DISH — State environmental inspectors found emissions at some eye-popping levels during short monitoring visits in August and October, including particularly high readings obtained at the fence line of a natural gas wellhead where an operator reportedly left production equipment open.

Identified only as “Site 8” between five and 10 miles west of Dish, inspectors with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality found more than 30 compounds at elevated levels at 5 p.m. Aug. 26, including all four of the “BTEX” carcinogens, according to documents obtained by the Denton Record-Chronicle.

Specifically, inspectors measured 15 parts per million of benzene, 21 ppm of toluene, 7.4 ppm of ethylbenzene and 20 ppm of xylene.

Residents in Dish have complained for years about foul odors around natural gas production facilities in their community. About a dozen gathering pipelines converge at the town’s southern boundary where natural gas from the Barnett Shale is prepared for commercial markets.

Health concerns came to the fore last month after the town ordered its own study of ambient air quality and scientists found both carcinogens and neurotoxins at troubling levels.

Dr. David Sterling, public health expert with the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth, said inspectors need to find out how long the equipment had been left that way and whether the situation was common.

As recorded, the levels showed some risk for workers, since federal regulations limit benzene exposure for them, for example, to 1 ppm, he said.

“And that’s healthy adults,” Sterling said.

For young children, older adults, those with health problems and others just living or working nearby, the risk of exposure was less clear.

“If they’d [inspectors] been driving around for weeks and weeks and just found this one instance, I wouldn’t be as concerned,” Sterling said. “But if there are constant releases — or they are in urban areas — that’s a different situation.”

The data are still being analyzed, said TCEQ Region 4 Director Tony Walker.

“When you have a reading that’s exceedingly high on one day, it’s not necessarily exceeding state exposure limits for health,” Walker said.

Known as effective screening levels, TCEQ has set limits for both short-term and long-term exposure. Generally, short-term limits are derived from averaging an hour’s exposure to a toxin. Long-term levels are derived from averaging a year’s exposure.

State inspectors used infrared imagery and several types of sample collection to determine problem sites, according to the report. They started in August with sites where people had already complained of foul odors or other environmental concerns. They gathered samples at more sites Oct. 9-16, bringing the total to 60 sites.

In their preliminary report, dated Oct. 23, inspectors called attention to troubling levels of emissions downwind from several compression facilities, including a maximum benzene concentration of 1 ppm and hourly average of 0.54 ppm detected at the Targa facility west of Dish. Two other compression facilities also were measured, but not named, in the preliminary report.

Houston-based Targa spokesman Joe Bob Perkins said the company knew its facility, which is in Wise County, had been selected for monitoring because residents had complained about noise at the facility in the past. But he questioned the findings, given that the company had removed one of two gas-powered engines there, replaced it with an electric one, and enclosed operations in a building.

“Compared to the horsepower at other facilities in the area, ours is small,” Perkins said.

The company is talking with state inspectors, he said.

“We are working with the TCEQ to ensure compliance with current emissions permits in North Texas and have been cooperating with them as they gather data and consider updating regulations in the area,” Perkins said in a prepared statement.

Dish Mayor Calvin Tillman said he was not familiar with the Targa facility, since it is not part of the conglomeration of compression facilities at Tim Donald and Strader Roads at Dish’s southern border. But the sheer volume of emissions found in preliminary reports surprised him, he said.

“This just keeps getting worse and worse,” Tillman said.

An increasingly vocal critic of the industry, he called for regular monitoring and strict enforcement of state environmental regulations.

“These guys need to get regularly inspected, and fined, otherwise it will never stop,” Tillman said.

Walker reiterated that state environmental officials have not ruled out enforcement proceedings as they continue to gather samples.

“A multi-tabbed approach may be used as we determine the best practices, and opportunities, for the industry to come into compliance,” Walker said.

Inspectors sampled more sites last week for sulfide-related compounds after air studies commissioned by Dish and by a Fort Worth goat farmer found those compounds at troubling levels, Walker said.

A final report on the three-part study is due at the end of the year.

In addition, local TCEQ inspectors have planned another study in the spring, piggybacking on another assessment funded by the chief engineer’s office in Austin that should determine emission sources and rates in the area, along with their environmental impact.

PEGGY HEINKEL-WOLFE can be reached at 940-566-6881. Her e-mail address is pheinkel-wolfe@dentonrc.com .