Every time Rosalia Tejeda watches her children play in the backyard of their Arlington home, she regularly checks the time on her phone. 

She never lets them stay out very long — every minute counts. 

Tejeda, who has lived in Arlington since 2009, constantly worries her children’s health is in jeopardy, as the family lives less than a mile away from active gas wells.  

Her concerns are linked to the work of medical researchers across the country who have connected poor health outcomes to living near oil and gas development. 

“I won’t let (the children) go a whole hour without actually coming in and having a break, just because that’s in the back of my mind,” she said. 

Several Arlington residents, including Tejeda, are speaking out about their health concerns in response to French energy company TotalEnergies’s most recent permit application to drill gas wells within a mile of several elementary schools, homes and a day care facility. The proposal is the company’s third attempt to drill new wells in the area since 2020. 

A spokesperson with TotalEnergies, known in North Texas as TEEP Barnett, said the safety and well-being of the community are “our utmost priorities.” 

“TotalEnergies E&P Barnett is committed to following the highest standards of environmental protection and safety in accordance with the standards of the city of Arlington and the state of Texas and to working together with residents and city officials to continue to be a responsible operator and community partner,” the company said in a statement. 

Susan Schrock, spokesperson with the city of Arlington, said the council does factor in public health and other considerations when making a decision about the location of drilling zones near “protected structures,” which includes buildings like schools, hospitals and homes.

Third attempt at new drilling site

The dispute between TotalEnergies and several Arlington residents over new drilling sites has persisted for several years. The energy company owns 31 of the 51 drill sites permitted in the city. 

In 2020, TotalEnergies sought approval to drill new wells in east Arlington at 2000 S. Watson Road. Arlington City Council members denied the request, amid concerns over how gas drilling could affect the majority-Black and Hispanic community. Just over a year later, the company applied again for the same site. 

Arlington City Council gave preliminary approval to TotalEnergies to expand its drilling zone, a decision council members reversed in early 2022 as the city faced a lawsuit from environmental advocacy group Liveable Arlington and a nearby day care, Mother’s Heart Learning Center. 

TotalEnergies is now in the process of submitting a request for a new proposed drill zone at 2020 S. Watson Road, south of the original east Arlington site, Schrock told the Report. 

The proposed zone sits within a mile of Mother’s Heart Learning Center, which serves primarily Black and Hispanic children, and three schools: Johns Elementary, Adams Elementary and Thornton Elementary. The site is also within a mile of Tejeda’s home.

When Wanda Vincent, the owner of Mother’s Heart Learning Center, heard about this latest proposal, she sighed in disbelief. She and Liveable Arlington have been at the forefront of opposition to TotalEnergies’ past two drilling attempts, she said. 

“It seems like a never-ending battle,” Vincent said. “You think it’s done, and here we go again. It’s like they’re never going to go away. It feels like the powers that be just don’t care.”

During a May council meeting, Mayor Jim Ross reminded residents of House Bill 40, a 2015 state law that prohibits cities from banning fracking or implementing regulations on drilling that are not “commercially reasonable.” Council members have frequently pointed to the law as the reason they must approve new gas well permits, citing fear of legal action against the city.

In Arlington, drillers are required to place new wells at least 600 feet away from the primary structure of a day care establishment, unless they get a waiver from city officials. Waivers — which require a majority of seven council members to move forward — allow companies to drill no fewer than 300 feet away from a day care. 

TotalEnergies said its proposed pad drilling is “well beyond” the city’s requirements. 

“The Maverick pad has been located so that the proposed drill zone is over 1,000 feet from the closest day care, over 800 feet from the nearest resident and over 2,000 feet from the three nearby elementary schools,” the company said in a statement. 

Vincent is aware of the city’s regulations aimed at protecting residents, but she remains concerned about the health of the children in the neighborhood. 

“There’s so many professionals, scientists and doctors that are pulling so much data,” she said. “No parents want their kids exposed to anything harmful.”

