Posted Monday, Nov. 22, 2010

y Jack Z. Smith

jzsmith@star-telegram.com

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has installed a new air monitor in Flower Mound in southern Denton County. It’s the sixth such monitor in North Texas’ Barnett Shale, the largest natural gas producing area in the nation.

“The installation of this latest monitor shows that the Barnett Shale continues to be a priority to our agency,” said Mark Vickery, the commission’s executive director. “And we aren’t done — we are also evaluating other locations in the region for additional monitors.”

The monitor “will provide citizens with near real-time air quality readings, and hourly averages, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year,” the agency said.

The public can view the new monitor’s emissions data online (go to www.tinyurl.com/27vafmc and click on 481211007 in the left-hand column, for the Flower Mound Shiloh monitor at 4401 Shiloh Road). The station is listed along with other monitors in Dallas-Fort Worth area, as part of a long statewide list of monitors.

The new auto gas chromatograph monitor tests for 46 volatile organic compounds including benzene, a potentially cancer-causing substance derived from petroleum. Volatile organic compounds can also contribute to the formation of ground-level ozone, a precursor to smog, which can aggravate chronic lung and heart ailments and be particularly harmful to children and the elderly.

State Sens. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, and Chris Harris, R-Arlington, praised the installation of the new monitor, as did state Rep. Tan Parker, R-Flower Mound. “This is a great victory for clean air safeguards in the Barnett Shale,” Parker said.

The commission has beefed up air monitoring after receiving criticism for not doing enough to measure the effects of extensive Barnett Shale drilling on polluting emissions. About 14,000 wells are producing in the Barnett Shale area. The shale underlies more than 20 North Texas counties.