Showing posts with label Express Energy Services. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Express Energy Services. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Encountering A White Pickup Truck Today On The Tandy Hills

Does anyone remember my encounters with Express Energy Services white pickup trucks?

I think those encounters left me with a mild case of post traumatic stress disorder.

Today as I neared the end of my salubrious Tandy Hills hiking, near the top of Mount Tandy, suddenly a white pickup truck was coming towards me.

When the driver saw me he swerved off the trail so as to avoid hitting me, unlike the Express Energy Services white pickup trucks which picked up speed as they aimed directly at me.

As today's white pickup truck passed me I saw it was a Fort Worth Water Department truck. The driver politely howdied me and asked how I was doing.

The encounter did set my nerves on edge. The truck seemed to appear out of nowhere, which is what startled my delicate nervous system.

As I walked on I turned around to see the truck head down the steep part of the descent from Mount Tandy. Then it stopped. Then backed up. The truck sounded as if it was struggling to back up.

So, I walked back to take a picture of my latest encounter with a white pickup truck, which is what you are looking at in the picture at the top. That and the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth.

Slightly warmer on the hills today. Slightly warmer for swimming this morning. But, I heard on the radio that more cold temperatures are on the way, but I think the radio may have been wrong, because I see my computer's weather forecast is for 92 and possible T-Storms for tomorrow.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Trinity Litter Piling Up Behind Trinity Falls By Gateway Park

Some rain fell last night. So, this morning the Trinity River was flooding over Trinity Falls by Gateway Park. And an awful lot of litter had piled behind the kayak dock.

A week ago, today, 40 some foolishly brave souls were floating on inner tubes in this litter filled river.

Today, along with the litter, a big tree was stuck on top of the dam/trail bridge that crosses the Trinity.

In the distance you can see the Fort Worth Space Needle that sits on top of Mount Tandy. It was likely too muddy to go hiking on the Tandy Hills today. Which is why I took a Gateway walk on my way to Town Talk.

It is in the low 80s, but, that was one humid, muggy walk today. I especially appreciated the Town Talk walk-in cooler. Just a sec, I'll check what the humidity and Heat Index currently is.

Well, I'm surprised. It is currently 84.3, humidity at 57%, with a Heat Index of 88. It felt way hotter than that.

A cold front is supposed to blow in soon. Tonight, or tomorrow, I don't remember.

As I was walking towards the exit from Gateway Park to look at Trinity Falls, a familiar noise came to my ears. The sound of loud diesel engines pumping water. I'd forgotten about the big water sucking operation on the south side of the river.

As I crossed the footbridge to the Trinity Trail, a familiar sight came in to view. Two white pick-ups. I was not close enough to read if the trucks had the Express Energy logo on them. I suspect they did. When I snapped some pictures a guy got out of one of the trucks. It was all seeming way too deja vu to me.

But, I was fairly certain, in this instance, I was in very little danger of having a close encounter with a menacing truck.

Until the vexing wet stuff mucked up the outdoors, my plan today was to go on a ride on my two-wheeled auto-locomotion device. More rain is expected to do some more wetting. I'm sure it will eventually dry out again.

I'd love to stay and chat some more, but I have some other matters I need to attend to. I'll leave you with a look at Trinity Falls, looking west. I am almost 100% certain that is not an adventurous inner tuber that you see out in the middle of the river.

Monday, February 1, 2010

Is The Trinity Hole A Trinity River Levee Sinkhole In The Making?

I know I've mentioned it before, but to refresh your memory, 2 Saturday's ago I had a weird run-in with an Express Energy truck at the site of a water pumping operation in Fort Worth, on the Trinity Trails that run into Gateway Park.

After I had the run-in, I blogged about it, with pictures of the Express Energy truck barreling towards me on the paved pedestrian, no vehicles allowed, trail.

Soon after I blogged about the ugly incident, orange traffic cones were placed on the trail, with a sign saying "Utility Work Ahead." The traffic cones blocked the Express Energy trucks from driving on the Trinity Trail.

