political climate and the industry’s shaky financial condition. The decision comes as General Motors and Chrysler are receiving billions of dollars in federal help, closing hundreds of dealerships and trying to design the products and business strategy they will need to survive.

“For seven long years, there has been a debate over whether states or the federal government should regulate autos,” said Dave McCurdy, president of the Alliance of Auto Manufacturers, the industry’s largest trade association. “President Obama’s announcement ends that old debate by starting a federal rulemaking to set a national program.”

Mr. McCurdy, a former Democratic congressman from Oklahoma, has been working with Mr. Obama and his advisers on the issue since early this year.

In announcing the new program at the White House, Mr. Obama will be accompanied by Gov. Jennifer Granholm of Michigan and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, along with auto industry executives and environmental leaders.

The administration’s decision resolves a question over California’s application for a waiver from federal clean air laws to impose its own, tougher vehicle emissions standards. Thirteen states and the District of Columbia have said they plan to adopt the California program.

The new national fleet mileage rule for cars and light trucks of 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016 roughly corresponds to the California requirement, which will be shelved as a result. The current national standard is slightly more than 25 miles per gallon.

The California plan, first proposed in 2002, had been stalled by industry lawsuits and the Bush administration’s refusal to grant a waiver from less stringent federal rules, although California has been given dozens of such exemptions over the last 40 years.

The program will also end a number of lawsuits over the California standards, officials said.

“This is a very big deal,” said Daniel Becker, director of the Safe Climate Campaign, who has pushed for tougher mileage and emissions standards for two decades with the goal of curbing the gases that have been linked to global warming. “This is the single biggest step the American government has ever taken to cut greenhouse gas emissions.”

The administration had faced a June 30 deadline set by Congress to decide whether to grant California’s application to put its emissions rules into effect. President Obama became personally involved in the issue because he was also trying to find a way to rescue American auto companies from their financial crisis.

One ranking industry official said that the administration wanted to get the new mileage rules in place before General Motors made a decision on a bankruptcy filing, which could happen by the end of this month. The new rules also provide some certainty for Chrysler, which is already under bankruptcy protection, so that it can plan its future models.

To meet the new federal standards, auto companies will have to drastically change their product lineups in a relatively short time.

The companies have declined so far to comment on the costs involved in meeting a fleet standard 0f 35 miles a gallon. For starters, the automakers will probably have to sharply reduce the number of low-mileage models, like pickup trucks and large sedans.

The president’s decision will also accelerate the development of smaller cars and engines already under way.

But Mr. McCurdy said the industry could meet the new mileage targets using existing technology and improvements in future models. He said that 130 models already got 30 miles a gallon or better on the highway.

In January, Mr. Obama directed the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider the Bush administration’s past rejection of the California application. He also instructed the Transportation Department to draw up rules to complement a 2007 law requiring a 40 percent improvement in mileage for autos and light trucks by 2020. The Bush administration wrote no regulations to enforce the 2007 law.

Mr. Obama will direct the E.P.A. and the Transportation Department to jointly write enforcement regulations.

Daniel J. Weiss, director of climate strategy at the liberal Center for American Progress, said that under the White House plan, California would retain the ability to set its own emissions standards in the future when the current program expired.

He also said the new administration program was very close in language and intent to a provision in the climate change and energy bill now before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. That bill calls for a “harmonization” of the California and federal regulatory programs to provide a nationwide standard.

Mr. Obama has been thinking about the future of the American automobile industry for years. He co-sponsored two bills in 2006, during his second year as a United States senator, one to raise fuel economy standards and the other to encourage the use of alternative fuels.

During the presidential campaign, he gave a speech in Detroit chastising the American automobile industry for doing too little to reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil and improve their vehicles’ efficiency.

“The auto industry’s refusal to act for so long has left it mired in a predicament for which there is no easy way out,” Mr. Obama said.

That inaction has been a factor in the current dire state in which General Motors and Chrysler find themselves. The Japanese automakers are far ahead in developing smaller, more efficient vehicles, although they, too, will have to adjust their product lines.

Fran Pavley, the California state senator who sponsored the legislation that established the California standard, praised the decision as she traveled to Washington Monday to join the White House meeting on Tuesday.

She said through a spokeswoman that California would work on its own rules while the federal regulations were drafted. “This cleans up our air, reduces our dependence on foreign oil and continues to allow California to lead the way,” she said.

