Water Returns After Drying Up In Dalworthington Gardens Pappy Elkins Lake No Thanks To XTO Energy

Last night I got around to reading this week's Fort Worth Weekly.

This week's Fort Worth Weekly cover story is about a subject about which I have had some in person experience, and about which I have blogged multiple times.

That subject is the XTO Energy gas drilling site on the shores of Pappy Elkins Lake in Dalworthington Gardens.

The cover article is titled DRYING UP IN DWG with a sub-title of Water and facts have a way of getting lost in Dalworthington Gardens.

The "facts have a way of getting lost" part of the title and the fact that one key fact was not factual, according to what I saw with my own eyes last month, is a bit ironic.

The drying up referred to in the title is in reference to the claim that Pappy Elkins lake had shrunk from being a lake to being a puddle.

Well.

Friday, June 27 I was in Arlington, walking around Veterans Park. An extremely loud noise was coming from the direction of the XTO Energy site by Pappy Elkins Lake. So, after I was done walking I drove to Pappy Elkins Lake to the site of the XTO Energy site to turn off my engine and listen.

No noise.

And Pappy Elkins Lake looked no different than the first time I saw it way back on Sunday, October 24, 2010.

I assume the heavy rains last month re-filled Pappy Elkins Lake

Many Dalworthington Gardens locals believed the missing water was due to XTO Energy sucking the water out of the lake to frack its well. Well, wells.

The FW Weekly article claims there have been 11 wells drilled at the Pappy Elkins location. How is that even possible? I recollect the original drilling and a followup appearance of the drilling rig, just like what happened when Chesapeake Energy moved into two locations in my neighborhood.

Those who blame XTO Energy for a host of woes, including missing water, formed an organization calling itself Pappy Elkins Restoration Group, aka, PERG.

Among the many things which upset PERG is the apparent fact that when the permission was first granted to poke a hole in the ground beside Pappy Elkins Lake XTO Energy said they would not be asking to use the lake's water. Then after the hole was drilled XTO changed its mind and asked DWG's city government for a water sucking permit, with the expected approval of TCEQ.

Permission was granted to remove 3.2 millions gallons for the first well. By 2010 XTO Energy claims to have used 10.8 million gallons to frack three wells.

I do not do well at math, but if by 2014 there have been 11 wells drilled at this site does this mean that over 33 million gallons of water have been used to do the fracking?

On the left you are looking at the first XTO Energy Pappy Elkins drilling operation, with the tower hovering above the apartment complex to the east of Veterans Park.

I remember when I first saw this I was appalled, because it looked as if this was right amongst the apartments, which is what led me to find out where it actually was. That had me walking through the apartment complex, which had me meeting some upset residents, which I then wrote about in a blogging titled Finding Wildscapes Under A Barnett Shale Drilling Operation In Pappy Elkins Park In Dalworthington Garden.

If you go to the Finding Wildscapes link above you will see what the XTO Energy Pappy Elkins site looked like back in 2010. At that point in time, adjacent to the drilling tower was a Dalworthington Gardens Wildscape garden. That garden is now totally gone, covered over by the XTO operation.

The FW Weekly article makes mention of other things that don't match what I have seen. For instance mention is made of a baseball field and park on the north side of the lake, which the city allowed XTO to take over to install wastewater storage tanks. Back in 2010 I did not notice a baseball field or park and in June I did not notice any storage tanks.

Then again, at that point in time I had no reason to look for storage tanks or a missing baseball field.

I used Google Earth to do a closeup flyover of the site and could not find anything which looked like an old baseball field or storage tanks. I'm not suggesting FW Weekly made a mistake, I'm just saying I never saw these things, just like I never saw the lake looking like a puddle.

Mention is also made of a nearby school. I do not know where that nearby school is. I have not seen it.

In the Fort Worth Weekly article there is absolutely no mention made of the residences closest to the XTO Energy Pappy Elkins drilling operation, that being the apartment complex I previously mentioned.

Why in the world did Dalworthington Gardens allow drilling to take place at this location? No wonder the locals are upset and have PERGed.

11 wells drilled at that location? Can anyone make sense of that for me?

Was There A Gas Leak Last Night At The XTO Energy Drilling Site In Dalworthington Gardens?

