Is Chesapeake Energy Doing Some New Drilling & Fracking In My Neighborhood?

Around noon I left the warm comfort of my abode to push my way through the chilly brisk air up the hill to my friendly neighborhood Albertsons to see about the possibility of acquiring blackberry cobbler and a spinach portabella mushroom pizza.

I was successful with both acquisitions.

I'm in attaining supplies mode for Sunday's Super Bowl Party.

The day before the Super Bowl Elsie Hotpepper and Mary Not Contrary are taking me to a pre-Valentines Day lunch. I am fairly certain I will not be having blackberry cobbler or spinach portabella mushroom pizza at Saturday's lunch.

When I left Albertsons, carrying cobbler and pizza I looked north, across the street to my not so friendly neighborhood Chesapeake Energy Barnett Shale Natural Gas Fracking Pad Site and saw the sign you see here and thought to myself that this looked like a new sign.

So, I walked across the street for a closer sign look and to take a picture.

Is this sign announcing that a new permit to drill multiple wells has been issued to Chesapeake Energy? Or has this sign been stuck in the ground since way back years ago when the Chesapeake earth hole poking took place at this location? With oblivious me not noticing, or forgetting that I'd noticed?

It's been years since a fresh fracking has happened at this location. My other unfriendly neighborhood Chesapeake Energy fracking site has been fracked in recent years.

I thought Chesapeake had ceased with the Barnett Shale drilling and fracking.

I'm really in no mood for my neighborhood to get fracked again. It's noisy and dusty, with a lot of trucks cluttering up the roads. And there is just something unsettling about the ground underneath ones location getting fractured so as to release gas.

Maybe it is my neighborhood's turn to do some shaking from fracking earthquakes. So far we have been immune from the rocking and rolling which has vexed other areas of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex zone.

I have not been shaken by an earthquake this century. I understand the Texas fracking quakes are not noisy, unlike the non-fracking Mother Nature quakes that used to shake me fairly regularly in Washington and were extremely noisy....

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?

Apparently Urban Fracking Is Threatening The Dallas Suburb Of Fort Worth

Late this afternoon Elsie Hotpepper emailed me with the subject line of the email being "FW was first at something..."

I was intrigued.

The message in the email said "Why do I have a feeling no one is 'green' with envy?"

The green with envy reference refers to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's now, mostly, dormant practice of claiming this, that or the other actual lame thing, in Fort Worth, was causing spasms of envy in other locations on the planet.

Long ago I documented, via a webpage, instances of the Star-Telegram's Green With Envy verbiage.

That particular webpage is one of my more popular ones. It has generated a lot of ad revenue over the years.

But, I digress.

Elsie Hotpepper's email included a link to an article on the Truth Out website, with that article titled "Urban Fracking Bonanza Threatens Dallas Suburbs".

I am sure those in Fort Worth who suffer from what some refer to as the Dallas Fixation will really be liking that the Dallas suburb this article refers to is the town that calls itself Fort Worth.

Basically the article tells the tale of what a mess this Dallas suburb has made of itself by allowing itself to be the world's first large city to allow thousands of fracked gas wells to pollute its environs.

Fort Worth's noted Watch Dog, Don Young, makes an appearance in this article, as is to be expected in articles of this nature...

An Arlington Mom Is Not Happy About XTO Energy Causing Her Yard To Bubble and Burp

Last night XanziMom Last made an interesting comment to a blog post from way back in December 18, 2009.

XanziMom Last has left a new comment on your post "A Giant New Barnett Shale Gas Drilling Rig Hovers Over Veterans Park In Arlington": 

If you would like to see the aftermath of this horrific well...check out "Paradise Diminished Arlington, Tx". You can find it on the search engine BING by searching Fracking in Arlington Tx. I ran across it trying to find out why my yard is bubbling and burping when I drain my kids swimming pool.

______________________

You can check out the horrific aftermath to which XanziMom Last refers by going to Paradise Diminished Arlington, Tx.

