North Central Texas Communities Alliance

Greg Hughes is a long time resident of Fort Worth. He has extensive involvement in the community.

Why we need a Moratorium...
By Greg Hughes

People from across the political spectrum have been increasingly asking for a moratorium on new natural gas drilling permits in North Texas. To those who have been paying only marginal attention a moratorium seems a very drastic request. After all, money is flowing into the region and evidence of harm or danger seems mixed.

What purpose would a moratorium on permits serve? In the absence of independent and honest inquiry, frankly, a moratorium would merely slow the progress of gas production. So when a call for a moratorium is issued it must be understood to be part of an evaluation process that includes gathering and analyzing drilling and production data.

Meanwhile, although drilling permits continue to be issued, work is underway to understand the ramifications of drilling for and producing gas as it is currently done in northern Texas. Anecdotal evidence of water well contaminations, produced water spills, pipeline failures and unregulated venting of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have provided starting points for individuals and groups to begin gathering information. The most significant area of study to date has been into air quality but that is not the only issue worthy of examination.

Several studies of air quality impacts of gas drilling have produced a variety of results and virtually all point to the north Texas gas drilling activity as being harmful to air quality. Due to the very limited data and the variety of specific tests conducted there is currently no way to assess the degree of harm nor to even know all the different ways in which the air is being polluted.

The lack of conclusive information, coupled with the intentional misstatements of test results by proponents of unfettered drilling, has left the public confused about whether there is a problem. Several public officials have called for more studies while simultaneously granting permits as fast as they are requested. The problem with that approach is that during the time studies are being conducted we are allowing an unknown amount of harm to be done to the region’s air, and by extension, its people.

The approach so far has been, “We’ll keep doing this until it can be proved to be harmful.” The proponents of a moratorium are saying, “Let’s not do more of it until we understand the risk and choose how to manage it.”

When dealing with the health and economic well-being of millions of people our current approach is needlessly reckless and is a clear example of failed leadership. A moratorium on new permits coupled with an independent assessment of the environmental impacts is the right thing to do.