Texas Officials Turn Blind Eye To Fracking Industry's Toxic Air Emissions (Condensed Version)

KARNES CITY, Texas—In January 2011, with air quality worsening in Texas' booming oil and gas fields, state environmental regulators adopted rules to reduce emissions.

The industry rebelled. So did the state legislature.

A few months later, lawmakers passed SB1134, effectively preventing the new regulations from being applied in the Eagle Ford Shale region of South Texas, one of the nation's biggest oil and gas booms. Since then, more than 2,400 air emissions permits have been issued in the Eagle Ford without additional safeguards to reduce the amounts of benzene, hydrogen sulfide and other dangerous chemicals that drift into the air.

The legislature's rush to protect the oil and gas industry reflects a culture in which politics and business have become almost inseparable.

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