This morning I got a comment from "Anonymous" to the blogging about the Saturday Express Energy truck incident.

Anonymous said...

"DO ANY OF YOU HAVE A REAL JOB? walking around a park? huh? if your worried about the pavement being muddy? start by picking up the trash and dead bodies that are at the end of the hill... wheres the pics of that?"

Dead bodies? At the end of the hill? The hill reference sort of indicates this is an Express Energy person, aka shill. It's been pretty clear someone at Express Energy has been reading what I was saying about them every since I started saying stuff about them.

The best example of that came when I blogged about there being no permits posted. I then got a comment telling me there were permits posted, among other things. I quickly checked the site, to find no permits. And had my first encounter with Express Energy trucks.

After reading today's rather illiterate comment (I Ieft it as written, except for removing profanity) I decided I'd not been to the Express Energy 6 pump Trinity River water sucking site in awhile. So, today that is where I took one of those walks, which Anonymous finds perplexing that someone would do such a thing. In a park.

Well, there has been no attempt to fix the muddied, rutted, Trinity River levee. Maybe the water suckers are coming back, so what would be the point of fixing anything?

As you can in the picture, the levee got rutted up some more due to the Express Energy trucks being blocked by those orange traffic cones.

But, it was not the mud and ruts that surprised me today. Those I expected to see.

It is what the geologist, who walked with me today, found that was a bit unsettling, and, well, strange.

If you look at the picture at the top you will see a large hole. This large hole is about 100 feet west of the pedestrian bridge that takes you to Gateway Park. The large hole is on the north side of the paved trail, slightly south of the new "road" muddied in by Express Energy.

The Trinity Hole was weird to look into. My first reaction was how do I know that I'm not standing on a very thin layer of earth, with the Trinity Hole just being a little eye into the cavern?

My geologist co-walker said it looked like the beginning of a sinkhole. That it appeared that water had found its way into the levee and had eroded the hole.

The Trinity Hole is near where there was a leak in the pipeline, during the Express Energy water pumping. I took a picture of that leak on the Saturday I had the face-off with the Express Energy truck.

Looking in to the Trinity Hole it was too dark to see anything. So, I aimed my camera down the hole and took a flash picture. It looks like there's a bottom to the hole. Or maybe that is mud. It's such a perfect circle it looks as if something mechanical bored the hole. But why would anyone be boring holes, like this, into a river levee?

Very perplexing.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Express Energy Pumps Not Sucking Trinity River Water At Gateway Park Trinity Trail Location

I'm often surprised by what I see when I cross the Trinity River, heading north on Beach Street. Today there were no white Express Energy Services trucks to be seen.

Maybe because, except for cleaning up after themselves, their water sucking operation, at this location, seems to have ended.

The pumps have been drug up from the river's edge. I assume this means they are done.

I could tell that the Express Energy Services trucks had not driven on the paved trail. All the orange traffic cones were knocked over and scattered, but there was no fresh mud on the trail.

I can't help but wonder how it came to be that the Express Energy people were told to quit driving on the paved trail?

A "UTILITY WORK AHEAD" sign remains up, with no utility work appearing to be happening.

It will be interesting to see how well the muddy, rutted mess on the Trinity River levee is cleaned up. Then again, this may not be the last of the water sucking from this location. This had been the second iteration of a pumping operation at where Gateway Park meets the Trinity Trails.

In the second picture you are looking south, towards the Trinity River, from the east side of Beach Street. You can see the Express Energy pipelines on the left and right.

This is the access point for what I was calling the White Darth Vader Trucks. A little bridge took the trucks over the pipelines, then, before they were stopped from doing so, they'd take a left on to the paved trail, quickly having it thickly covered with mud.

That mud was cleaned up when the "Utility Work Ahead" first appeared.

Below are most of the links to the bloggings about my experiences with Express Energy Services. I hope that subject is at an end...

Mess of 6 Pumps Getting Ready To Steal Trinity River Water?

Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief Or One Of His Lackeys Thinks I'm A Clueless Reactionary

The 2010 Cold Orwellian World Of Fort Worth Texas

I Have Had Me An Orwellian Big Brother Encounter With Express Energy On The Trinity River in Fort Worth

More Questions In The Increasingly Orwellian World Of Fort Worth Texas

West Texas Chief Operative CT2's Report On Express Energy Services

A Sunday Surprise At the Fort Worth Beach Street Trinity River Gas Driller Pump Site

Another Visit With Express Energy Services At Gateway Park Where Water Is Now Being Removed From The Trinity River

A Saturday Shootout With Express Energy On The Trinity River In Fort Worth

Friday, January 22, 2010

Who Decided To Put Traffic Cones On The Trinity Trail Between Beach Street & Gateway Park?

After hiking, for an hour or so, up and down the Tandy Hills, I headed north to the Beach Street Wal-Mart.

Being on Beach Street I was curious to have a look at the Beach Street/Gateway Park Express Energy water sucking operation.

Yesterday, the paved Trinity Trail (on which, last Saturday, I'd had a muddy confrontation with a White Darth Vader Express Energy Truck) was being cleaned.

Today the "UTILITY WORK AHEAD" sign was still up, and traffic cones still lined the trail from Beach Street to the site of the water pumping. There were two Express Energy trucks at the end of the traffic cones, one was on the levee, above the pumping site, the other was over the edge, backed up right to the pumps.

I saw no utility work being done. I did see the paved trail is now totally mud free, including the thickly muddied area where the Express Energy trucks drove on to the trail.

So, what's going on here? Are the traffic cones being left there to stop Express Energy trucks from driving on the pedestrian "No Motorized Vehicles Allowed" trail? Or are the trucks able to drive right over the cones without hitting them?

Today when I left Wal-Mart I decided to drive back to Gateway Park. I was curious if there was a "UTILITY WORK AHEAD" sign at the Gateway Park entry to the Trinity Trails, that being the pedestrian bridge you see in the picture. Well, all I saw was the final orange traffic cone at the end of the bridge. That's in the picture at the top.

When I took the picture of the bridge I could see there was no longer an Express Energy truck parked on top of the Trinity River levee.

I was curious if the truck over the edge was still there, so I walked to where there is a vantage point looking down on the operation. You can see the truck through the brush in the upper right part of the picture. And a guy in red with a white hat working on the pumps.

There are 2 more pumps sitting on top of the levee.

I think the mud ruts on the "road" down to the pump site must have dried up, if a truck is able to get back out of there without a lot of tire spinning and more muddy rutting and damage to the levee. It's quite steep.

Below is a chronological list of links of bloggings about the Express Energy Service Trinity River Gateway Park pumping operation...

Mess of 6 Pumps Getting Ready To Steal Trinity River Water?

Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief Or One Of His Lackeys Thinks I'm A Clueless Reactionary

The 2010 Cold Orwellian World Of Fort Worth Texas

I Have Had Me An Orwellian Big Brother Encounter With Express Energy On The Trinity River in Fort Worth

More Questions In The Increasingly Orwellian World Of Fort Worth Texas

West Texas Chief Operative CT2's Report On Express Energy Services

A Sunday Surprise At the Fort Worth Beach Street Trinity River Gas Driller Pump Site

Another Visit With Express Energy Services At Gateway Park Where Water Is Now Being Removed From The Trinity River

A Saturday Shootout With Express Energy On The Trinity River In Fort Worth

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Express Energy Service Section Of Fort Worth Trinity Trails Getting Cleaned For Mysterious Reasons

Today after hiking on the Tandy Hills I went to Town Talk. As my one longtime reader knows, that puts me on Beach Street where I can see the current state of the Express Energy Services taking water from the Trinity River operation.

That same one longtime reader may remember me mentioning driving on Beach Street a couple days ago and seeing no notorious White Darth Vader Truck guarding the operation.

So, of course I was curious to see if the Terror Trucks were still gone today.

What I found was just something new to be perplexed about.

When I blogged about my Saturday experience with mafia-like thuggery, I mentioned how badly Express Energy had muddied up the Trinity Trail and rutted up the Trinity River levee.

