By Freda Ross
North Texans concerned about oil and gas drilling in the Barnett Shale plan to present new findings to the Arlington City Council and school board members.
A study by Liveable Arlington says 76 schools in the city are within a half-mile to 2 miles of gas wells or drill sites. The organization’s executive director, Ranjana Bhandari, said most of the affected schools are concentrated in one part of the city.
“Almost 95% of the residents are people of color, and they seem to be bearing the highest concentration of fracking in the city, especially the fracking expansions,” Bhandari said. “All the fracking expansion is happening in those parts of town.”
Bhandari said the report lists every drill site and gas well within 2 miles of each Arlington public school. The study used data from the Railroad Commission of Texas and the city.
Drilling in Tarrant County started in the early 2000s, and there are close to 200 drilled wells in Arlington alone. Last year, City Council members approved a new gas well site. The new Maverick site is close to three elementary schools.
Dr. Larysa Dyrszka, a pediatrician with Concerned Health Professionals of New York, said younger children are more susceptible to toxins. She said the group has studied the impacts of fracking on children for more than a decade.
“Allowing the continuous, intensifying, long-term exposure of densely populated communities to toxic fracking emissions is tantamount to running what is, in effect, a vast uncontrolled human experiment atop the Barnett Shale,” Dyrszka said.
Dyrszka said there is a definite link between proximity to oil and gas development and increases in childhood cancers.
Members of Liveable Arlington said they hope the data prompts city officials to revisit protections for children and nearby residents. They want 24-hour air monitoring at all drill sites within a half-mile of Arlington schools and compressor stations.
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