Read more in The New York Times

Republican lawmakers back carbon tax (yes, that's right)

By James Rosen - McClatchy Newspapers - May 13, 2009

WASHINGTON — Reps. Bob Inglis of South Carolina and Jeff Flake of Arizona on Wednesday became the first Republican lawmakers to introduce legislation imposing a carbon tax on producers and distributors of fossil fuels.

The bill, co-sponsored by Democratic Rep. Dan Lipinski of Illinois, would set a tax of $15 a ton of carbon dioxide produced in its first year in effect, with the tax rising to $100 a ton over three decades.

"The first axiom of economics is if you want less of something, you tax it," said Flake, a leading fiscal conservative, in an interview. "Obviously, we want less carbon, so we tax it."

Inglis noted that several prominent conservatives support a direct carbon tax: Arthur Laffer, a former economic adviser to President Ronald Reagan, and Gregory Mankiw, who advised President George W. Bush and is now a Harvard University economics professor.

The three lawmakers offer their measure as an alternative to a massive climate change bill backed by President Barack Obama and now before the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

That cap-and-trade legislation would set a national limit on total carbon dioxide emissions and attempt to lower them over time through the sale and trading of carbon "allowances," or credits, among the government, factories, utilities, automakers and other sources of pollution.

Inglis and Flake call their measure "tax neutral" because it would reduce payroll taxes by however much revenue the carbon tax raises, with employers and employees splitting the payroll tax cut equally.

The impact of such a direct carbon tax, however, would vary widely in different regions of the country.

Businesses and homeowners who rely heavily on coal for electric power — such as those in Kentucky and Missouri — would face significantly steeper price increases because coal produces much more carbon dioxide.

Such disparities, Flake said, would be an unavoidable outcome of trying to reduce global warming and wean the nation's dependence on foreign oil, some of it from unfriendly governments.

"There's no way you can compensate or have a perfect outcome in which everyone pays the same rates," Flake said. "If you try to do that, then you take away the incentive to change."

The bill puts the two lawmakers at odds with Republican congressional leaders, who've criticized the Democrats' cap-and-trade plans as carbon taxes in disguise.

"Cap and trade is code for increasing taxes, killing American jobs and raising energy costs for consumers," House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio said. "The so-called 'cap and trade' proposal amounts to a carbon tax, plain and simple."

Tom Williams, corporate vice president for federal issues with Duke Energy, said his Charlotte, N.C., utility is the nation's third-largest carbon emitter.

A cap-and-trade system is better than a direct carbon tax, Williams said, because it enables Duke Energy and other large polluters to transition away from fossil fuel gradually.

"A carbon tax is effective in many respects, but we consider it more of a blunt instrument," he said. "Cap and trade is designed to be more surgical."

Inglis, whose district around Greenville, S.C., is among the most conservative in the country, acknowledged that it's a huge political risk for him, as a Republican, to propose a new tax.

Inglis said some of his GOP colleagues have pointed out the risk to him.

"They say, 'Inglis, why are you doing this?'" he said. "My answer is because the reward for the country is huge. If you're not here to do courageous things, then go home."

Inglis and Flake oppose the cap-and-trade measure, saying it would create a huge federal bureaucracy to regulate the sale and trade of carbon credits — on the heels of catastrophic financial services failures because of lax government oversight.

"We stand a chance of being a significant possible replacement of cap and trade when cap and trade fails," Inglis said. "It's a carbon-credit trading scheme similar to the Wall Street fiasco we've just seen, complete with a Federal Reserve Board of Carbon Credits."

The cap-and-trade measure would establish an oversight agency, but it doesn't name it.

WHO'S AFFECTED

The new carbon tax bill by Reps. Bob Inglis, Jeff Flake and Dan Lipinski would raise the cost of fossil fuels for consumers.

The measure would initially impose a tax of $15 a ton of carbon dioxide on the producers and distributors of gasoline, natural gas and coal, with the tax rising to $100 a ton over three decades.

The tax increases would be offset by equivalent cuts in payroll taxes, with employers and employees sharing the reductions equally.

The lawmakers acknowledge that users of coal-fueled power would see much bigger cost increases — 83.5 percent in the first year — than the 6 percent price increases for drivers buying gasoline, or consumers of power from natural gas, or the 14.3 percent price increase for users of oil-based power.