In addition to XanziMom Last's yard bubbling and burping the horror also has to do with damage done to Pappy Elkins Park in Dalworthington Gardens. The Barnett Shale  Natural Gas Drilling Rig you see in the picture above is the source of the horror. And the damage.

After the initial post about this drilling operation I blogged about it, in various ways in three subsequent bloggings...

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2010
Finding Wildscapes Under A Barnett Shale Drilling Operation In Pappy Elkins Park In Dalworthington Garden

FRIDAY, MARCH 4, 2011
Was There A Gas Leak Last Night At The XTO Energy Drilling Site In Dalworthington Gardens?

SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2011
An XTO Energy Gas Site Blows Frac While I See My First Tandy Wildflower Of The Year & Contemplate Taking A Trip To TRIP

Chesapeake Energy Is Warning Me To Call Before I Dig

In the picture you are looking over the fence of the industrial complex that was added to my zoned residential/commercial zone about a year ago.

A Chesapeake Energy Barnett Shale Natural Gas Pad Site.

You are sort of looking southwest, in the picture. The building in the background is an Alberstsons, plus some strip mall type businesses.

My neighborhood gas pad was fracked recently. I don't know if this is what caused my bout of respiratory woes, or not. What I do know is the fracking is now completed and my respiratory woes have abated.

Years ago I got myself being all cranky over Chesapeake Energy's bullying tactics regarding pumping non-odorized natural gas under homes on Fort Worth's Carter Avenue. I found myself making an anti-Chesapeake blog and joining a protest at the Tarrant County Courthouse, supporting Steve Doeung's courageous court fight against the Chesapeake Energy bully.

Steve Doeung won that fight. No non-odorized natural gas flows under Carter Avenue.

I can not say the same for the two roads closest to my abode, those being Boca Raton Boulevard and Bridgewood Drive.

In the picture on the left  you are looking at a Chesapeake Energy WARNING, letting you know you are standing above a gas pipeline. No mention is made regarding the non-odorized nature of the natural gas flowing in that pipeline.

There are multiples of these warnings, due to the newly fracked well producing non-odorized natural gas that is being pumped somewhere unknown to me.

Today, for my daily walk, I took a tour of my neighborhood, which is when I made note of the new WARNINGS.

Walking across Miss Puerto Rico's parking lot I saw little round warnings embedded into the asphalt. The pipeline runs under Miss Puerto Rico's parking lot.

In the picture on the left that little yellow round dot in the center foreground is one of the "CALL BEFORE YOU DIG" warnings.

That is the back of the aforementioned Albertsons in the upper right of the picture.

When this pipeline was placed underground at this location the racket the process made was incredibly loud. It vibrated my location quite a distance away, to the point where I felt compelled to exit my abode to find out what was making the racket.

I asked Miss Puerto Rico if the people who park above this non-odorized natural gas pipeline were given any sort of notice as to what was being installed almost in their living quarters.

No notice was given.

I doubt many of the people who live here are aware of what is being pumped beneath them.

Texas has a long history of natural gas explosions, with the most famous explosion being the big bang at the New London School which brought about adding a telltale odor to odorless natural gas.

I have blogged about the exploding natural gas issue a few times...

Stairtown Latest Texas Natural Gas Explosion and Texas Natural Gas Explosion and Carter Avenue & The New London School Explosion.

I guess that whatever it was about non-odorized natural gas that caused disastrous deadly explosions in the past has now been fixed, which would explain why it is safe for non-odorized natural gas to be flowing underground at my location....

I Want Some Chesapeake Energy Mailbox Money & Fracking Air Quality Testing Done To The Air That I Breathe

This morning I read a disturbing bit of info in Fort Worth Weekly's Static titled Migraines and Mailbox Money.

A Fort Worth mom, Mandy Mobley, was in real good shape, slender and healthy. And then she started not to feel so good.

Headaches, dizzy spells, fatigued.

Visits to doctors provided no answers.

