At Texas School, Children Play In A Field Of Fumes

School is usually a place where children go to learn. But in some Texas districts, school is also a place children go to get sick.

Several schools—located on a figurative gold mine over the gas-rich Barnett shale formation—are accepting money from drilling companies itching to tap deposits beneath and around their land (hat tip: Environmental Working Group). In one case, in return for leases that allow Hillwood and Williams Production to drill exploratory gas wells around Texas's Argyle High School, the district has already received $680,000 in payments.

But while that money may be used to pay teachers' salaries and run down a district deficit, the payoff for students is far less clear.

Since drilling recently began recently, kids have reported suffering asthma, nosebleeds, dizziness, disorientation, nausea and noxious smells, according to The Denton Record-Chronicle. The article focuses on one family that relocated to Argyle to escape pollution from oil refineries. Now, 15 years later, their daughter is back in harms way—twice she was forced to leave marching band practice because the field had filled with fumes.

A local activist organization, the Argyle-Bartonville Communities Alliance, has organized in the last year to collect health data and raise awareness in the parent community. The drilling of dozens more gas wells is already set to proceed on two sites within a half-mile of not only the high school but also the intermediate school and—getting them while they're young—the elementary school as well.

Argyle, of course, isn't the only community or school district experiencing the health effects of drilling in Texas or, for that matter, in Pennsylvania or Wyoming, or other states where the shale gas boom has marched forward largely unchecked. The Alliance cites a study by Cook Children's Hospital that found that 25 percent of children in the North Texas Barnett shale area suffer from asthma, compared with 7 percent in the rest of the state.

Already, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has responded to complaints by taking air samples, but the results are still "pending." Previously, natural gas production in North Texas has been linked to volatile air emissions that include benzene, toluene and formaldehyde.

In Argyle, the parents know the school can no longer stop the drilling. All permits have been approved and documents signed. What the school board can do is make sure to make sure TCEQ is aware of every single cough and every single dizziness attack on the site. It can also make sure it takes emergency precautions and informs parents of the risks. According to The Denton Record-Chronicle article, the Argyle school board president said she "listened very intently" to a recent parents presentation, but declined to make any public statements about these kids getting sick.

Help from the higher authorities has been slow to come. EPA is working on new oil and gas regulations, but that will come way too late for the kids at Argyle High. TCEQ, the state agency, meanwhile, is notorious for its lax approach to environmental regulation.

That leaves concerned parents to keep up the fight. You can support their work by telling the Argyle school district to do everything within its power to protect this district kids. The school got the community into this mess in the first place, and should be fighting for the students' overall welfare—not the welfare of its bank balance.

As one alliance member says, the drilling revenues won't even cover the hospital bills for one child with leukemia  Sign the petition here.

Photo credit: cburns1 via Flickr

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