Today the Trinity Trail was marked off with orange traffic cones and the sign you see in the picture, "UTILITY WORK AHEAD."

The Utility Work appeared to be the cleaning off of the muddied Trinity Trail. I did not get any closer than the sign, so I don't know if it was a City of Fort Worth work crew, cleaning up the trail, burning your tax dollars to clean up after Express Energy, or if it was Express Energy cleaning up after themselves.

There was a White Darth Vader Truck guarding the river pumping site. I saw at least 1 Express Energy goon standing by the truck. I didn't want a repeat of Saturday's fun, so I took my pictures and continued on to Town Talk.

So, why is the muddy mess being cleaned up while Express Energy is still driving a truck to the pump site? I assume they are still driving on the pedestrian trail that says "NO MOTORIZED VEHICLES."

When I was in Town Talk I thought to myself that the only reason to clean up the mess was that the pumping was already over. I could not see the pumps from my vantage point by the Utility Work Ahead sign. I thought, maybe the white truck, by the pump site, was there to clean up the mess and the pumps were gone.

The pumps being gone seemed to be the only thing that made sense of the effort going into cleaning the trail.

When I was done in Town Talk I headed to Gateway Park. I parked by the trailhead that leads to the bridge that crosses on to the Trinity Trails. As soon as I opened my door I heard the pumps.

So, very perplexing. Why is the trail being cleaned while the mess makers are still making messes?

Below is a chronological list of links of bloggings about the Express Energy Service Trinity River Gateway Park pumping operation...

Mess of 6 Pumps Getting Ready To Steal Trinity River Water?

Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief Or One Of His Lackeys Thinks I'm A Clueless Reactionary

The 2010 Cold Orwellian World Of Fort Worth Texas

I Have Had Me An Orwellian Big Brother Encounter With Express Energy On The Trinity River in Fort Worth

More Questions In The Increasingly Orwellian World Of Fort Worth Texas

West Texas Chief Operative CT2's Report On Express Energy Services

A Sunday Surprise At the Fort Worth Beach Street Trinity River Gas Driller Pump Site

Another Visit With Express Energy Services At Gateway Park Where Water Is Now Being Removed From The Trinity River

A Saturday Shootout With Express Energy On The Trinity River In Fort Worth

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

The Ongoing Battle Against Conflicts Of Interest & Fort Worth Fascism

Ever since I read the FW Weekly cover story "He Won't Pipe Down" about Steve Doeung's heroic battle against the City of Fort Worth and Chesapeake Energy, to save his home from being stolen via yet one more case of eminent domain abuse in Texas, one part of Steve's story bothered me, almost more, than the eminent domain abuse.

When Steve Doeung did not give in to Chesapeake Energy's strongarm pressure tactics and made clear he was going to fight them, the City of Fort Worth sent in a gang of thugs made up of Code Violation Inspectors, accompanied by Fort Worth Police Gestapo Stormtrooper Agents.

Now, there might be those who think it outrageous that I refer to the Fort Worth Police as Gestapo Stormtroopers. Well, it is not outrageous. It is accurate.

The state, in the form of the City of Fort Worth, sent agents to intimidate a person who was rebelling against the state's fascism. Entering Steve's home, writing citations, scaring his daughter with their angry demeanor. Gestapo Stormtroopers is a perfect metaphor.

What I want to know is who ordered the Gestapo raid on Steve Doeung's home? This is a guy who survived the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, made it to America, with the rest of his family, and in an extremely short time has managed to become a classic All-American Hero of the Epic Sort. The idea that this guy would be the victim of Nazi-like terror, while living in the Land of the Free, well, it just aggravates me.

And while he is battling the fascist Fort Worth regime, he is also battling Lyme Disease.

The fact that the City of Fort Worth would use such a tactic is yet one more example of what happens when you have a city government corrupted by Conflicts of Interest. When you have a mayor who is a lackey for the natural gas drilling industry, that is running roughshod over the Barnett Shale region.