Then, Mandy Mobeley attended a North Texas Communities Alliance meeting where a video was shown showing the chemical stew spewing from a Chesapeake Energy Barnett Shale gas fracking operation.

Just like me, Mandy Mobley has a Chesapeake Energy gas fracking operation nearby.

Unlike me, Mandy Mobley leased her mineral rights to Chesapeake Energy, for which she gets paltry royalty checks.

I have been having some of Mandy Mobley's symptoms for months now. In September and October I thought the woes were allergies. I had not been an allergy prone person prior to this.

Then in early December came down with what seemed like a cold, which I later decided might have been the flu. Coughing, restricted breathing, feeling queasy.

Now I realize my bout of misery which began in early December began soon after Chesapeake Energy amped up their fracking operation in my neighborhood, with fumes of some sort clearly spewing forth, visible to the naked eye, at times.

Below is my local purveyor of fracking fumes. You can't see the fumes in the photo. When you can see the fumes they are fuming from a couple vents on top of the red boxcar like device.

The first time I ever experienced bad air pollution, and smog, was as a kid, the first time my mom and dad took us to Disneyland. The air of Southern California was so incredibly bad back then. The worst of it was when we went to Universal Studios. At that location the air was so bad it made my eyes sting and leak. It was so bad I can remember it like it was yesterday, even though this was decades ago.

The past month, or so, whatever it is my eyes are being burned by, the sensation is very similar, though much less severe, than what I experienced long ago in Southern California.

I wish Texas had not seceded, again, from the Union, and that that powerful United States agency known as the Environmental Protection Agency, still operated here. Maybe Texas should start up its own version of the EPA.

It could be called the Texas Environmental Protection Agency.

TEPA.

Does that not have a nice ring to it?

Australia's JB Buckingham's Frack Finding Tour Of Fort Worth & Beyond

Interesting incoming from the always interesting Don Young...

It's not every day that an Australian State Senator from New South Wales pops into Fort Worth for a visit. Senator Jeremy Buckingham, and his esteemed 8-person entourage are on a Frack-finding tour of the USA. They dropped by FWCanDo HQ last Monday seeking an unvarnished tour of Dirty Ol' Town, TX.

I was honored to be their "Virgil" on a whistle-stop, Don-te's Inferno Tour of devastation in the newly-industrialized city of Fort Worth. We visited several of the most offensive gas wells in FW including one in Gary Hogan's backyard. Other north Texas stops included Dish, Texas where they met with former mayor, Calvin Tillman.

Jeremy is a member of the Australian Green Party which enjoys more mainstream support and power than Greens in the USA. In addition to Texas, he and his entourage are touring Colorado, Wyoming, Pennsylvania and New York to investigate the impacts of fracking in their fight to ban the practice in coal seam and shale gas mining in AU.

Others on the tour include, Drew Hutton of Lock the Gate Alliance and Peter and Kim Martin of Southern Highlands Coal Action Group. The group will wrap up their tour at the Stop the Frack Attack in Washington D.C. on July 28. Their passion and commitment to protecting public health and the environment from fracking is admirable. Their willingness to travel to the US in that effort is inspiring.

Check out pics, videos and commentary of JB's USA Frack Finding Tour.

One Thing Is Certain: Fort Worth Is Not Safe For Either The Living Or The Dead

This morning I got email from Don Young with a couple links I did not get around to clicking on til this afternoon.

The email message...

In their latest angle on covering the dangers of drilling-fracking, the national media is fixated on the DEAD. While I welcome almost any media attention to the most important environmental/human health issue of our times, this one is kind of like a red herring, distracting the public from more important issues.

When the media came calling last week to inquire about my long-dead father I did my best to steer them back on track. We all have respect for the dead but when industry is fouling the planet at a breakneck pace we must focus on the LIVING.

One thing is certain: Fort Worth, Texas is not safe for either.

One of the links went to a New York Times article titled "Drilling for Gas Under Cemeteries Raises Concerns." The other link went to a CNN article titled "Fracking Under The Dead."

