Arlington approves permit for controversial gas wells near day care center - The Dallas Morning News

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Arlington City Council on Tuesday approved a permit for three new gas wells near a daycare center, even as physicians and environmental activists warned that the project could have dire consequences on public health.

French energy giant Total Energies, the main gas producer in Arlington, requested a special permit to operate the new wells in east Arlington.

The City Council voted 5-4 to clear the way for the wells, which are expected to begin drilling early next year. The members still must give final approval for the wells on Dec. 14, but that vote is considered a formality.

Tuesday’s vote came after more than two hours of debate and despite impassioned pleas from some community members who argued that drilling disproportionately affects low-income and Black and Latino children.

It also came just one year after Arlington City Council voted 6-3 to deny a permit for new wells in the same location after an outcry from residents and environmental groups, who voiced public health, environmental and equity concerns.

But since that vote, a new mayor and four new members joined the council.

The site — at 2000 S. Watson Road, west of State Highway 360 and north of East Pioneer Parkway — was initially approved for gas drilling in 2010 and has already been home to two wells.

Kevin Strawser, a spokesman for TEP Barnett, the Fort Worth branch of Total Energy, said the site has not received a single complaint from the city or state in its 10 years of operation.

As part of the agreement, Total Energy has agreed to plant 76 new shrubs and increase the number of trees from 112 to roughly 176 at the site.

Urban gas drilling has grown increasingly fraught in recent years.

A report this year by the national Center for Investigative Reporting found that more than half of Arlington’s public schools and daycare facilities are within a half-mile of active gas production. Eight daycare centers are within 600 feet, the standard setback in Arlington.

Of those, 85% of the public school students are children of color, and more than two-thirds live in poverty.

Some scientific studies have linked proximity to drilling to increased health risks, including childhood asthma, childhood leukemia and birth defects. The exposures can come from the fumes of diesel trucks, generators or drilling rigs.

“The public health of the citizens of Arlington will be at risk,” Dr. Floyd Ostrom, a retired Fort Worth pediatrician, told council members. “Those risks are especially high for pregnant women and children.”

Wanda Vincent, who owns Mother’s Heart Learning Center, which is 637 feet from the drilling site, said she worries for the health and safety of her children. The daycare center’s playground is 613 feet from the drilling site.

“We matter. Our babies matter,” she said. “I ask that you give these children a chance. Value them as if they are your own.”

Arlington receives millions of dollars in royalties generated by Total’s drilling. Over a four-year period, Arlington earned about $5 million in royalties from TEP Barnett, according to the Center for Investigative Reporting. More than $2 million of that came from five drill sites within several hundred feet of daycare facilities.

But several Arlington council members said they feared costly litigation if they voted to deny the permit.

A 2015 Texas law prohibits cities from banning drilling and from implementing regulations considered unreasonable. The Texas Legislature passed the law, known as House Bill 40, after the city of Denton tried to ban fracking in 2014.

“If we fight House Bill 40, it’s going to be expensive for us,” said council member Helen Moise, adding that the city strives to serve as good stewards of taxpayer money.

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