We're not fully convinced that the membership of Denton's proposed gas drilling panel is as slanted toward industry interests as critics say it is, but it's close, and city officials might do well to give a second look to their selection process.
The proposed task force is supposed to advise city officials on what, if any, changes should be made to Denton's ordinances that regulate natural gas exploration and drilling. According to the report by the Record-Chronicle's Lowell Brown in Thursday's paper, the preliminary lineup includes the city's gas well administrator, a spokesman for gas drillers, a representative of a firm that does consulting work for oil and gas production companies, an independent environmental and energy consulting firm and two citizens' representatives, both with environmental or scientific backgrounds.
Critics objected to that roster, saying it was weighted heavily toward industry interests. Let's take a look:
• Darren Groth is the city's gas well administrator.
• Ed Ireland is the executive director of the Barnett Shale Energy Education Council. Translation: He's a voice for the drilling industry.
• n Karen Moss works for New Tech Global, an oil and gas consulting and engineering firm. She's another voice for the gas industry.
• Vicki Oppenheim and Tom La Point are the citizens' representatives on the board. Oppenheim is an urban planner and runs the Denton-based firm Green Leaf Environmental Planning.
• n The last seat on the task force has been reserved, so far, not for an individual, but for an independent consulting firm, Eastern Research Group.
Groth belongs on the task force, without a doubt. We don't know of anyone who disputes that.
We have some doubts about Eastern Research Group, not because we think it may be partisan but because we think it may not be very effective or efficient. The firm was hired by the city of Fort Worth to conduct an air quality study, and its efforts have been less than stellar so far. Back in March, it had to recalculate one study after it erroneously reported high benzene levels at one drilling site. It has also missed several deadlines for reporting back to Fort Worth city officials. Those foul-ups might just be anomalies, but we hope the firm is on its game when it reports to Denton.
Ireland and Moss are who they are: advocates for the drilling industry. They will vigorously oppose any tougher regulations. That's a given.
Oppenheim and La Point both seem extremely qualified, if not overtly partisan, and that's a problem. If the city is going to give seats on the task force to a couple of junkyard-dog drill-baby-drillers, then there should be some representation for equally partisan anti-drilling advocates. We think Oppenheim and La Point would be excellent choices for an impartial fact-finding panel, but the city's inclusion of Ireland and Moss creates a mismatch. Oppenheim and La Point seem like reasonable people; Ireland and Moss aren't paid to be reasonable.
If the city wants a cage-of-death tag-team match, with one side trying to out-holler the other, well, that's one way to go about it. One side can issue its report, the other side can write up its opinions, and the city can pick the one it wants. Let's just get some battle-hardened anti-drilling advocates on the panel to make it fair.
If it wants an informed, dispassionate discussion of the issues, however, it might do well to forego some of the partisanship and look for a little more scholarship.