The payroll tax cuts would be distributed equally around the country. That means the carbon tax would hit people especially hard in states that rely heavily on coal-based power:

Top 10 states most reliant on coal power

State ........... % of power from coal

West Virginia .......... 97 percent

Indiana ........... 95 percent

Wyoming ............ 95 percent

North Dakota ......... 94 percent

Kentucky ........... 92 percent

Utah ................. 89 percent

Ohio ................ 86 percent

Missouri ............... 85 percent

New Mexico ........ 80 percent

Iowa ................ 76 percent

Other states

Kansas ............... 73 percent

Georgia ............... 63 percent

North Carolina ............... 60 percent

Pennsylvania ............... 56 percent

Illinois ............... 48 percent

South Carolina .............. 40 percent

Mississippi ............... 39 percent

Texas ............... 37 percent

Florida ............... 29 percent

Alaska ...............9 percent

Washington ............... 6 percent

California ...............1 percent

Idaho ............... 1 percent

Source: American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity
Read more in the Fort Worth Star Telegram

Spot bids to blame for high electricity bills, AARP says

By ELIZABETH SOUDER - The Dallas Morning News - Thursday, May 7, 2009



AARP says it's found the real reason that Texas electricity prices are so high.

A study, released Tuesday and funded by AARP, concludes that Texas could cut consumer electricity prices by $956 million a year, or $52 annually for the average household, by making the wholesale power market more transparent.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which operates the Texas power grid, waits 60 days to disclose information about some types of wholesale electricity bids. That gives power companies time to operate in secret and potentially manipulate prices, according to the report.

"Because of the lack of transparency, all [observers] know is that the prices are doing something odd. They don't actually know what's happening in the market that's causing the prices to be high," said Robert McCullough, head of McCullough Research and author of the report.

The report calls on state lawmakers to pass legislation filed by Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, and Rep. Todd Smith, R-Euless, to require that all spot market bids be disclosed within two days. The bills remain in committees in the Texas House and Senate.

The Public Utility Commission, which oversees ERCOT, addressed the transparency issue four years ago by requiring the grid operator to disclose in 48 hours information about the bids that set the market price. In the Texas market, the highest electricity bid that ERCOT accepts at any given moment sets the price for all generators – even those generators that turned in lower bids.

ERCOT must disclose information about all the other bids in 60 days.

Prior to the new rule, ERCOT took six months to disclose bid information.

"I think it works well. I think wholesale prices are down," said PUC Chairman Barry Smitherman. "I think firms, many firms, are reluctant to offer at high prices because they are afraid of the publicity associated with that. That kind of sunshine was exactly what we intended."

Waiting 60 days to reveal certain bids was part of a compromise to prevent a lawsuit. Constellation Energy said a 48-hour transparency rule would require wholesalers to reveal sensitive information and destroy their business.

TXU Wholesale, now a unit of Energy Future Holdings called Luminant, argued at the time that disclosing bid information could even help competitors raise market prices, not lower them.

A small fraction of power trades over the spot market. Most retail electricity companies buy power directly from wholesalers.

But the wholesale market tends to influence negotiation of those one-on-one deals, the report states. Ultimately, the wholesale trades affect all consumers.

The report also states a common complaint about deregulation among consumer advocates. In a regulated environment, the PUC sets consumer rates based on utility costs plus profit margin.

"Deregulation has broken the long-standing bond between what it actually costs to generate electricity and what consumers ultimately pay," the report states.

Commodity markets tend to set prices based on supply and demand, rather than the cost to provide the commodity.
Read more in the Dallas Morning News

Southlake gas drilling debate: Did city drag its feet or show needed caution?

By AMAN BATHEJA - Fort Worth Star Telegram - May 3, 2009
Gas drilling screeched to a halt in Southlake months ago, but it’s emerged as an issue in the mayoral race all the same.

Mayor Pro Tem John Terrell is vying with former Mayor Rick Stacy to be the city’s new leader.

Stacy argues that Southlake has been run ineffectually since he stepped down in 2003. As one example, he has repeatedly said the city missed out on a multimillion-dollar payday by not leasing its mineral rights before the natural gas market collapsed.

"It didn’t take 18 months to write the U.S. Constitution. Why would it take 18 months to write the ordinance?" Stacy said. "To miss that window of opportunity for the taxpayers, that cost us probably $12 [million] or $13 million."

