For more information:
Deborah Rogers
deborah300@sbcglobal.net
www.deborahsfarmstead.com
(817) 821-0975
Fort Worth’s Deborah Rogers Panelist at Pipeline Safety conference
FORT WORTH, Texas – Deborah Rogers, owner of Deborah’s Farmstead and a landowner concerned with possible air contamination from Barnett Shale drilling near her 40-acre property, has been invited to be a panelist at the 4th annual National Pipeline Safety Trust conference Nov. 5-6 in New Orleans.
The conference -- Pipeline Safety: What Local Communities Want to Know - A conference for all stakeholders -- brings together a mix of the public, local government, the pipeline industry and pipeline regulators to discuss issues and create greater understanding to move pipeline safety initiatives forward.

Rogers will take part in a breakout session entitled “Local Government and Citizen Efforts to Understand Gas Drilling Impacts.” Also on the panel are Mayor Calvin Tillman of DISH, Texas, and Wilma Subra, President, Subra Company and a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship winner.
During a routine baseline test in the spring, elevated levels of carbon disulfide and other sulfur compounds were found on her property in Westworth Village, Texas, just west of Fort Worth.
Rogers met state and local officials only to find out that no testing had been conducted with regard to air emissions from gas wells. Nor was there a program in place for ongoing monitoring.
“Everyone freely admitted,” said Rogers, “that no one had any idea of the range of chemicals emitted by these wells. Or what the impact might be to an immediate neighborhood. And yet, there are now more than 15,000 wells drilled or permitted in Barnett Shale.”
The conference focus is on the new Community Technical Assistance Grants provided by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). PHMSA received $1 million from Congress to implement these grants that allow local governments and community groups to spend up to $50,000 to work on pipeline safety issues of their choosing or to hire independent technical consultants to provide them with pipeline safety information.
Grant recipients will discuss what types of pipeline safety issues their grant proposals are aimed at, meet each other and a wide range of pipeline safety stakeholders, and facilitate contacts for the grant recipient's use as their grants progress. There will also be sessions on the status of the Pipeline and Informed Planning Alliance, what types of information is and is not available, community awareness programs and community involvement processes that have worked.

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