2019-001 Gas Well SamplingDate: January 4, 2019 Report No. 2019-001
INFORMAL STAFF REPORT
TO MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
SUBJECT:
On January 1, 2019 Council Member Paul Meltzer sent an email to Ken Banks, General Manager of
Utilities, regarding a scientific study to evaluate gas well setback distances for the City of Denton. In the
email, Council Member Meltzer requested staff to provide an informal staff report addressing the
following question “To reduce upfront cost, would it be feasible to take it a step at a time and just test
whether our current 250 foot reverse setback is safe and healthy—including under conditions where
fracking is taking place?”
DISCUSSION:
An informal staff report (ISR) regarding a scientific study to evaluate gas well setback distances was
provided to the City Council on December 21, 2018 (ISR 2018-194). The information included in ISR
2018-194 was designed to address a previous request by Council Member Meltzer to determine a setback
distance that was adequate for protecting public health. Staff provided detailed recommendations on
major study elements to include in such a study, based largely on a similar study conducted by the Eastern
Research Group (“ERG”) for the City of Fort Worth during 2010-2011. The approach used in ISR 2018-
194 was designed to assess multiple distances to determine a distance that was protective of public health
according to the parameters specified within the ISR. Using information from the ERG study, ISR,
2018-194 also stated that it is not unreasonable to expect the study to be in the 2 million dollar range, and
to take perhaps 1.5 to 2.5 years to complete
The request made on January 1, 2019 involves assessment of a single distance of 250 feet, which will be
more analogous the Fort Worth ERG study and should reduce costs. However, staff recommends
excluding the element of assessments “under conditions where fracking is taking place.” The rationale
for this recommendation is due to the fact that a large number of fracking events will need to be assessed
to understand contaminant concentrations and to have enough data to model. Currently, fracking is a rare
event in Denton because drilling is not occurring, and as a result it is unlikely that there will be enough
fracking events available to provide an adequate assessment unless the study extends for a very long time.
This will likely continue to be the case unless energy markets change substantially.
Estimating the cost of such a study is difficult, but using the same approach as applied in ISR 2018-194,
staff expects that a “single distance” study for Denton would be in the 1 to 1.4 million dollar range and
would likely take 1.5 to 2 years to complete.
STAFF CONTACT(S):
Kenneth Banks.
General Manager of Utilities
(940) 349-7165
Kenneth.Banks@cityofdenton.com