The city spent well over a year holding public meetings on drilling before finally adopting a revised drilling ordinance last May. Before that, Southlake allowed drilling only in industrial areas. By last fall, the decline in natural gas prices had prompted most drilling companies to stop signing new leases.
Read more in the Fort Worth Star Telegram
On his campaign Web site, Terrell describes himself as "a prime architect" of the new ordinance. He said the city needed to make sure that residents had time to have their say. The city needed to have the revisions in place before leasing its minerals rights to ensure that a drilling company followed the stricter rules. The city will lease its mineral rights when natural gas prices rebound, he said.

"There’s always a way to spin any story," Terrell said. "To me, our safety and our property values were far more important than the city retaining and extracting our minerals early."

1,000-foot setback

City Attorney Allen Taylor echoed Terrell’s argument. He noted that a drilling company that signed a contract before the new ordinance was approved would not have had to honor the revised ordinance’s required 1,000-foot setback for wells.

In October, the city issued a request for proposals to lease the mineral rights on its property, 520 acres on 46 sites scattered around the city. The request specified that a proposal must include a bonus of at least $20,000 per acre and a royalty of 25 percent or more of all revenue from oil and gas produced from the land.

The city received no responses, city spokeswoman Pilar Schank said. City staff spent time working with the council to create the request and issued it once "it met expectations," she said.

Karen Whitaker helped organize the White Chapel Corridor group in Southlake, whose members received signing bonuses of over $20,000 an acre for its mineral rights last summer. She questions why the city didn’t sell its mineral rights last summer as well, soon after the new ordinance was approved.

"We hit it at the perfect time, and I think at that point, if you were hitting your ear to the ground, you would have known the time was right," Whitaker said.

Whitaker said the bonus money would have been put to good use and agrees with Stacy that the city dragged its feet. "We need a rec center for our teens. There’s infrastructure that needs to be completed to handle our growth," Whitaker said. "We don’t have that, and that was free money."

Shortsighted criticism?

Southlake resident Tommy Pennington said he is comfortable with how the city handled the drilling issue.

"I’d love to see the city get the money, but at the same time I think we have to have our plan be solid instead of asking for forgiveness later when the damage is done," Pennington said.

Gene Powell, publisher of the Barnett Shale Newsletter, said the intense competition by drilling companies to sign up property owners is probably gone for good.

"I don’t think we’ll ever see bonus money anywhere near the range it was," Powell said.

Despite the worry about missed opportunities, Powell said, the focus on bonus payments was shortsighted. "The publicity has really been over the bonus money, which is wrong," Powell said. "The real money is in the royalties."

Whenever drilling companies did start signing up people again, Powell said, he expected royalty offers would be around the same levels they were last year.
AMAN BATHEJA, 817-390-7695

DEQ: 'Nobody is owning up to it'

By Vickie Welborn and Kelsey McKinney - The Shreveport Times - April 30, 2009


SPRING RIDGE — An unidentified substance that apparently flowed from a natural gas drilling site into a pasture is being eyed as a potential cause of the deaths of 16 head of cattle Tuesday evening, according to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality.

Still more tests are being performed, however, to determine the nature of the substance and what caused the cows to drop dead. Analysis of soil and product samples could take up to a week or more, DEQ Northwest Regional Manager Otis Randle said.

DEQ zeroed in on a contaminated area measured at 20-by-20 yards where a "milky white substance" had pooled in the pasture. It is adjacent to the well that Chesapeake Energy Corp. is drilling on state Highway 169 near the corner of Keatchie-Marshall Road in south Caddo Parish.

Authorities believe the cows ingested the liquid before dying. Tracks went to and from the puddles, a Caddo sheriff's office spokeswoman said.

Chesapeake and its fracing contractor, Schlumberger, have denied knowledge of a chemical release on the site. "Nobody is owning up to it," Randle said late Wednesday.

There is no evidence of contamination beyond the impact area, he added.

"We're continuing to gather information just as the agencies are gathering information and interviewing contractors on site. Until results of the investigation are made, we'll have a much better understanding of what happened," Kevin McCotter, Chesapeake's director of corporate development, said when asked whether an on-site spill had occurred. "We're going to wait and get the results of the investigation. That will give everyone the best understanding of what happened."

Chesapeake on Wednesday afternoon vacuumed the "free product" that was visible, Randle said. Today, a company hired by Chesapeake will take soil samples and excavate the contaminated dirt.

