Looking At Chesapeake Energy Water Pipelines Today At Tarrant County College

I was heading east on Harwood today, driving past Tarrant County College. I don't know if this TCC campus is in Hurst or North Richland Hills.

Or both.

The Mid-Cities of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex all run together.

I was stopped at a light on Harwood and looked to my left to see the pipeline construction contraption you see in the picture, with 3 pipes going over an entry to the college grounds. There was another of these construction contraptions at the entry further east.

The three pipes lead to a pond located at the southeast end of the campus, at the intersection of Harwood and Precinct Line Road, at a diagonal across from the ALDI Food Market.

From the pond the three pipes run to a Chesapeake Energy Barnett Shale Gas Drilling Pad at the southwestern end of the TCC campus. It looks to me as if this is part of the college campus land.

Which had me curious. Did TCC strike a deal with Chesapeake? Is that how permission is granted to run the three pipes across TCC land to a pond that also appears to be on TCC land?

Is that water coming out of the pond metered and paid for?

The Chesapeake Energy Drill Pad Site was a beehive of activity today, crammed full of trucks and equipment.

I assume the well is being re-fracked. Or maybe it is a virgin well and is getting fracked for the very first time.

I always find it quite interesting when I see one of these operations. Seeing one always seems to cause me to wonder how permission is granted to do things like block entry to a college in order to build a pipeline tunnel contraption.

I assume money must be exchanged somehow, somewhere to someone.

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

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

More Questions In The Increasingly Orwellian World Of Fort Worth Texas

Yesterday I said that I was experiencing 2010 Fort Worth, Texas as a 1984 Orwellian World of Double-Speak and Big Brother overbearingness.

Later in the day, yesterday, the Orwellian Double-Speak got louder, after I was pointed to the Tarrant Regional Water District website and read its propaganda, with an ever growing sense of amazement at the bald-facedness of the Double-Speak.

Here is a gem...

"Why Should You Save Water?

The water supplies we depend on are not endless resources. For one, drought conditions are a part of life in North Texas. And the number of people living here is expected to double in the next 50 years. That means the demand for water will certainly rise – and meeting that demand will be a challenge. That’s where you come in. By saving small amounts of water everyday, you can make a big difference."

The Tarrant Regional Water District is currently allowing the sucking of millions of gallons of water from the Trinity River by gas drillers. Water that will not, can not, be recycled. Instead the water is polluted with dangerous, cow-killing, chemicals, used, then discarded underground, where we are assured, by the foxes guarding the henhouse, that the polluted water can not penetrate the aquifers. Or kill any more cows.

So, the entity, Tarrant Regional Water District, in charge of protecting the valuable water resource, acknowledges North Texas has a drought problem, and then, apparently, allows what appears to be the totally unregulated stealing of millions of gallons of water by the gas drillers.

Check out the Tarrant Regional Water District website, yourself, and have fun spotting the Orwellian Double-Speak and outrageous ironies and out and out hypocrisies. I looked all over the website and found not a single mention of the gas driller's Trinity River water sucking activities or the Tarrant Regional Water District's policies regarding the water sucking.

I took the above from the Tarrant Regional Water District website. Can we all say Double-Speak together?

And then there is the "Conflict of Interest Questionaire." This supposedly has to be filled out by the gas drillers wanting to suck water out of the Trinity. If you read through the questionnaire it is obvious the gas driller would have to acknowledge that the Mayor of Fort Worth, Mike Moncrief, has a vested interest in the gas driller wanting a water permit.

Here's a good one. The following paragraph is on the Tarrant Regional Water District website. I wanted to send senior land agent Rick Carroll an email with some questions. Click on the email link in the excerpt below (or just click here to go directly to that page) and you will see the email link does not work. I have sent in my questions via other means. I'll let you know if I hear back and what I get told. Below the below paragraph, taken from the Tarrant Regional Water District website, is my email I was unable to send directly to the senior land agent.

A Special Operating Permit is required for any commercial activity or event on Water District property. This includes, but is not limited to, the Fort Worth Floodway, Marine Creek Lake and Cement Creek Lake. In addition to permit fees, TRWD will require Permitee to name TRWD as "additional insured" on the insurance policy for the event. Any person interested in obtaining a Special Operating Permit may contact Rick Carroll, senior land agent at (817) 335-2491 ext.224 or by email.