Did someone from Chesapeake Energy call up Mayor Mike Moncrief and tell him they wanted him to send in some of the city's Stormtroopers to scare Steve Doeung into submission? How did this raid come about? Did FW Weekly try and find out and ran into yet one more stonewall?

And now, another instance of Gestapo tactics taking place in increasingly fascist Fort Worth. That being my experiences with Express Energy Services. At the end of this blogging I'll list all the links to my bloggings about Express Energy Services.

Saturday's was the worst, where the Express Energy thugs crossed a serious line and committed what amounted to an assault. Saturday morning I'd blogged that I was going to check in on the Express Energy operation and see if I could find the non-existent meters that are supposed to be part of the operation.

I was taking pictures when two Express Energy goons got out of their White Darth Vader Truck. Okay, no harm in that. It is what happened next where a line was crossed. The guys in the truck must have called another guy in another White Darth Vader Truck and told him I have no idea what.

That guy in the second truck came towards me, at a high rate of speed, driving on the no motorized vehicles allowed, public, paved, pedestrian Trinity Trail. I jumped off the trail after the game of chicken had gone too far. At that point I was both mad and a little scared.

I continued walking, taking pictures. That truck quickly turned around and headed back towards me. I was off the paved trail, aiming my camera at him. He stopped about 100 feet from me.

It was obvious to both myself and Big Ed, who was appalled to experience in person, the bizarre incidents I'd been blogging about, that the guy in the truck was trying to intimidate us.

Why? Who gave the order to do so?

The guy in the second truck was not hurrying down the trail to conduct any business with the other 2 guys, that was made clear when he quickly turned around and headed back towards us.

I did not realize, til Big Ed told me later, that the Terror Truck had crossed to the other side of Beach Street and was watching us from the road that runs to the gas drilling operation.

Again why? I have also learned, from a couple of my own agents, that the White Darth Vader Truck is breaking another law by not having a license plate on its front bumper. Are those Fort Worth Code Compliance people and Fort Worth Gestapo Agents going to stage a raid on the Express Energy operation?

No. That won't happen. Thanks to that Conflicts of Interest situation that prevents the law from operating the way it is supposed to operate.

In chronological order below are the bloggings that has Express Energy Services going all Karen Silkwood on me....

Mess of 6 Pumps Getting Ready To Steal Trinity River Water?

Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief Or One Of His Lackeys Thinks I'm A Clueless Reactionary

The 2010 Cold Orwellian World Of Fort Worth Texas

I Have Had Me An Orwellian Big Brother Encounter With Express Energy On The Trinity River in Fort Worth

More Questions In The Increasingly Orwellian World Of Fort Worth Texas

West Texas Chief Operative CT2's Report On Express Energy Services

A Sunday Surprise At the Fort Worth Beach Street Trinity River Gas Driller Pump Site

Another Visit With Express Energy Services At Gateway Park Where Water Is Now Being Removed From The Trinity River

A Saturday Shootout With Express Energy On The Trinity River In Fort Worth

Saturday, January 16, 2010

A Saturday Shootout With Express Energy On The Trinity River In Fort Worth

It rained last night, here in usually dry Fort Worth, Texas. With the rain I knew my usual Saturday hiking up and down the Tandy Hills would not be doable, so I decided to go to Gateway Park.

And since I was at Gateway Park I decided to walk out to the Trinity Trails to see what those Express Energy boys were up to, if anything.

I think yesterday, when I mentioned checking in on the EE boys, I said I might be back today to search for the illusive meters that the TCEQ claims are required for this type of water removal operation.

Today I took along a bodyguard. I'm sort of glad I did. I could see there were a couple guys sitting in the White Darth Vader Pickup when I snapped the picture you see above, of the rutted up, muddied, damaged Trinity River levee.

And then I turned my attention to a leak spouting out of one of the pipes. Now is this leak before or after the water has been metered?

When I turned around, after taking the picture of the leaking pipe, I was surprised to see the two Express Energy guys out of the truck. They looked harmless enough. My bodyguard waved them a big howdy. They waved back.