Trailers crisscrossed the property Wednesday removing the dead cattle, for burial on the cattle owner's property in Keithville.

The dead cows were disposed of under the supervision of Louisiana Livestock Brand Commission inspectors, according to Cindy Chadwick, Caddo sheriff's office spokeswoman. They buried "according to directions and guidelines set forth by the Louisiana Dept. of Agriculture and in a manner prescribed by state veterinarian Dr. Mike Barrington," she said.

During documentation, the count was reassessed from 19 to 16. One living cow was taken to LSU School of Veterinary Medicine in Baton Rouge. Another living cow that appeared to be less affected was left in the pasture.

Neighbors who live across the highway expressed a desire to know what took place but shrugged off any concerns to their own health and welfare.

"No, I'm not worried yet," 77-year-old Billy Owens said as he got onto his riding lawnmower at his house on Highway 169. His wife, Loraine Owens, 57, and son, Chris Owens, 21, likewise said the only irritations they get from the increased oil and gas activity are the noise, lights and endless stream of saltwater trucks.

"That's what bothers me," Loraine Owens said as a saltwater truck went through the nearby intersection.

Chris Owens believes whatever happened to his neighbor's cows was contained on site. He's not worried about any contamination to a nearby pond where he's been fishing since he was a teenager. He caught fish there Sunday.

"They are making beaucoup of money over there. I don't think they will put their lives in danger," Chris Owens said. "They are walking around over there without masks, so I don't think there is anything harmful over there. Now, if they were in masks and suits and started dropping like flies, then I'd know something was up."

He and his father started noticing the cows falling in the pasture Tuesday afternoon. Neither Chris Owens nor Loraine Owens could recall the name of the property owner.

Sam Irwin, press secretary for the Department of Agriculture and Forestry, said initially 18 cows died and two were sick. But one of the sick ones later died. He was uncertain of the status of the other one.

"The calves were moved away and they're fine," Irwin said. Temporary fencing was strung up to separate the living cows from the dead ones.

A state veterinarian who responded to the scene described the affected cows as "lethargic" and "unwilling to move," Irwin said. He did not have a description of the cows' symptoms. Some who witnessed the deaths said the cows were bleeding and foaming at the mouth.

Preliminary results of a necropsy performed on one of the dead animals could be known today. Final results may not be available for a week, Irwin said.
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He would not speculate about what could have caused the deaths. "A bunch of weird stuff can kill cattle," said Irwin, offering as an example a type of grass that cows can't digest, leading to bloating and death.

The sight of the cows falling dead is something William DuBose, of Keithville, will never forget. "It was just horrible."

DuBose, of Keithville, and C.C. Canady, of Keatchie, are members of United Neighbors for Oil and Gas Rights, and they went to Highway 169 after they got word that the cows were dying. DuBose said he had been videotaping the drilling and completions process as part of the group's watchdog efforts.

DuBose also witnessed a man attempt to save an unborn calf by performing a cesarean section on a pregnant cow that had collapsed. Dubose said the calf also died.

DuBose said he and Canady captured on video a yellowish-green substance that was spewing into the air and falling onto the ground. Caddo deputies also said a yellowish-green substance was covering the ground and a Chesapeake employee said it was a chemical used in the fracing process.

DEQ was unable to confirm the presence of any type of yellowish-green substance. "What we ran into today was milky white in color," Randle said Wednesday.

All drilling was suspended Tuesday, and operations will not resume until the all-clear is given, McCotter said. The well, identified as Branch II-H, was in the completions process. McCotter was uncertain when drilling began.

Various types of chemicals are used in the completions, or fracturing process. The water-based fracturing fluids are mixed with proponent materials and pumped under pressure thousands of feet into the ground to the Haynesville Shale formation to get it to release the trapped natural gas.

The additives in the fluid are considered proprietary by each company, but the composition can include chemicals such as surfactants, pH adjusting agent, friction reducer, acid, corrosion inhibitor, iron control and a biocide to prevent algae growth.

McCotter would not guess or comment on speculation that some type of spill may have occurred.
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And asked whether Chesapeake had taken precautions to ensure that all chemicals used on site are contained within the boundaries, McCotter responded, "Once we were notified, the site was isolated. Then the cows were isolated. That was the appropriate action to take "» Chesapeake operates by all of the appropriate state and federal regulations in our drilling and completions."

