Fracking Fact-Finding Mission

New study links declining North Texas ozone to oil and gas production

A committee with the North Central Texas Council of Governments is developing an anti-smog plan for Dallas-Fort Worth.

An independent researcher has found evidence of ill effects of fracking in the Barnett Shale that challenges optimistic claims from government officials.

Mahdi Ahmadi, a University of North Texas graduate student, pored over more millions of data points from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to determine if there is a link between declining ozone and oil and gas production.

As first reported by theDenton Record-Chronicle, Ahmadi's research shows that areas where oil and gas is extracted have higher ozone increase than areas without fracking. Ahmadi's findings directly contradict the TCEQ's assertion that Barnett Shale mining has no significant impact on local ozone levels.

Mahdi Ahmadi's findings directly contradict reports from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Ahmadi's findings follow a March report by Rachel Rawlins at the University of Texas at Austin, which connected fracking in Flower Mound to a local childhood cancer cluster.

To determine his ozone findings, Ahmadi and his faculty advisor used the commission's own database and examined over 6.5 million data points on air quality.

After controlling for weather conditions, a trend emerged connecting worse ozone quality and oil and gas production in the Barnett Shale. The commission maintains that the increased fracking wells in North Texas have no significant effect on the ozone.

Thanks to efforts from Downwinders at Risk and Rep. Lon Burnam (D-Fort Worth), the public will get its first glimpse of the new and contradictory research. The results will be presented at an air quality committee meeting in Arlington on April 17. The committee is developing an anti-smog plan for Dallas-Fort Worth.

"This is a small but important victory for real science in this process, as opposed to the completely politicized approach by TCEQ to prevent the imposition of new controls of any kind," Jim Schermbeck with Downwinders at Risk said in a statement. "Citizens are going to have to be more vigilant in this process if they want cleaner air."

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E-Cigarette News

Dallas City Council places restrictions on vaping in public

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Man vaping

Vaping will now be banned exactly like smoking, thanks to a new ordinance from the Dallas City Council.

At their December 11 meeting, the council passed an ordinance to ban vaping in all the same areas where smoking is not allowed. It'll go into effect on December 11, 2025 — giving everyone a year to get into compliance.

Proposed by City of Dallas Environmental Commission (EVC) and the Office of Environmental Quality and Sustainability (OEQS), the ordinance amends the definition of “smoking” in the Dallas City Code to include the use of vaping devices.

The ordinance does not ban vaping — it only bans where you can vape: no vaping in all indoor and enclosed spaces; within 15 feet of building entrances; and on park property. The ordinance also bans marijuana smoking in those same places.

In addition, the amendment requires restaurants, hotels, fitness centers and other businesses to update their signage to clearly state that both smoking and electronic smoking devices are prohibited.

The ordinance already earned widespread support from health organizations such as the Dallas County Health and Human Services, the American Lung Association, and the American Heart Association. These organizations, along with the World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the U.S. Surgeon General, have all raised concerns about the health risks of direct and second-hand exposure to vaping aerosols, particularly for vulnerable populations such as children and older adults.

Dallas is not the first city to impose such a ban: San Antonio enacted a similar ban in October. Theirs goes into effect on January 1, 2025.

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