Below is an excerpt from the New York Times article...

FORT WORTH — Henry Donald Young Sr. is buried in a small pioneer cemetery next to his parents here, beneath the drooping leaves of an old tree at the industrial edge of one of the largest cities in Texas.

But Mr. Young’s relatives wonder how restful his final resting place has become. Thousands of feet beneath the cemetery, a company has been drilling for natural gas using the controversial technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

“I would imagine that drilling and fracking and all that vibration is bound to cause some damage,” Mr. Young’s son, Don, said of the 134-year-old Handley Cemetery. “But who’s going to dig up their dead relatives to see if there’s a crack in the casket? What’s being done to Fort Worth in general, whether it’s to the living or the dead, it’s immoral.”

The Morning Of May Day 17 Thinking About Not Fracking In Vermont

Looking close-up, through my primary viewing portal on the outer world, on the morning of May Day 17, it appears to be yet one  more clear blue sky morning in North Texas.

Currently heated to 65, heading to a high of 88.

The National Weather Service continues to issue a daily "Air Quality Alert."

I don't know if it is the quality of the air which is causing my eyes to be irritated and leak, or what. The quality of the air is my prime suspect for this particular malady.

In gas fracking news, the governor of Vermont, Peter Shumlin, signed into law, yesterday, a ban on the hydraulic fracturing of subterranean shale. Vermont is the first state to ban the practice of fracking.

There are, currently, no gas drilling operations underway in Vermont and, currently, seismic testing has not found any underground trapped gas reserves.

I suspect having no underground trapped gas reserves made it slightly easier to ban hydraulic fracturing.

Meanwhile, yesterday in East Texas we had an increasingly less rare earthquake.

And now it is that time in the morning when I go swimming.

Inside The Walls Of Fort Chesapeake Is A Beehive Of Fuming Fracking Activity

Frac Job Underway In Fort Chesapeake On Wednesday

On Sunday the gate to my neighborhood Fort Chesapeake was wide open.

So, I walked inside the notorious walls.

That day, January 8, I saw the Frac Job was due to start January 10.

In the photo, from a couple hours ago, you can see that there is now a lot going on inside the walls of Fort Chesapeake.

It really is quite astonishing to see how much equipment is brought in and put in place. It looks as if it would be a logistics nightmare.

Whatever it is that is involved with Fracking, it is very noisy.

Can you see that grayish discoloration in the photo, above the white piece of equipment? That looks like exhaust fumes? It is rising from what looked to me to be the location of the hole that was poked in the ground, so the Fracking Water can reach the Barnett Shale and Frac it.

Inside The Walls Of Fort Chesapeake On Sunday

I smelled nothing foul, unlike my previous close up encounter with a Frac Job, that being the notorious Scott Avenue well on the west side of the Tandy Hills.

With the noise of what sounded like a lot of engines running one would think I would have at least detected diesel fumes.

I have no idea how long this Fracking is going to last. This is totally different than my other nearby Chesapeake Energy well operation.

That time there were days of long lines of trucks. I assumed they were bringing in the Fracking Water.

Now I"m thinking maybe those long lines of trucks were taking away the used contaminated Fracking Water.

The first drill pad in my neighborhood is closer to the Trinity River, with the current water sucking pipeline running right by that previous Chesapeake operation. I saw the pipeline today, running from the Trinity River, under Randol Mill Road and then in a creek bed, heading up the hill, past my first neighborhood Chesapeake drilling site, then to Fort Chesapeake.

So, I guess I have the long line of trucks part of this operation to look forward too.

Fort Chesapeake's Gate Was Wide Open So I Walked Inside

Water Flowing Past The Open Gate Of
Fort Chesapeake

I mentioned earlier that last night I saw an odd thing at my neighborhood Chesapeake Energy Barnett Shale Natural Gas Drilling Site that I call Fort Chesapeake.

That odd thing was the gate to the pad site was wide open.

