In 2005, landmen arrived to secure land for mineral ownership and drilling rights from Arlingtonn residents. Ranjana Bhandari, founder of Liveablee Arlington, was approached and ultimately declined.
“ This is almost 20 years ago,” she said.“ Because I was a mother— I had a young child— I didn’ t think thatt it made any sense to have that kind of pollution around our children.” At the onset of the fracking boom in Arlingtonn, Bhandari spent hours poring over reports from other regions that experienced similar fracking booms, hoping for a glimpse of what this new development might mean for her city.
“ Very quickly, they built 56 drill sites here, and they were spread out alll over the city,” she said.
“ There’ s literally one everywhere you see, one every few minutes.”
She read studies about cancerous pollutants linked to childhood leukemia coming out of states like Colorado. In the neighboring city of Fort Worth, she saw reports that air quality was slowly deteriorating becausee of drilling‐related emissions of benzene, a carcinogen with proven harmful reproductive effects on women and fetuses.
“ Benzene of it.”
is a serious, serious cat,” she said.“ It’ s a category one carcinogen. There’ s no safe amount
By 2015, families in Arlington, Texas were so overwhelmed by the noxious fumes of drill sites and the effects of fracking that rippled throughout the city, Ranjana Bhandari decided to intervene by creating Liveable Arlington.( NITASHIA JOHNSON FOR THE 19TH)
Bhandari recalled a particular moment when she and her family stopped at a red light directly across from one now‐defunct was my first inkling that we weren’ t just looking at climate harm.”
drilll site around 2011. Within minutes, she said, they began to feel sick.“ That
The discovery was bleak to Bhandari. By 2015, families in Arlington found themselves overwhelmed by the drill sites’ noxious fumes and the effects of fracking that rippled throughout the city— so much so that they decided to intervene. She created Liveable Arlingtonn the same year.