Some research links fracking to poor health outcomes

Earlier this year, national environmental advocacy group Earthworks collaborated with Liveable Arlington to produce a formal report, titled “Total Disregard,” that activists say documents a six-month pattern of unregulated air pollution at drill sites across the city. 

Between August 2023 and January 2024, specialized methane-detecting cameras documented 85-plus pollution events from 24 sites in Arlington, according to the report. Of those pollution events, 75% were at sites fracking within 200 meters of residences. 

TotalEnergies disputed the report’s findings during a June council meeting, saying the emissions came from a natural gas compressor station rather than the company’s drill site. Once the gas leaves its drill site, it is no longer under their control, spokesperson Leslie Garvis said.

Nicole Deziel, associate professor of environmental health sciences at Yale School of Public Health, and several of her colleagues have been researching the health impacts of exposure to oil and gas development for several years. One of their focus areas has been children living near fracking sites in Pennsylvania. 

The Yale researchers found that children born within 2 kilometers — 1.24 miles — of an active drilling site are at an increased risk of leukemia. Living near a natural gas drilling site has also been linked to significantly higher rates of asthma, cardiac disease, respiratory problems, fetal abnormalities and mortality in older adults, Deziel said. 

“Approximately 18 million people in the U.S. live within a mile of an active oil and gas well,” Deziel said. “That’s a pretty substantial fraction of the population, and these wells are known to release air pollutants and odors.” 

Based on research, Deziel recommends government and city officials should revise regulations on drilling sites by placing wells at least 1,000 meters from homes and schools. Nearly 1 million Tarrant County residents live within a half-mile of oil and gas activity, according to a 2022 report.

Still, determining the exact impact of exposure has been difficult, Deziel added. 

“The results are not always identical across all studies,” she said. “Some things that we still don’t fully understand are which hazards are responsible for some of these (health) impacts. There’s certainly some questions that still need answering.” 

Dr. Anne Epstein, an internal medicine specialist who hosts presentations on the health impacts of fracking, echoed Deziel, adding that there is always a need to “refine studies.” 

“There’s always more research to be done, but at some point we have to step back and look at what we’re going to do with this information,” Epstein said. 

What comes next?

TotalEnergies aims to address community concerns by not only implementing several measures on its existing gas sites but at the proposed site to minimize any “potential disruption or risk to nearby residents.” 

The company’s measures include advanced monitoring systems with remote shutdown capability, noise reduction strategies, air quality standards, leak detection and repair, and emission reduction. 

“Our goal is to operate responsibly and sustainably while maintaining an open dialogue with the community,” the company said in a statement. 

A date has not been set for the proposed new Watson Road drill zone permit to be heard by the Planning and Zoning Commission or City Council, since TotalEnergies has not yet provided all paperwork for review, Schrock said. 

Prior to a hearing, the city will send out notifications to property owners within 1,320 feet of the proposed pad site’s boundaries. The energy company would also be required to notify nearby property owners and hold a community meeting, she added. 

“The Council balances all of those considerations with its limited authority to regulate gas well drilling in a manner that is commercially reasonable,” Schrock said in a statement. 

Liveable Arlington and several residents are waiting for the city to release an agenda item related to the proposed drill zone. Members of the advocacy group will be there in person to speak against it, said Ranjana Bhandari, executive director of Liveable Arlington. 

“There is anger; there is strong, strong opposition to drilling,” she said.

As for Tejeda, she has joined Liveable Arlington’s campaign, advocating alongside the organization to bring awareness to the effects of fracking on public health. She remains committed to the cause — fighting for the health of her children. 

“What will it take for them to say no to Total or any other company that’s wanting to frack where there are children?” Tejeda asked. “What drastic measure has to happen for them to say, ‘This is bad for our city’?”

David Moreno is the health reporter for the Fort Worth Report. His position is supported by a grant from Texas Health Resources. Contact him at david.moreno@fortworthreport.org or @davidmreports.

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