The Express Energy guys would have had to walk through all that mud if they had wanted to get closer to me. Is mucking up the levee and the paved pedestrian trail included in the permit to run this operation? What happened next was very interesting.

I turned around from having taken the picture of the Express Energy guys standing beside their White Darth Vader Truck to find another White Darth Vader Truck coming towards me at high speed on the paved trail that says "No Motorized Vehicles." As he got closer he was not slowing down. I'm thinking, wait a minute, I'm the pedestrian here, walking on public land on a public trail.

I blinked and jumped out of the way after snapping the above picture. At this point the Express Energy exploits lost any chance of being considered a benign thing where I'm just over reacting. This had turned malignant. I continued walking, but kept glancing behind me. The truck that was on a course to run me over, drove to the rutted up zone, by the first truck, then quickly turned around and started heading back towards me!

By then I was off the paved trail because it was too muddy and too wet, I assume from leaking pipes. The truck stopped about midway between Beach Street and the water sucking site. I stopped to take some pictures of all the mud where the White Darth Vader Trucks drive on to the No Motorized Vehicles paved trail, right off Beach Street. That's the below picture.

You can sort of make out the former paved pedestrian Trinity Trail that has become a highway for Express Energy Services.

I continued on walking past Beach Street for about a mile. The paved trail crosses the Trinity River just east of the Beach Street bridge, but an unpaved trail continues on top of the levee on the north side. I sort of expected the White Darth Vader Truck to follow us. But he didn't.

I was a little wary of what I was going to run into on the way back through the Express Energy zone. The first White Darth Vader Truck was still in position, with the EE guys back inside the truck. You can see here another view of what a mess they have made of the paved trail, with tire ruts on both sides of the trail.

All looked peaceful as I continued walking. And then something funny happened.

I was on the bridge that leads into Gateway Park. I was taking some more pictures of the pipe leak. When I turned around to look in the opposite direction, I saw that one of the Express Energy guys was taking pictures of me! So, I took a picture of him taking a picture of me.

Now, yesterday I mentioned that in the Modern Wild West that I think cameras and cell phones have replaced the Six-Shooters of the Old Wild West. I think after yesterday's shootout Express Energy decided they needed to arm their guys. I hope he got some good pictures. I'm not very photogenic.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Another Visit With Express Energy Services At Gateway Park Where Water Is Now Being Removed From The Trinity River

It's been a week since my bizarre encounter with Express Energy Services at the Gateway Park/Beach Street location of a Barnett Shale gas driller's removal of water from the Trinity River.

Un-metered removal of water, until I hear otherwise from the non-responsive Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

I decided to return to Gateway Park and take a walk to the water sucking location to see if the pumps are now running.

As soon as I turned off the engine I could hear the pumps. Or pump. I don't think all 6 are running because it did not seem any louder than when there was only 1 pump. Way back then I was appalled at the damage being done to the Trinity River's levee. I would never have thought, way back then, that it would get so much worse.

So, I walked on to the pedestrian/bike bridge that leads out of Gateway Park to the Trinity Trails. You know, those trails that have signs on them saying "No Motorized Vehicles. I stopped mid-way across the bridge and started taking pictures. I'd noticed a guy standing on top of the levee, above the pumps, as if he was standing guard.

That's the guard in the first picture.

The guard did not take his eyes off me as I snapped pictures. Then I saw him get on his phone. Just like last week. But, last week I was unaware of the criminal history of Express Energy.

Then he started walking towards the bridge and stood staring at me right were you see that yellow post at the end of the bridge, in the picture.

When the guard on the phone saw I was aiming my camera at him he quickly scurried away, but not before I was able to snap a picture of him scurrying.

I tell you, in our modern world a camera is like packing a gun back in the Old Wild West.

There were a couple guys working on the pumps. I could see water swirling around one of the intake pipes, quite a lot of swirling. At first I thought it was the glossy gleam of an oil spill.

Up on the levee there sat a 7th pump. I don't see how they'd have room for another pump.

The Trinity River looks so small in this location. It would seem those 6 pipes could be removing quite a significant percentage of the water flowing by.

