The TCEQ announced the official launch of a new interactive website that contains air monitoring data from the Barnett Shale region in North Central Texas. The Barnett Shale viewer will be available 24 hours a day and will be continually updated with the most recent monitoring results and toxicological analysis as the agency collects air samples in the region in an effort to give residents information about local air quality.
“This new map can pinpoint down to discreet locations to provide the latest monitoring data and reports being filed by our investigators,” said Mark Vickery, TCEQ’s executive director. “The public needs access to this complex scientific data and we’ve developed a tool that is timely, meaningful, and easily accessible.”
The map was created at the request of lawmakers and to give the public the ability to see the results of the hundreds of air samples taken in the Barnett Shale region. The map will be updated at least once per month.
The new Barnett Shale map has many features, including:
Allows users several options to find sampling results from specific locations.
· Sampling locations will show the date that the sample was collected, the type of sample that was collected, what type of source was sampled, and if available, sampling results.
· For locations where laboratory data is available, results are available for 84 compounds, including benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene.
· “Survey only” locations are also shown on the map. Survey only means that staff surveyed the site, but there was no indication that further sampling was warranted so there will be no sampling data.
· Sampling sites are color coded: Green symbols mean results from all of the measured compounds are below the agency’s long term Air Monitoring Comparison Value (AMCV); blue colored symbols mean for at least one of the 84 measured compounds the results are greater than the long term AMCV but below the short term AMCV; red colored symbols mean results for at least one of the 84 measured compounds were above the agency’s short term AMCV.
· Ability to connect to real-time data from all of the Automatic Gas Chromatograph (AutoGC) monitors located in the Barnett Shale area.
· Yearly reports providing health effects evaluations of the agency’s “Community Air Toxics Monitoring Network” is also available.
The website is at http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/implementation/barnettshale/bshale-viewer. There are specific instructions on how to use the map, as well as email addresses to submit questions or comments. The map is configured to work best with Internet Explorer and Firefox internet browsers. Should the interactive map not work on the user’s computer, or if they would prefer to obtain the information in a text format, the same information concerning sampling locations and results is available on a county level at: http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/implementation/tox/barnettshale/samplingresults.