I thought maybe Chesapeake had someone staying on the site 24 hours a day. I told myself I'd find out in the morning.

Well.

The gate was still wide open this morning. I did not want to walk into the drill pad site until I checked to see if there was any sign of life inside the walls of Fort Chesapeake.

Looking Inside Fort Chesapeake From The
Loop 820 Vantage Point

So, I walked to the side of the site that faces the Loop 820 freeway. No wall blocks the view from this side.

As you can see via the view from the wall-less east side of the pad site, there is no sign of human activity inside the walls of Fort Chesapeake.

An unsecured Fort Chesapeake gas drilling site with a well at its center. An unprotected well.

After determining that Fort Chesapeake was unguarded I walked back to the open gate.

In the above photo I am standing where the gate should be. As you can see, some of our precious, dwindling supply of Trinity River water is leaking from the pipes. This seemed odd to me, because the pipes are not fully installed, near as I could tell. And the fracking is not yet happening, as you can see on the sign below.

The sign says "Frac Job Will Begin 1-10-12". That is tomorrow. It will be interesting to see what volume of leaking occurs when the fracking happens. Now that we know when the fracking starts, let's continue our look inside the open gate.

I only walked inside the walls of Fort Chesapeake for a few feet. I felt way too exposed to too many eyes. That bump in the middle of the picture, to the right of the red train car looking box, is the point where the ground has been poked into which the fracking water will be injected. It is currently totally unsecured. I could have easily walked up to it and turned a valve, if there was a valve to be turned.

Above is a view of the leaky pipes, west of Fort Chesapeake, heading north towards the Trinity River. How is permission granted to run 3 pipes across some of which I do not believe is land owned by Chesapeake Energy? That is a storage unit business on the right, Havenwood Apartments on the left.

My Chesapeake Energy Neighborhood Tower Has Vanished For No Fracking Reason That I Know of

Chesapeake Flatbeds Clogging Boca Raton Boulevard

When I left my abode this morning I was surprised to see a lot of trucks pulling flatbed trailers, lined up along Boca Raton Boulevard, waiting to do something at my neighborhood Chesapeake Energy Barnett Shale Natural Gas Drilling Site.

When I returned, a couple hours later, I was surprised, when I drove up Bridgewood Street, to see that the Chesapeake drilling tower no longer towered over my neighborhood.

What is going on, I thought to myself?

Unlike my previous experience with a Chesapeake Energy drilling operation, this one has been quiet and has not generated a lot of dust. I've heard no squealing noises from drills doing their drilling.

I'd assumed the actual drilling had not yet started, even though I saw mechanical movement on the tower.

I wish I'd walked to the Loop 820 Frontage Road, open view, to take pictures of the HUMONGOUS operation when all the equipment and the tower were in place. Because it is all gone now. As you will see in the following two photos I took a few minutes ago.

In the picture above I am standing with Loop 820 behind me, on a rare Fort Worth sidewalk, looking west at the now almost empty Chesapeake Energy drilling site. Yesterday you would have seen an enormous structure where you now see empty space.

If the earth did get poked by Chesapeake Energy in this location, above, I believe we are looking at the point of earth entry. I've no idea what the blackish, oily looking fluid might be. I suspect petroleum related.

If Chesapeake Energy has finished poking its hole in this location, and I've no clue whether or not that has happened, I do know for certain that no fracking has taken place. No water trucks or water pipelines have been seen.

All the flatbed trailers created traffic problems, blocking lanes and forcing drivers, like me, to drive on the incoming lane to get past the flatbeds. A couple hard hats with "Slow" and "Stop" signs helped with the traffic flow. And a big street sweeper swept up some of the dirt. I probably would have not noticed that, if it weren't for the sign informing me to beware of the street being swept.

Another interesting thing. A few weeks ago I was appalled to see that the chain link fence that Chesapeake Energy had installed along its border with Boca Raton, had fallen over onto the sidewalk. This remained unfixed ever since. Until today. The chainlink fence is back up and sidewalk access to one of Fort Worth's few sidewalks has been restored.