If the investigation determines that a violation occurred, DEQ will be the agency to enforce environmental laws or regulations, Randle said. Any criminal violations would be handled by the state police or Caddo sheriff's office.

"I'm not saying any type of criminal activity occurred; I'm just saying if it happens they will be ones to enforce that," Randle said.

Chesapeake is cooperating fully with the investigation, authorities said.

All of the hubbub around the corner went unnoticed by James Willis. The 80-year-old was preparing a small garden beside his house on Keatchie-Marshall Road for planting.

"No, not really. I ain't bothered by it," Willis said of any worries related to the cows' deaths.

The drilling yards from his home also is not a bother, he said. "I'm not afraid of it or nothing."

With that, Willis resumed his hoeing.

Drilling, water quality debated in Pantego

By ROBERT CADWALLADER - Special to the Star-Telegram - April 11, 2009
PANTEGO — Like many of this town’s 2,700 residents, Harriet Irby finds the city’s high- sodium water nasty to drink and harmful to spray on some grasses and plants.

Irby, an environment and animal-care advocate, is running for the Pantego Town Council and trying to spark community debate over the city’s first gas well, expected to be drilled in the next couple of months.

She is worried about potential leaks that could contaminate the city water supply and many private irrigation wells.


Arlington, Fort Worth and other cities in the area rely primarily on surface water.

But concerns about gas drilling’s impact on water quality have already been raised in other areas, particularly in rural areas west of Fort Worth that rely on groundwater.

"There’s all sorts of ways water supply can be impacted," said Irby, who is running for Place 4 in the May 9 election. "The people need more information."

Many others rebuff those concerns, citing the exploration industry’s safety record and confidence that the town can all but eliminate risks through diligent water testing.

And the gas-production revenues from Carrizo Oil and Gas could help ease the pain of slowing sales tax revenues.

"Over the last year, this council created the first-ever gas drilling ordinance for Pantego, and we put everything into our ordinance that we could to protect our water supply," said Councilman Jason Williams, Irby’s election opponent.
"We’ll have to watch during the drilling and fracing and throughout the production of gas to make sure our water is protected."

The council appointed an ad hoc committee of 17 residents last summer to address the water’s taste and how to ensure its safety during gas drilling and production.

The group is set to present its recommendations at the April 27 council meeting.

Irby challenges some of the committee’s testing to get base-line readings on sodium content.

She hired a different laboratory that determined that the salt level at her own tap was about one-fifth the level that the committee’s lab found at the closest municipal well to Irby’s house.

"I question the integrity of the data this committee is using to make decisions about our entire municipal water supply," Irby said.

Don Surratt, a committee member who is challenging Place 5 Councilman Calvin Kost, said he’s confident in the committee’s work.

He is invested in the outcome: His irrigation well is within 500 feet of the gas drill site.

"I do have a concern, but the town is going to test my well water before and after drilling," he said. "If Carrizo does everything that’s required when they drill their well, there should be minimal chance that anything would be polluted as far as the aquifer is concerned."

Carrizo officials did not return multiple phone calls seeking comment.

Despite the industry’s safety record with the thousands of wells drilled in the Barnett Shale, problems do occur.

In November, a Parker County family sued an energy company and its pipe layer, alleging that a saltwater spill from a steel pipe connecting gas wells to saltwater injection wells killed hundreds of trees and other vegetation and contaminated soil and a stock tank.

A 2007 report by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said that while water quality in the Trinity River Aquifer is acceptable for most municipal and industrial uses, there were 12 cases of oil-field-related pollution in Cooke, Montague, Parker and Wise counties in a previous groundwater contamination report.

For flavor — and some say health, for those on sodium-restricted diets — many Pantego residents drink bottled water.

Many also have individual irrigation wells to avoid potential harm to plants.

Those wells are much shallower than their municipal counterparts, which tap into the more reliable but saltier deep end of the water table.

The water committee has studied options, including the long-considered and expensive idea of tying into Arlington’s water system.

Irby and others say that would markedly raise water rates and further burden the town’s large population of senior citizens.

Kost said that he wants to hear what the committee has to say but that he has no complaints about the water.

"I like it — I drink it straight," Kost said. "And it’s better than Arlington’s water by 100 percent."



Staff writer Mike Lee contributed to this report

Read more in the Fort Worth Star Telegram

Drillilng in the Barnett Shale contributes to air pollution in the NT Region

See video and documentation on Blue Daze