Taking A Look At My New Chesapeake Energy Neighbor

You are sitting with me in my vehicle, in the Albertson's parking lot, looking north through my windshield at the Chesapeake Energy Barnett Shale Natural Gas Drilling Operation that is my newest neighbor.

You can not see Albertson's, but it is to the left. The brick building on the right, that you can see, is the Super Bowl Buffet, directly across Boca Raton Boulevard from the Chesapeake operation.

It seems like just a few weeks ago I began to see activity on the old Wal-Mart site, and hoped it was going to be an ALDI Food Market being built, then a short time later seeing a Chesapeake sign announcing their request for a restriction waiver.

I remember when this Barnett Shale gas drilling first started happening, it was in the rural zone north of Fort Worth. I remember reading of complaints about noise and dust from people living near the drilling. I remember driving by my old abode, in Haslet, and being surprised to see a drilling operation underway, on the ranch that was on the Fort Worth side of the road, across from my former abode.

I remember thinking that I was glad I no longer lived there. How ironic that all these years later I have two Chesapeake operations closer to me than the one where I lived in Haslet.

Back then the rules were that the drilling had to be 800 feet from the nearest abode. That distance shrank over the years. Now it appears to be less than 100 feet, judging by my new neighbor. Actually I think the Super Bowl Buffet is closer than 100 feet from the big brown wall.

Are those big walls what is causing the corrupt powers that be to grant restriction waivers? My first Chesapeake neighbor, which is actually closer to my abode than the new one, did not put up a barrier wall when that operation was underway. It was very noisy and dusty.

I wonder if I'm going to be hearing noise from my newest neighbor. I have that Chesapeake wall as a buffer, plus several buildings to block the noise. I am sure you will hear me whine about it if I starting hearing high-pitched metallic whining noises. Again.