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.
Showing posts with label Express Energy Services. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Express Energy Services. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Trinity Litter Piling Up Behind Trinity Falls By Gateway Park

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.

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?

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.

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.

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

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.

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?

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.

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

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

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.

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

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?




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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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?

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

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.

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

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.
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