"DALLAS — The production of oil and natural gas in West Texas is booming but it’s coming at a cost to residents who are regularly exposed to unhealthy levels of air pollution, according to a report issued by an environmental group.

The Environmental Integrity Project noted in a report released Thursday that the Permian Basin, which extends into New Mexico , is one of the most productive hydrocarbon regions in the world, thanks largely to the advent over the past decade of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. In another two years the basin will account for about 40 percent of all U.S. production , the group said.

But a consequence of that production is dangerous levels of sulfur dioxide in the air around Odessa and other locations, according to the report, which adds that pollution levels in much of Ector County, where Odessa is located, exceed standards set by the federal Environmental Protection Agency."

David Warren reports for the Associated Press May 9, 2019. [2]