Dear Senior Land Agent Rick Carroll,

I am interested in 6 pipelines preparing to take water from the Trinity River east of Beach Street, near the entry to Gateway Park, in Fort Worth.

According to your TRWD website such uses of water are allowed only after obtaining a Special Operating Permit. The amount of water desired must be disclosed. The water taken must be metered.

I have looked closely at and photographed the Beach Street pipeline site. There are no permits posted. There are no water meters. The plastic oil spill containing mat, upon which the 6 pumps sit, has tears and voids.

I would like to know where I can view the permits that are allowing this removal of Trinity River water, how it is being metered, how much is being paid for the water and the records of oversight of the pumping site.

You can view more details of what I've experienced and seen at the Beach Street pipeline site here.

Thank you in advance for answering my questions,

Durango Jones
durangotexas.blogspot.com

UPDATE: Permits have now been duct taped to the 6 pumps in question at the Beach Street site.

Gas Drillers Expand Trinity River Water Stealing Operation By Gateway Park In Fort Worth

On Thursday while driving north on Beach Street, as I crossed the Trinity River I noticed a truck and a backhoe at the location where I'd previously told you about a gas driller using a diesel pump to pipeline water out of the Trinity River, leaving a big, rutted, muddy mess in its wake.

When I saw the backhoe I figured the gas driller must be repairing the damage and restoring the levee. I'd seen a similar repair done in Village Creek Natural Historic Area in Arlington, so I assumed that was what was being done on Thursday.

Well. I was wrong.

If anything the damaged levee has experienced added damage. Apparently what the backhoe was doing was making a better "road" to the expanded "pump pad" it'd built by the river's bank.

My limited photographer skills don't quite capture what my eye saw, but in the first picture we are looking at the expanded "pump pad." It appears a lot of earth was moved to make a better place for the diesel pump to sit at the river's edge.

Oh, I forgot to mention, from what I saw today it seemed pretty obvious the water pump is going to return and the backhoe was preparing for that eventuality.

The second picture is looking down the improved "road" at the improved "pump pad."

And another thing, the area reeked of diesel, so much so that my first inclination was to think that all that earthmoving had been done to cover up a diesel spill.

I've asked before, but have received no answer, but how does one go about getting the right to do this type of thing on what I assume is public land?

Does the gas driller have to get a permit? Would that permit not be a public record? Should there not be total transparency on something like this? As in, a Fort Worth citizen be able to call the city and ask who is sucking water from the Trinity River? Shouldn't the permit be posted?

See that NO MOTOR VEHICLES sign? That is located right next to the Trinity Trail before the trail crosses a pedestrian bridge into Gateway Park. As you can see, the area I've shown you before on top of the Trinity levee is now in much worse shape.

Now, if I drove my motor vehicle to this location, parked it, and proceeded to pump some water out of the Trinity River, what would my fate be if spotted by the Fort Worth Gestapo?

Warning High Pressure Pipeline Sprouting Giant Weeds In Fort Worth

After I checked out the massive Carter Avenue flag display, and Mother Nature, I went north on Beach Street. Yesterday it looked like maybe the gas drillers had cleaned up the mess they'd made, well, actually damage they had done to the Trinity River Levee.

So, I thought I'd take a look.

As I walked towards the rutted damaged levee area I thought I saw someone working on the damage, pushing something. Was it a grass seeder I wondered?

No. It was a kid wheeling his fishing gear down to the river's edge.

The damaged levee remains damaged.

On the way back to my vehicle I walked a bit north to check out these giant weed-like plants I've noticed before, like mutant corn stalks. As I got closer I saw a WARNING sign.

High Pressure Petroleum Pipeline. How this relates to the mutant weeds I have not a clue. But, whatever those giant plants are they were making the oddest noise, like clicking and popping. It took me a couple minutes to figure out there were a lot of birds in the weeds making the noise.

So. Anyone know what the giant weeds are? Is it sorghum?

Fort Worth Propaganda Comments From Hillybilly Billy Hill

I got a great comment this morning regarding Saturday's blogging about gas driller's pipeline mess and propaganda signs I found while walking around Gateway Park.

The comment came from Billy Hill, who claims to be a Hillbilly. What Billy has to say about the signs I took pictures of on Saturday matched what I was thinking, but did not verbalize.

I'll copy Billy Hill's comment below for your reading enjoyment....