I wonder if the guys working on the pumps were doing something nefarious. Is that why another guy was standing guard above them? And is why he took such an aggressive interest in me taking pictures?

I sort of hurried off the bridge, heading back to my vehicle, but on the way I strayed off the paved trail and found another vantage point to take a picture of the pumps and the white truck mucking up the "road" that's been built by the water suckers to get down to the pump pad.

The next time I visit this operation I will do a thorough search for the illusive meters that are required to be part of this type of water removal, according to the thoroughly discredited Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Being Stimulated While Driving By The Express Energy Beach Street Trinity River Water Pumping Operation

My West Texas Operative, CT2, continues to find some interesting, well, actually, some damning information, about Express Energy Services.

Yesterday we learned from CT2 about Express Energy Services visits to Bankruptcy Court.

Yesterday we also learned that Express Energy Services is installing a pump/pipeline system for Finley Resources, Inc., with Finley apparently being yet one more Tarrant County gas driller.

Two days prior to finally seeing permits on the Beach Street/Gateway Park pumps, I had an interesting confrontation with Express Energy Services.

And now today, from Operative CT2, we learn that in addition to spending time in Bankruptcy Court, Express Energy Services has spent a lot of time in court for things like employment discrimination, personal injury negligence, breach of contract, a whole host of unseemly little things like racial discrimination, sexual discrimination, retaliation, health and safety suits filed by the Department of Labor.

This is a very unseemly company that the Tarrant Regional Water District is letting wreak havoc with the Trinity River levees, in cahoots with Finley Resources, Inc., to suck water out of the Trinity River, which I've yet to be told how this water sucking is metered.

Read Operative CT2's report in its entirety.

And on a slightly lighter, similarly subjected matter. Today after hiking the Tandy Hills I drove north on Beach Street, past the Finley Resources/Express Energy Services water sucking operation. There were several of the White Darth Vader Express Energy trucks in view, parked on the levee, above the pumps and in the parking zone on the east side of Beach Street.

There were also a lot of non-Express Energy Services pieces of heavy equipment parked off the east side of Beach Street. All that equipment had the look of a military operation.

But, the more interesting was the name of the new player in this Finley Resources/Express Energy drilling/water operation.

Vanguard Stimulation Services, LLC. The name suggests some sort of Viagra dispenser, but I suspect the stimulating refers to fraccing, as in stimulating the flow of natural gas out of the stubborn Barnett Shale. The Vanguard Stimulators are out of Shawnee, Oklahoma.

The picture at the top is some of the Vanguard Stimulation Services, LLC equipment. That boxy thing you see in the second picture looks like an armored vehicle, like Loomis uses to bring money to banks. I wonder what Vanguard Stimulation is doing in the armored vehicle? Is that where the dangerous fraccing chemicals are stored, before they are mixed with the never again to be drinkable water they are taking from the Trinity River?

Saturday, January 9, 2010

West Texas Chief Operative CT2's Report On Express Energy Services

My Chief West Texas Operative, Agent CT2, aka The Queen of Wink, after my bizarre incident, yesterday, on the Trinity River Levee, with Express Energy Services, decided to do some research in to the company which I believe is in cahoots with a cabal of crooks, to basically break Texas law and steal water from the Trinity River, for the benefit of gas drillers.

If the law were being followed, Express Energy Services would pay what is called money, to obtain a permit from the Tarrant Regional Water District, the agency which acts as the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality's agent in overseeing Tarrant County water use.

Express Energy Services recently went through Chapter 11 bankruptcy, leaving dozens of creditors unpaid. Express Energy Services has had all sorts of financial problems.

Now, why would the Tarrant Regional Water District enter into any sort of contract with a company that is financially so precarious? Supposedly Express Energy Services pays TRWD for the water it sucks from the Trinity River and then, in turn, re-sells that water to the gas drillers.

So, far I have not seen any public records of these transactions.

I am awaiting answers to some of these questions from the TRWD.

So far TRWD remains mute.

Now, read the report from my Chief Operative, Agent CT2. Agent CT2 raises all sorts of questions that need answers.