NEWS
Inside Climate News: EPA Officials Visit Texas' Barnett Shale, Ground Zero of the Fracking Boom
Dylan Baddour, March 16, 2023
ARLINGTON, Texas—The Barnett Shale, rich in natural gas, lies inconveniently beneath sprawling suburbs of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. The fracking boom began here almost 20 years ago, leaving in its wake a mixture of wells and compressors in close proximity to residential neighborhoods and strip malls.
When officials from the EPA followed community members and representatives of the nonprofit Liveable Arlington on a tour of the area Thursday, the visit was the first for the federal environmental regulators based nearby in Dallas.
AC360 HEARING AND PERMITS
AP: Texas day care gets reprieve after drilling plan is rejected
January 5, 2022
Parents who send their children to a day care center in Arlington, Texas, will be able to breathe easier after the city refused to let a major energy company drill more gas wells a few hundred feet from the center’s playground.
The Arlington City Council voted 5-4 on Tuesday night to reject the request by Total Energies to drill additional gas wells, reversing a preliminary decision by the council in November to allow the wells to go forward.
Fort Worth Report, KERA: Facing lawsuit, Arlington council denies permit to frack near day care, homes
Haley Samsel and Kailey Broussard, January 5, 2022
CBS 11, DFW: Arlington City Council Votes Down Gas Well Drilling Permit Near Daycare Center
J.D. Miles, January 4, 2022
Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Arlington council OKs new natural gas drilling near daycare. ‘This may not be over’
Haley Samsel and Kailey Broussard, December 1, 2021
AP: In shadow of Texas gas drilling sites, health fears escalate
Cathy Bussewitz and Martha Irvine, November 29, 2021
Dallas Observer: French Energy Company Seeks Fracking Permit Near Arlington Daycare
Jacob Vaughn, November 30, 2021
Reveal: A Texas Town Stopped an Energy Giant from Drilling Next to a Day Care. Then It Changed Its Mind.
Elizabeth Shogren, November 30, 2021
Fort Worth Star-Telegram: ‘Whose children are we harming?’ Arlington council to vote on gas wells near daycare
Haley Samsel, November 29, 2021
Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Arlington voted down natural gas drilling expansion last year. The battle isn't over.
Haley Samsel, August 23, 2021
REVEAL INVESTIGATION
Reveal: Life in the Drill Zone
Elizabeth Shogren, June 15, 2021
How did hundreds of gas wells arrive in our backyards and next door to our preschools and day cares? And why can't we still keep a gas well at least 300 feet from a preschool boundary? Journalist Elizabeth Shogren explores these questions in the most comprehensive piece written about Arlington and fracking to date. Also published in Mother Jones and Texas Monthly.
Image credit: Reveal
Reveal: Emission Control (Audio)
Elizabeth Shogren, June 12, 2021
Investigative podcast and radio show, Reveal, takes a deep look at Arlington in this episode from June 12, 2021. Beginning at about 20 minutes in, you can hear the story of drilling in Arlington and how it impacts our community. Liveable Arlington is featured.
Image credit: Reveal
Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Thousands of Arlington's schoolchildren are exposed to fracking fumes, report warns
Haley Samsel, June 17, 2021
The Texas Standard: In Arlington, The Shale Boom Has Brought Residents Closer Than Ever Before To Gas Drilling (Article + Audio)
Leah Scarpelli, Laura Rice & Caroline Covington, June 16, 2021
PAST NEWS
Arlington residents report being woken up loud jet engine like sounds during the Texas freeze
February 2021
A pipeline blowdown near the Handley Generating Station released 30 tons of VOCs into the air in just 2.5 hours.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Arlington Gas Ordinance Revised
Haley Samsel, March 30, 2021
Setback distances have been revised to require 600 feet or more between the approved drill zone and the playground area of a child care center.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Where are the biggest polluters in Dallas-Fort Worth? These new maps will show you
Haley Samsel, March 25, 2021
Environmental justice campaign stops new gas wells
June 2020
Liveable organized with faith groups, local leaders, and residents to form a multi-racial coalition to stop the permitting of new gas wells at AC360 in SE Arlington. The campaign received wide national coverage.
PRI, Living on Earth: A Texas Town Refuses Fracking Expansion
The Shorthorn: Arlington City Council votes 6-3 against three new fracking sites near children's learning center
Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Arlington shuts down drilling site, says energy company violated fracking rules
Haley Samsel, November 25, 2020
Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Fracking is expanding near Arlington homes, day care without council vote. Here’s why
Haley Samsel, August 14, 2020
Fort Worth Star-Telegram: No new gas wells in east Arlington neighborhood for now, city council decides
Kailey Broussard, July 17 , 2020
Liveable Arlington caught Total using an illegal diesel rig to drill next to an Arlington preschool. Our report to the city's gas well department lead to a shutdown order at the Rocking Horse site.