I don't know why, but I've got a feeling there is something going on in my neighborhood that is not quite meeting my eye. I think I just mangled a cliche.

Lamenting The Now Dry Village Creek Bayou & Pondering The Great North Texas Drought

Just a couple days ago there was still water in the Village Creek Bayou in Village Creek Natural Historic Area.

With birds in the bayou.

A couple weeks ago I saw a couple water snakes in the Village Creek Bayou.

Today I saw that the Great North Texas Drought has totally dried out the Village Creek Bayou.

Where have the birds gone, now that the water has gone? Where have the water snakes gone, now that there is no more water?

On a more upbeat wildlife note, today whilst walking amongst the Village Creek, still green foliage, I saw a scrawny raccoon run across the trail ahead of me. A few minutes after that I saw my first armadillo of the year.

The Great North Texas Drought is perplexing me. Something about The Lawn Whisperer, that I blogged about yesterday, has been bugging me.

The Lawn Whisperer makes a big fuss about people wasting water irrigating their lawns. But, that water remains in the ecosystem. It may evaporate, it may make it's way to the Trinity River, wherever it goes, it remains in the ecosystem.

The water taken from the North Texas ecosystem, by the Barnett Shale Natural Gas Drillers, does not return to the ecosystem. If that Fracking water does intersect with the ecosystem, it is a mistake, and hurts the ecosystem.

So, what I was wondering was this. How much of the Great North Texas Drought is being caused by having millions upon millions of gallons of water permanently removed from the ecosystem?

It seems fairly obvious that at some point the level of water removal will have a bad effect. Are we already at that point? If the millions upon millions of gallons of water that have been removed from the ecosystem had not been removed, would we not be in the midst of the Great North Texas Drought?

It's perplexing.

The Lawn Whisperer Has Found Another Victim Of Overwatering In His Quest To Save Texas Water

For a long time now I have been driving by the billboard you see in the picture on my way to the Tandy Hills. The billboard faces westbound traffic on I-30.

On the billboard a guy is looking at grass with a magnifying glass.

The billboard identifies the guy as The Lawn Whisperer and has him saying, "Looks like another victim of overwatering."

At the bottom of the billboard there is a website address, SaveNorthTexasWater.com.

Going to the website you meet The Lawn Whisperer again. You are directed to select the city you live in. I selected Fort Worth.

Selecting Fort Worth brought me to SaveTarrantWater.com, where I was advised to save water because nothing can replace it.

More important water information from Save Tarrant Water...

It's a drought out there.

Texas is experiencing the worst drought in more than half a century. No rain means our water supplies are taking a hit - outdoor watering plays a big role in how fast they go. When the combined storage capacity of TRWD reservoirs reaches 75%, TRWD will require it's municipal customers to initiate Stage 1 of its drought plan. The primary way to stretch our supplies and save water will be to limit outdoor watering to no more than twice per week. And although many of you do water efficiently, there are some who don't. Now is a good time to start. Thanks.

I wonder how many Lawn Whisperer billboards grace the Tarrant County landscape? I wonder how much the billboard ads cost? How much has been spent on the Save Texas Water websites? The Lawn Whisperer is also on Facebook.

How many gallons of water has all this propaganda saved?

No where in The Lawn Whisperer propaganda did I see mention made of the millions of gallons of water being taken from the Texas water supply by Barnett Shale Natural Gas Drillers.

Not only are millions of gallons of water being used to Frack wells, that water does not return to the water supply.

Plus, there have been instances where the Barnett Shale Natural Gas Drilling has contaminated the water supply of multiple hapless victims.

So, really, how much is all this water propaganda costing? How many gallons of water are alleged to be wasted by overwatering? Compared to the many gallons of water wasted by Fracking?

What The Frack Is Going On With My Water On Fire Tonight?

This morning Miss Sarah R sent me a link to an amusing YouTube musical video about America's fracking epidemic.

