Nearly 1 Million Tarrant County Residents Live Within Half-Mile Of Oil And Gas Drilling, Report Finds

Arlington TX

29 May, 2022

2:06 PM

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By Haley Samsel, Fort Worth Report May 28, 2022 At least 999,179 people in Tarrant County live within a half-mile of oil and gas activity, raising the risk of potential health impacts due to pollution from those sites, according to a report issued in late May. The latest update of the Oil and Gas Threat Map, produced by the environmental advocacy groups Earthworks and FracTracker Alliance, shows that 17.3 million Americans live within a half-mile of oil and gas production – a 4.7 million increase from 2017, when the map was previously compiled. For Ranjana Bhandari, who has fought fracking permits near homes and daycare centers in Arlington, the map visualizes the typically invisible pollution stemming from oil and natural gas drilling operations for the people experiencing it as well as lawmakers and state officials. "When people see the sheer scale visually documented with the threat map, I hope it helps them understand how truly serious and unconscionably large the impact of fracking is," said Bhandari, the executive director of the environmental advocacy group Liveable Arlington and an Earthworks board member. To read the full article, click here. Fort Worth Report is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization that produces factual, in-depth journalism about city and county government, schools, healthcare, business, and arts and culture in Tarrant County. Always free to read; subscribe to newsletters, read coverage or support our newsroom at fortworthreport.org.