Did you notice if they included locations of all them gas wells poking holes all over the park? All that fraccing need a lot of freaking water, the cheaper (or free)the more profit.

Would people want their families to roam around that landmine and breath the air contaminated by all those wells?

I sure hope our beloved city (all those banners reminds me of Hitler's Germany and North Korea, which is in contrast to the hand made signs by citizens during the 9-12 and other rallies/parades) will take great care when doing the work to expand the park cuz there are big ole pipelines carrying gas (and maybe the toxic waste water to the "injection well" just a couple miles away at the former ARC park on E. 1st and Oakland, right west of Quanah Parker Park) crisscrossing that whole park.

Can you imagine another big firework show in that park with all those wells and their "escaping" gas? I hope they don't have a firetorch parade and rally to hear speeches by our dear leaders like those b%w film footage from the 1930's. Maybe our dear leaders will mark off a little fenced in area for people and their kids to run and play that has no pipelines right under their feet a-la Ft. Woof park for our precious four-legged pets/"kids", but I doubt there's enough such space available now.

Isn't there a big ol' former sewage/water treatment plant there (big humps near the softball fields)?

Keep taking pictures and reporting because no one will believe the danger and mess in that park after the million$$ are spent to "decorate" the park that I betcha will be declared "the envy" of the world (as hinted by the beautiful propaganda mini billboards in your picture.

General Eisenhower is reported to have made the painful decision to order as much filming of the holocaust camps and the victims because he wisely reasoned that "people are not going to believe this" without pictures and film (even then some geniuses still deny the crime today).

This hillbilly thanks you for telling it like you see it.

Billy Hill

Gas Driller's Water Sucking Today From The Trinity River By Gateway Park & Making A Real Big Mess

The mud covered paved trail is not a vehicular trail. It is a Trinity Trail running out of Gateway Park towards downtown Fort Worth and beyond. Today the trail ended a short distance from where we are in the picture, due to the Trinity River is running over a dam that also serves as a bridge for the trail.

My one longtime reader may remember a few weeks ago when I discovered a pipeline and pump in this location. And a short time after that, on a day when large numbers of people were cleaning up litter on the Trinity, that pipeline had been moved to a less noticeable location.

I must mention, before I continue on with what my main thing is that I want to tell you, that it seemed very ironic to see the Trinity River banks up close today, lined again with litter due to the recent high water. The litter looking like a line of white birds along the edge of the dikes.

I found this sign interesting. It is right by the aforementioned pump, that I must tell you has now been dragged from water's edge to a location on the levee. So, if you are at this location past 10pm you are committing a violation which constitutes trespassing. And what sort of violation is making a mess, while pumping water out of the river? I looked and looked and could find no permit for this operation posted anywhere. Surely the City of Fort Worth must issue some sort of permit to allow such activity on city parkland?

Here you see the muddy mess made on top of the levee. I don't know how it works in Texas, but in Washington dikes are protected from this type damage, because it is known that removing the grass can weaken the dike. Then again, the Trinity's levees are way bigger than any dikes I've ever seen on a Washington river. Maybe this does no harm to a Texas Trinity levee.

A close up look at the diesel pump. I forgot to mention, the pump was running today. I heard a really loud noise as I crossed the bridge from Gateway Park. I thought it was water roaring over the dam at first. Then I started smelling diesel fumes, then it became obvious it was a noisy pump making the racket.

Here you see the pipeline going into the Trinity. And the remains of the protective skirting from the pump's previous location before it was drug onto the levee.

A closer look at the strange swirl of foamy river water circling around the pipeline's intake.

From river's edge looking back up to the top of the levee where the pump sits and pumps water and diesel fumes into the air. One other interesting thing. I touched the pipeline, thinking I'd feel the movement of water, instead the pipe felt warm. Warm from friction from fast moving water, I wondered?

Trinity River water flowing over the dam that usually serves as a bridge for the Trinity Trail. It appears the boat dock was damaged in the flood. If you click to enlarge the picture you'll see the faint line of litter on the south bank that I mentioned above. From that you can see how high the river got during our recent unpleasantness with excess rain.

Another look at the litter line high water indicator on the south bank of the Trinity River. This view is from under the Beach Street bridge.

So, that's some of what I found interesting today at Gateway Park. I found another interesting thing at Gateway Park today. That I'll tell you about in another blogging. To be written as soon as I finish this one.