If you drill it, they will come

Could a contaminated well in Weatherford derail Dallas fracking?

When Dallas Cothrum took the floor at the City Plan Commission on behalf of Trinity East Energy in December, he relied heavily on the track record of natural gas drilling in Fort Worth and Johnson County.

"We're not doing something here that is unusual or noteworthy," Cothrum said at a December 20 hearing, shortly before the commission denied drilling permits for L.B. Houston Park. "This is very commonly done in Fort Worth and leaves a small footprint."

Parker County resident Steve Lipsky has so much methane coursing through his backyard well that he can ignite the water stream.

Hydraulic fracking involves injecting the ground with a high pressure stream of water and chemicals in order to release natural gas that's deep inside the earth.

Cothrum's assessment of the safety of the process — as well as the potential for lawsuit — is presumably responsible for the commission's recent decision to reconsider the permits in February.

But a new report from the Associated Press challenges the idea that natural gas drilling and hydraulic fracking is a safe process with little repercussions for North Texans.

An article in the January 16 edition of the Dallas Morning News tells the tale of Parker County resident Steve Lipsky, who has so much methane coursing through his backyard well that he can ignite the water stream.

This fact garnered the attention of the Environmental Protection Agency, which investigated his claims and found scientific evidence connecting driller Range Resources to the contamination.

But according to the Associated Press, the EPA set aside those findings and its previous position that the methane-saturated well posed an "immediate danger" when Range Resources threatened to withdraw from a national study on hydraulic fracking.

Although it's not yet on the January 23 agenda, Dallas City Council reserves the right to add a public hearing about the lawfulness of drilling in parklands.

The article points out that there is another explanation for high levels of methane in drinking water — natural gas migration from Strawn Shale, not the Barnett Shale, which is used for natural gas drilling.

The presence of multiple theories is not alarming in a scientific investigation, but hiding evidence is. Zac Trahan is an employee of Texas Campaign for the Environment who has led efforts in Dallas to prevent fracking. He hopes Dallas will take notice of this recent revelation.

"Gas companies often told Dallas officials that no test results have ever shown a link between gas drilling and water contamination," Trahan said in an email. "These federal EPA test results certainly say otherwise, and Dallas officials should consider the credibility of claims by the industry."

After dozens of public speakers voiced concerns about fracking in December, Dallas Cothrum characterized the opposition as paranoid and ill-informed.

"There is a lot of science behind gas drilling being safe, but there is danger in everything that we do. Planes can crash; cars have problems and cause accidents," Cothrum said.

Dallas City Council and Mayor Mike Rawlings have already opened the door to discuss the lawfulness of natural gas drilling in area parklands, which is currently prohibited, by placing a public notice reserving the right to discuss the issue on January 23.

The item is not currently on the City Council Agenda. But should the council add it and amend the law, it could pave the way for the City Plan Commission to approve Trinity East's drilling permits in L.B. Houston Park on February 7.

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income analysis

This is how much a single-income family needs to make in Texas in 2026

Photo by Jimmy Dean on Unsplash

The income needed for a single-income household to raise a child in Texas is lower than it was last year.

With childrearing costs in the Lone Star State adding up to tens of thousands of dollars per year, many Texas families are navigating a difficult decision: should both parents work or should one parent stay home to raise the child?

For Texas families that choose the latter, the working parent needs to make nearly $73,000 per year to support their child and the stay-at-home parent, a new income analysis has revealed.

The newly released SmartAsset report used MIT's Living Wage Calculator to estimate the annual living wages needed across all 50 states for a three-person household with two working adults and one child, and a family with one working adult, a stay-at-home parent, and one child. Costs included food, housing, childcare, healthcare, transportation, incremental income taxes, and "other necessities."

A Texas household with one working parent needs to make $72,925 to support their stay-at-home counterpart and their child, the study found. That's $1,809 less than what was needed in 2025.

Meanwhile, the combined income needed for a household with one child and both parents working full-time is $85,030.

Texas ranked No. 42 in SmartAsset's ranking of states with the highest minimum income needed to support a family with one working parent, one stay-at-home parent, and one child. That also situates Texas as the 9th most affordable state for single-income families. But there are risks associated with only having one breadwinner in the family.

"A single income family with small children potentially saves in child care costs over a household with two working parents," the report's author wrote. "The main disadvantages are the lost salary and retirement contributions, Social Security earnings history and employer health benefits."

There aren't any specific tax benefits to having a parent stay at home to raise their child full time, but SmartAsset says single-income families can claim a tax credit under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

"[S]ingle-income families may claim the Child Tax Credit — up to $2,200 per qualifying child for 2026 ($1,700 refundable) — on the same terms as any other family," the report said.

SmartAsset's latest report only looks at costs on a statewide basis, but the cost to raise a child will also vary greatly depending on the city you live in. Raising a child in Dallas-Fort Worth might pose a challenge for some families, where the cost for childcare alone adds up to $10,736 and overall costs can surpass $23,000.

For households with two children, there might be additional strains on what a family might consider a "comfortable living." A March 2026 SmartAsset study determined a Dallas family with two working parents need to make a combined income of $214,490 to have a financially stable life while raising two children.

The top 10 states with the lowest minimum income needed for single-income families are:

Arkansas ($68,869)
Mississippi ($70,054)
Kentucky ($70,179)
West Virginia ($70,283)
North Dakota ($71,219)
Oklahoma ($71,365)
Louisiana ($71,406)
Missouri ($72,862)
Texas ($72,925)
Tennessee ($72,946)

smartasset reports texas family income