Congressman Burgess’ Town Halls in Flower Mound and Denton were well attended and included several Democrats and concerned citizens for responsible drilling and environmental issues. As reported in the Denton Record-Chronicle, the debate over drilling at Denton’s Town Hall got particularly heated, as Burgess stated that he will not support the Frac Act.
During his introductory remarks in Flower Mound, Burgess acknowledged that he is tracking gas drilling monitoring results by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ ) and related community concerns. He continues, however, to reject strengthened EPA laws or oversight and he maintains that the Federal Government should not impose federal standards on states on environmental or other issues, such as immigration issues. We believe it is time for Burgess to reverse his position, as reported in the Plano Star Courier.
Several of our members asked him questions about strengthening Federal laws, the Frac Act, the “Halliburton Loophole”, distance requirements, and other major concerns with drilling in their communities. As the oversight of environmental quality is handled by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and by the Texas Railroad Commission, it was brought to the attention of Burgess and his many supporters present in the room that neither agency is adequately fulfilling this role. It was also stated that because Texas has a long history in the oil and gas industry, both agencies are highly influenced by this industry. Since hydraulic fracturing was exempted from the standards set in the Safe Drinking Water Act, the EPA does not have the authority to enforce standards for this activity. At this time, we believe the Federal legislation is not strong enough when it comes to the gas industry to protect the health and safety of North Texas citizens.
We brought up the following issues:
- Congressman Burgess started off the evening by talking about his concerns on gas drilling and the recent problems with the TCEQ monitoring results in Fort Worth. He mentioned his anger about the apparent inaccuracies of the monitoring and releasing of information. His overall approach is for local and state governments to have control, not the EPA. Several people asked questions about gas drilling, some in response to our Committee emails.
- It was stated that we are glad to hear him bring up the gas drilling topic, but that we believe the Federal Government needs to have a stronger role. Local municipalities can only do so much and are often afraid of being sued by gas companies for their mineral rights.
- Also, there needs to be stronger enabling legislation at the Federal Government for monitoring and best practices requirements. Again, the TCEQ can only do what they are allowed to do for monitoring and enforcing EPA laws, and the EPA needs to have a bigger role. The Halliburton Loophole passed in 2005 does not allow the EPA to regulate hydraulic fracturing.
- We asked about the status of the FRAC Act (Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act). He said that the EPA is not doing anything about its passage and is conducting studies. We suggested that because our district is located in the Barnett Shale, our district should take a leadership role because Shale drilling is a national issue. He again stated that monitoring and legislation should be the State’s role, not Federal.
- It was stated that we want to see more resources going into renewable energy, such as solar and wind, so that gas drilling jobs can be replaced with cleaner energy jobs. He reminded us about his recent Energy Efficiency Fair, however, he maintained that there are problems with renewable energy. He said there has been opposition to energy transmission lines for wind energy. It was stated that we must consider the costs and benefits of any option and we should transition to clean energy and the associated jobs right here in Texas.
Environment and Energy Committee of the Denton Cou 