I got email this morning about the XTO Energy Barnett Shale Natural Gas drilling site you see in the picture. It is located in Dalworthington Gardens by Pappy Elkins Park and Veterans Park in Arlington.

I have made mention of this drilling operation many times, due to its proximity to an apartment complex and people I've talked to who live in that complex who complained about the noise and pollution.

The email I got this morning was a compilation of email exchanges between various parties which began with the following statement...

"I believe there was some kind of an incident tonight with the gas well in dalworthington gardens (near Arkansas Ln)."

Another emailer in the exchanges spoke with RRC, whatever that is, about the alleged spill, saying...

"Just spoke with RRC and they have the correct site....not a spill (thank goodness cause there is a water body adjacent to that site)...all I know is that there was a gas leak at the DWG XTO site. I'll bring my son to school today after all.  I guess he'll be safe.  Life's a crap shoot these days in the gaspatch? The info I received from a council member for the Pantego site near my son's school is..... "...Frac'g is complete.  Some of the trucks drilled out plugs at the various frac stages. The only issue I heard had to deal with evacuating some frac water from some of the completed wells. When laterals get spaced closed together, sometimes as the shale cracks, frac water migrates to another well lateral so that water has to be pumped out before the well will start producing gas again.  There have been some pressure issues between the distribution pipeline and the well head pressure..."

I think the Pantego site being reference is the one to the northwest of the intersection of Pioneer Parkway and Bowen.

That's really was all the information I was able to glean from this email. Someone thought there was a leak. Someone else said there wasn't. The subject line was "Dalworthington Gardens XTO Gas Leak Last Night." The email was flagged urgent.

Also in the email was an interesting bit of Texas law...

Texas Administrative Code, Title 30,  Part 1, Chapter 101, Subchapter A, Rule 101.4, Environmental Quality, Nuisance

No person shall discharge from any source whatsoever one or more air contaminants or combinations thereof, in such concentration and of such duration as are or may tend to be injurious to or to adversely affect human health or welfare, animal life, vegetation, or property, or as to interfere with the normal use and enjoyment of animal life, vegetation, or property.

The law in Texas can be so ironic. There should be a law against that.

Finding Wildscapes Under A Barnett Shale Drilling Operation In Pappy Elkins Park In Dalworthington Gardens

With no bike to ride I decided to go to Veterans Park to do me some walking and contemplating. The Barnett Shale Natural Gas Drilling Rig is back making noise for the apartment dwellers who used to lived in a quiet peaceful location across from Veterans Park.

I really was not too much into the walking today. I'm feeling a bit downtrodden, or trodden down. One of the residents of the aforementioned apartments had mentioned, to me, a nearby lake. I tried to find the lake after that. The resident wondered if the gas drillers were going to be sucking water from the nearby lake. Between my last attempt to find this mysterious lake and today, I consulted a map. I found the lake easily.

The lake is in Pappy Elkins Park. I do not know if it is Pappy Elkins Lake. I do know you can fish in the lake. I do not know if you can eat the fish you catch. I also know you are forbidden to wade or swim in the lake.

As you can see, the shale drilling operation is right next to the lake. A road took me right to the gas drilling operation.

From the up close perspective the drilling operation appears further from the apartments than the perspective from Veterans Park. But it certainly is no where near 800 feet distant. 

Now, where it gets sort of interesting is Veterans Park, and, I assume, the apartments, are located in Arlington. Pappy Elkins Park, and, I assume, the gas drilling operation, are in Dalworthington Gardens, which is a tiny town surrounding by Arlington. So, with the gas rig in one town and the apartments in another, do the distance rules not apply?

Now, looking at the above photo, make note of the brown item, in the lower right, in front of the supposed sound barrier that surrounds the drilling operation.

Now we are right under the brown item, with the gas drilling tower hovering above. The sign says "DWG Wildscapes." Now, isn't that ironic? A Barnett Shale Natural Gas Drilling Operation sits were Pappy Elkins Park had a Wildscape, similar, I assume, to Veterans Park's Xeriscape.

Above is a map from which you can figure out how to get to Pappy Elkins Park if you are in the area and want to see a lake you've not seen before.