Benzene ........FW Council Demands Answers from Austin

[white cloud]

FW Council Demands Answers from Austin
Story and photo by Jim Ryan, WBAP 24/7 News

Fort Worth (WBAP) - When engineer Keith Sheedy of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality couldn't identify which part of Fort Worth was featured in a map in his Power Point display, Mayor Mike Moncrief was clearly perturbed.

The council had invited Sheedy to Tuesday's pre-council meeting to share information about air-quality testing around the city's active natural gas wells, but Sheedy could only provide information about sites outside the city. "That's not our job; that's yours," Mayor Moncrief told Sheedy.

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http://www.wbap.com/Article.asp?id=1620058&spid=18042

[sonias]

1. That should read "demands answers from TCEQ"

Just trying to defend my city here. We not the root of all evil in Texas. Although a lot of bad decisions are made at the state Captiol. The blame for this sits squarely with a worthless, toothless agency we call "toxic" - namely the TCEQ.

And the questions will of course will go unanswered, since TCEQ doesn't know shit from Shinola most of the time. And the rest of the time they bow down to pollution industry anyway.

Engineer Keith Sheedy promised to carry Fort Worth's concerns back to the TCEQ in Austin.

Which will then promptly throw all concerns in their trash bin and forget anything ever happened. :grr:

[BrightKnight]

2. They also had to spend $650K for their own tests because TCEQ can't be trusted.

http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/08/03/2381925/fort-worth-clears-way-for-air.html

[sonias]

3. Why can't cities then sue TCEQ?

I think that would be the next step. TCEQ actually does more harm than good, so cities should be able to sue the worthless agency for damages. I think Fort Worth should absolutely do that.

Fort Worth is home to about 1,200 natural gas wells. The gas industry and regulators at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality have repeatedly maintained that drilling is safe.

Anytime you have the energy industry saying something is safe - you should be very wary. And when you have both the TCEQ and energy tag teaming the safety issue - you might as well call it a lie.

:shrug: