Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Caution: No Smoking Or Open Flames Near My Neighborhood Abandoned Chesapeake Energy Drilling Site

Abandoned Fort Chesapeake
Today I decided to not waste petrol driving to a place to walk. Instead I decided to take a very rare walk around my neighborhood.

My primary motivation to take this walk was to take pictures of my #1 neighborhood eyesore, what the locals have taken to calling Fort Chesapeake.

That is Fort Chesapeake in the first picture, looking east up a hill on Boca Raton Boulevard.

NO SMOKING OR OPEN FLAMES
Ever since Chesapeake abandoned Fort Chesapeake, a chain link fence has surrounded the perimeter of the fort. Last week a secondary chain link was added about 10 feet in from the original chain link fence. Apparently Chesapeake wants to make sure the abandoned fort is secure from invaders.

CAUTION
But, why is Chesapeake so worried about incoming invaders that 2 chain link fences are required? Well, the picture on the left might have the answer to that query.

Why would this abandoned well require a sign warning "CAUTION NO SMOKING OR OPEN FLAMES"?

As I type these very words a few miles to the northwest of my location, near Boyd, in Denton County, a Barnett Shale Driller's Saltwater Disposal Well is burning. Saltwater, you know, that harmless water that is injected into the ground during the fracking process somehow went to explosive flame mode.

The Metal Plate At The Center Of Fort Chesapeake
Now, my neighborhood abandoned Fort Chesapeake operation is very strange. In August us living in this location were a bit non-plussed at all the activity, big trucks, noise, involved in erecting a drilling tower and all its accompanying accouterments.

And then a short time later, with no drilling noticed by anyone, suddenly a big line of trucks showed up, creating a bit of a congestion problem on Boca Raton, lined up to remove all the drilling equipment.

After all the equipment was removed, the drilling site was smoothed over, with an orange mesh fence, that you can see in the picture, above, surrounding what looks like a heavy metal plate. This is not what one usually sees left behind after Chesapeake Energy finishes poking the earth in one of their Barnett Shale Natural Gas Drilling Operations.

Collapsed Fence Enhancing Explosion Danger?
Other than the addition of the second chain link fence I've seen little activity at abandoned Fort Chesapeake.

I would think someone from Chesapeake Energy would show up to re-erect the chain link fence on the eastern edge of Fort Chesapeake. It has collapsed onto the sidewalk that runs along the Loop 820 frontage road.

In the picture of the fallen fence you are looking south towards the Super Bowl Buffet. I hope the fallen fence does not make it easier for open flames or smokers to have access to whatever it is that is so flammable inside abandoned Fort Chesapeake that it required a dire warning sign.

Am I the only person in Fort Worth who thinks abandoned Fort Chesapeake is a bit of an eyesore? Why is this type eyesore allowed? It really ruins the view east from Miss Puerto Rico's balcony. It blocks the view of the 820 freeway and Dallas to the east.

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