| Rick Perry, recently chided by the Texas natural gas industry for politically-motivated comments directed at Bill White, orchestrated a stunt in Fort Worth yesterday in the hopes of mending fences with an industry that has traditionally supported the career politician. You'll recall that CBS 11 nailed Republican Perry over his Jerusalem junket with Guma Aguiar, who made billions of dollars in the Texas natural gas industry. Unfortunately Perry's political stunt usurped the diligent and aggressive work that Senator Wendy Davis has done on potential environmental ramifications and overall efforts to measure North Texas air quality as a result of high pressure hydraulic fracturing in the Barnett Shale.
Rick Perry dispatched Republican Senator Troy Fraser and Republican Representative Byron Cook into Fort Worth to announce a loosely put together, politically-motivated plan that would place air quality monitors in areas of the Barnett Shale. This is an initiative that Senator Wendy Davis has worked on since her election to District 10 only to have Rick Perry and Republican allies in both chambers of the legislature ignore Davis' aggressive efforts time and again. At first glance one might cheer over Perry's politically-motivated plan until further examining the details.
Representative Cook said the following at yesterday's press conference:
"The additional air monitors will offer Texans greater transparency about the air quality in the Barnett Shale region because more scientific data will be available to the public, in real time, via the TCEQ's website."
On the contrary, Byron.
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| At yesterday's press conference it was announced that this initiative would be paid for by one of the following means: through permit fees and fines through the states Supplemental Environmental Projects Plan, and/or funds through the Texas Emissions Reduction Plan (TERP). A big problem emerges with those two proposed methods of payment for Perry's politically-motivated plan. First, the Supplemental Environmental Projects Plan is managed by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, which hasn't exactly inspired confidence from the public with its ability to apply oversight to the natural gas industry. The only conclusion one can make is that it is highly likely the Supplemental Environmental Projects Plan lacks the necessary funds to pay for Perry's politically-motivated plan unless the TCEQ suddenly ratchets up oversight and begins applying fines as necessary. No evidence suggests that will occur any time soon. Second, the TERP statute says that its funds can only go toward reducing ozone emissions. Although it is possible that hydraulic fracturing contributes toward ozone emissions, and significant evidence is mounting to suggest that it causes other pollution, no viable data or analysis suggests that it does--or at least that qualifies for TERP funds. Such are the reasons behind the air quality monitoring that Senator Davis has been calling for. So at this time, Perry's politically-motivated plan does not qualify for TERP funds. It would take a legislative change in the statute to allow funds to be used to pay for Perry's politically-motivated plan, and indeed the legislature should look at doing exactly that. In conclusion, the only method of payment possible is by the industry itself, which is equivalent to allowing a wolf to guard a hen's house, or Perry's politically-motivated plan will not be paid for at all. In either scenario, however, the only logical conclusion to draw is that yesterday's press conference was simply political theatre and Frazer and Cook were actors in Perry's play. Rick Perry's politically-motivated plan has no teeth and no viable method in which to pay for it.
In addition, several red flags were raised by Senator Wendy Davis yesterday that blow holes through Perry's politically-motivated plan all together. First, what air quality monitoring placement plan is Perry's plan based on? No new air quality monitoring placement plan has been updated for months and in the field of hydraulic fracturing in the Barnett Shale the drilling process is very fluid and aggressive in movement. Any air quality monitoring plan the state engages in must use an updated placement plan that is not only real-time, but forward thinking to account for the continued hydraulic fracturing process throughout the Shale. Second, given that the methods of paying for Perry's political plan are essentially eliminated, and the only payment method left is by the industry itself, the question of industry bias is pervasive to say the least. Third, if the industry is paying for Perry's politically-motivated plan does the industry analyze the data? Who is this "third party" that will analyze the data? What are their ties to the natural gas industry? Someone objective, or as Senator Davis suggests, our state universities should be in charge of data analysis to allow for an appropriate, unbiased, and methodic analysis into any data captured by air quality monitors.
The bottom line here is that Rick Perry took a cheap shot at Bill White. In so doing, Perry ticked off an industry that has been very cozy with him over his extensive political career. Perry attempted to mend fences by crafting a politically-motivated plan with no method to pay for it unless the industry itself does so. Moreover, the plan calls for a "third party" to analyze the data, which is likely to be the industry itself that does so if at all. Whatever data is captured by air quality monitors will be industry biased. Perry's politically-motivated plan falls well short of accomplishing the goal of identifying what, if any, effect hydraulic fracturing has on the environment and air quality in North Texas communities within the Barnett Shale. Nice try, Rick. |
