Texas day care gets reprieve after drilling plan is rejected

Parents who send their children to a day care center in Arlington, Texas, will be able to breathe easier after the city refused to let a major energy company drill more gas wells a few hundred feet from the center’s playground

Parents who send their children to a day care center in Arlington, Texas, will be able to breathe easier after the city refused to let a major energy company drill more gas wells a few hundred feet from the center's playground.

The Arlington City Council voted 5-4 on Tuesday night to reject the request by Total Energies to drill additional gas wells, reversing a preliminary decision by the council in November to allow the wells to go forward.

Tuesday's vote marked a setback for Total and a surprise victory for community members who wanted to halt the drilling because they feared it could harm the children's and neighboring residents' health. The Associated Press reported on the dispute in November, with a deep look at people affected along the natural gas supply chain. A statistical analysis of the locations of Totals wells in Arlington found a higher density of them in neighborhoods that many people of color call home. Living close to fracking sites has been linked to health risks, including asthma, neurological and developmental disorders.

“I am elated! Relieved…. It was totally unexpected," said Rosalia Tejeda, who lives a few blocks from the drilling site with her three children. “I hope this means that the health and welfare of our children should come above anything else because they are the future, our future workforce, our future leaders.”