Mr. Parsons:

I urge you to do what is necessary to establish the strictest possible controls upon those who are engaged in and supporting the oil and gas drilling operations, as the federal level, because these con trols will not be established by either the local or the state governments.

There is a tremendous amount of money being used by these industries to secure rights to drill, often in very close proximity to homes, schools, parks, busi nesses and other permanent buildings with extended exposure to whatever chemicals are used in the proc ess. The representatives of the companies engaged in drilling do not reveal what chemicals they are u sing and expect everyone to trust them. The "defau lt" mineral leases used by these companies are writtten to protect their interests only, not the people wh o live here. The people here are easily swayed by th e money, and do not ask the critical questions need ed to perform the critical thinking. The drillers shou ld be forced to reveal the chemicals that they are using in our neighborhoods.

The details of the proven methods and devices used to contain these chemicals, to detect their offsite presence, and deal with them (hopefully recovery) i n the event that they are found where they are not supposed to be should all be public knowledge. Unbi ased descriptions of the effects of exposure to these chemicals that accounts for variations in age and prior health conditions, range of possible exposure duration, and range of possible concentrat ions should also be provided to citizens and government representatives.

The Fort Worth City Council has compromised any shr ed of integrity they ever had by inviting representation from the gas drillers on the team wo rking on Fort Worth's Air quality. The Fort Worth Mayor want's to dissolve the team and let city peop le follow up on this before the job is complete. Th is is a blatent attempt to change the scope of the wor k that was to be done.

Our local leaders cannot be trusted with this, beca use they have too many ties to the industry - A

DIRECT CONFLICT OF INTEREST EXISTS. As a result of this conflict, our leaders DO NOT enforce the noise ordinances, DO NOT restrict the u se of heavy trucks on our neighborhood streets when they have the power to do so, and DO NOT adeq uately protect us from the short term risks that these operations bring into the area, much less the long term risks. The only way the citizens of the community learn of these risks is through a combina tion of news investigations and by word of mouth.

We do NOT hear about them from our leaders.

What we have heard, is the noise from the trucks an d the drilling site construction and operations. When I confronted city officials about the noise problems, the city told the gas company to send a representative to our home to measure the no ise. I do not consider a company that routinely do es a noise metering and mitigation business with the d rillers to be an impartial third party, and am concerned that any and all measurements made by the m are in question. In spite of the conflict of interest problem this highlights, the data supplied to me by the company showed the following:

Noise measurements were using a frequency/amplitude weighting that under -represents the content of low frequency regions where the equipment was emitt ing tremendous amounts of sound.

My proposed comment to Air Quality effects of Oil a nd Gas Drilling. Daniel Q.O'Leary

to:
Nick Parsons

08/02/2010 06:30 PM

Show Details Page 1 of 3

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...The amplitude versus frequency components of the no ise was supposed to be recorded in 1/3-octave

increments, but the data supplied to me only contai ned coarse 1-octave data.

The stated limits within the ordinance are +6dB f or daytime operation and +3dB above existing ambient for nighttime operation. No relationship b etween the chosen daytime and nightime noise limits

that are used as a "baseline" and the actual condit ions in our neighborhood was ever revealed. The chosen limits were so high that the recorded backgr ound plus noise emitted by the rig almost never exceeded them, but the actual background noise pri or to rig operations was not revealed.

No measurements for the actual baseline noise were made in our area prior to rig construction and operation - They were apparently made in the proxim ity of the rig or elsewhere. I have researched thi s topic and found instances where such baselines were recorded while construction was in progress - this

is inexcusable. The logging data provided only identiified noise so urces that exceeded the arbitrarily high threshold. Other significant changes in noise ampl itude were not identified. The sampling graphs showed the presence of much lower noise levels at v arious times than these thresholds. The chosen measurement technique hide the contribution of the noise of the rig from the background. My personal observation was that the noise was permeating my ho use at very objectionable levels that kept me awake at night for many nights.

Some data had incorrect time/date stamps. This dil utes the integrity of either the collection, post processing or report processes. The person sent to download data from the device was inexperienced, having been "shown the procedures" on the first day of the measurements.

When I questioned the city inspector on these issue s, as well as my request to review the test procedu re, data processing procedures, or the procedures and d ata used to determine the "noise baseline", I never

got a response.

Our leaders allow drillers to use disgraceful amoun ts of water in these operations, when the citizens must carefully meter their own usage. Their trucks connect to fire hydrants in the area. I have noted large open pits and wonder what is contained in the m. These open pits and injection wells are a cause for concern too. Is it possible for the chemicals in the sludge stored in these pits to reach the gro und, or pollute lakes and other water sources nearby due to accident or natural occurrence, such as a storm? When these chemicals are injected back into the gro und, what proof do we have that they will not EVER reach the underground aquifers that supply var ious water wells?

The few individuals who are directly responsible to oversee these operations, cannot possibly monitor the sheer number of sites that are being constructe d or are already in operation, but constant monitor ing should be required on all sites. Obviously automat ion should be brought to bear on the problem, but t he drillers will not pay for monitoring (either vi aut omated means or manually accomplished) unless they

are forced to do so.

On the state level, the situation is just as bad if not worse.

The drillers will eventually be gone, but the long term impact to the health of these communities will remain long after the drillers are gone.

As a 50+ year old engineering professional with lif e-long breathing problems, I'm begging you, for my family, my neighbors and myself, to please do whate ver is possible to bring in rigourous, scientifical lysound air and water quality controls to this indust ry. Page 2 of 3

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...Thank you for your time.



### Daniel O'Leary Concerned Citizen of Fort Worth, and Tejas Trails Ho meowner 532 Verna Trail North Fort Worth TX, 76108

Home:

817-367-2558 daniel_oleary1@sbcglobal.net

Work:

817-935-4185 daniel.q.oleary@lmco.com Page 3 of 3

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