I get an email when someone makes a comment about one of my YouTube videos. This morning I got a comment about the video I made about the Chesapeake Energy Barnett Shale fracking operation by the Tandy Hills and Carter Avenue.

Lately I've noticed that the comments about that video have not been of the Chesapeake Energy shill sort, telling me I'm a moronic, clueless idiot. Instead, for some time now, more of the comments are of the feeling the pain of the fracking sort.

The YouTube video below is also of the feeling the pain of fracking sort....

What Is That We're Smokin' In Fort Worth?

(Click here to see video and photos of the Chesapeake Energy "fracking" of the Tandy Hills Meadowbrook Neighborhood Scott Avenue, so called Thomas Well Site)

New Information from Don Young that makes one wonder what is being added to the air we breathe here in Fort Worth and surrounding environs, courtesy of the Barnett Shale gas drillers and their "frack" process.

In case anyone needs a reminder, this is what a "frack job" looks like. These pics were taken in east Fort Worth in early January, 2009, near Riverside Drive and I-30. The smoke was so dense that, at times, it obscured driving on the interstate highway.

Tomorrow, January 12, Chesapeake Energy will frack the so-called Thomas well about 1/2 mile east of this location which is in the West Meadowbrook neighborhood.

Did the City of Fort Worth warn us that fracking might be dangerous to human and animal health? No.

Did the neighborhood association send out an alert? No.

Did the state highway department issue a warning or close the highway? No.

Did the Star-Telegram send out a notice or a reporter? No.

Did Chesapeake Energy warn us that fracking involves the use of over 50 toxic chemicals that can cause cancer, endocrine disruption, neurotoxicity, skin irritations, cardiac toxicity, kidney failure, reproductive disruption, respiratory distress and developmental toxicity? No. No. Hell No!

Just what the heck is in all that smoke and dust that will float over Fort Worth Monday morning??? What exactly will our children and pets and us be breathing when the clouds roll by? Where will the dust settle?

More importantly, where are the elected officials that have allowed this to happen in our community? Do they have fracking in their 'hoods?

For a list of the toxic chemicals used in gas well fracking and other info about the dangers of fracking, look here:

Hydraulic Fracturing: Drinking Water Protected? Think Again

Is "Fracking" Safe? Or a Toxic Spew?

What is in that "Fracking" fluid?

EPA to Citizens: Frack You

Frac Water Chemical Components

What Is In The Barnett Shale Fracking Water?

Interesting natural gas drilling information about the chemicals used in the fracking process is coming out of Pennsylvania.

The upper Delaware region has a natural gas drilling operation underway, drilling into what is called the Marcellus Shale. Here in Fort Worth we call ours the Barnett Shale.

I don't know if Chesapeake Energy is drilling in the upper Delaware region, along with their patented over the top propaganda operation.

While the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection acknowledges that gas drillers may keep their fracking formulas secret, the individual ingredients are public record in Pennsylvania .

So, the Pennsylvania agency supplied a New York newspaper, The River Reporter, with a list of the chemicals used in the fracking process.

The River Reporter asked researchers at The Endocrine Disruption Exchange to analyze the chemicals for their effects on humans and animals.

The results are startling. There are 54 different chemicals used in the fracking process. The researchers broke it all down into charts and graphs representing the degree of health effects.

You can view that information here.

Marcellus Shale drillers claim the fracking process is safe in the Marcellus Shale because the fracking takes place below the water table.

Others say the lined wells have failed in the past, contaminating drinking water.

Here in the Barnett Shale zone, just recently, there were reports of a nursery in Parker County seeing its plants die due to their water being contaminated by a nearby drilling operation. Before that there were reports of a farm family, somewhere west of Fort Worth, the exact location of which I can't remember, having their water supply turn undrinkable, soon after a Barnett Shale natural gas drilling operation's fracking process took place.

I fear there is an environmental disaster of historical proportions in the future for those living above the Barnett and Marcellus and other Shales being drilled and fracked with dangerous chemicals.