Risking Rolling My Wheels Over Fort Worth's Mallard Cove Park's High Pressure Natural Gas Pipeline

Last night we were warned that the temperature could possibly dip to the freezing zone.

I was under blankets last night for the first time in awhile, but, when I woke up my temperature monitoring devices this morning, I saw that the pre-dawn temperature was several  degrees above freezing.

Yet somehow this morning there appeared to be frost on the roof that I gaze upon during my regularly scheduled hot tub hydrotherapy session.

Due to that predicted freeze I did not think I'd be in the once again cool pool this morning. But, after getting too hot in the hot tub I thought I'd take a quick cooling dip. And found the water in the pool was way less cool than the air.

Around noon I drove to the post office to mail a letter to the IRS in Austin. Then I headed south to Mallard Cove Park to roll my bike's wheels. That would be Mallard Cove you are looking at above, with the coolest looking rock picnic table I've ever seen, in the foreground.

In the picture on the right you are looking at my handlebars pointing at one of the many natural gas pipeline warning posts stuck in the ground in this particular park.

Last Wednesday I rolled my wheels around Mallard Cove and blogged about it, and asked a question about the Fort Worth signature benches installed in this park.

That question generated an interesting blog comment from someone named Dub Kennedy...

Dub Kennedy has left a new comment on your post "Rolling My New Tires To Fort Worth's Mallard Cove":

"I have never seen anyone sitting on one of these benches. How much do they cost, I can not help but wonder?"

I'm guessing that Chesapeake or some other energy company picked up the tab for this park.

I have little doubt that natural gas pipelines run underneath this so-called park. I say so-called because a parcel of land with nothing more than concrete trails doesn't make a park in my opinion. 

Another so-called park similar to Mallard Cove park was built near the Rockwood golf course in northwest Fort Worth and was paid for by natural gas producers. I know for certain that at least one gas pipeline runs under that park.

Well, Dub is correct, in that there is a Chesapeake installation just outside the west end of this "park", along with 18 or 19 GAS WARNING posts stuck in the ground  inside the park, marking a pipeline route. Plus one HUGE curved pipe stuck in a cement block, which I assume is gas related.

Below is a closeup view of the warning post my bike's handlebars are pointing towards.

I can read the words "HIGH PRESSURE" near the top of the GAS WARNING post. Is this non-odorized highly pressured gas?

Dub says a parcel of land with some paved trails does not a park make.

I agree with Dub that a parcel of land with some paved trails does not make a park, but, in addition to the paved trails Mallard Cove Park has those aforementioned benches, plus the also aforementioned rock picnic table, plus the never before mentioned gazebo-like covered picnic table structure, plus wide expanses of grassy weeds, which are infrequently mowed and some rather stately old big trees.

And giant prickly pear cacti, as in the biggest patches of prickly pear cactus I've ever seen. Not that I've done all that much prickly pear cactus hunting....

My Chesapeake Energy Neighbor Put Up A Fence Before Pumping Corrosive Wet Gas

Two weeks ago  tomorrow, that being Thanksgiving morning, I blogged at blogging titled A Thanksgiving Morning Gas Pipeline Warning From Chesapeake Energy about being sort of appalled that a newly installed Chesapeake gasworks in my neighborhood was totally unsecured by any sort of fencing, wall or guard.

Yesterday (or was it the day before?) I noticed a lot of activity around the aforementioned gasworks. And now, as you can see in the picture, a fence surrounds this particular gasworks, with an angled row of barbed wire at the top.

This particular unwanted neighbor seems slightly more safe now.

But.

I finally got around to reading last week's cover article in Fort Worth Weekly, titled What Runs Beneath: More than 700 miles of pipelines carrying corrosive gas run under Fort Worth — but no one’s sure exactly where.

You want a really good example of why Fort Worth's Watchdog, Don Young, calls Fort Worth "Dirty Ol' Town" this article will provide it to you.

I was appalled to learn that this incompetently run backwater of a mismanaged town is so inept it has allowed hundreds upon hundreds of miles of natural gas pipeline to be laid underground with no record made of location, shut off valves, flow direction.

Nothing.

And then to learn, via FW Weekly, that the gas that will flow from my neighborhood Chesapeake Energy gas wells is what is known as "Wet Gas", as in gas that still has fracking liquid mixed in, with no odor added to make a leak detectable, well, I was even more appalled.

Apparently "Wet Gas" is very corrosive. Eventually pipes carrying this gas will rupture, with a potential big boom.

If, or when, Fort Worth gets its big natural gas boom, not in the form of illusive royalties, but in the form of a massive, deadly explosion, in the resulting lawsuits, when it comes out how negligent the city was regarding all the holes poked in its town and all the miles of pipeline laid underground, well, the town may be forced to sell itself to the highest bidder to pay off the enormous damage claims.

I really think Aubrey McClendon should be banned from bidding, all things considered.

What Is Happening At My Neighborhood Chesapeake Energy Natural Gas Drilling Operation?

The past couple days I've been perplexed to the point of bum puzzlement wondering what is going on at my neighborhood Chesapeake Energy Barnett Shale Natural Gas hole in the ground.

Bulldozers have moved a lot of dirt. Pipes and equipment have been moved in.

Along with an outhouse.

The most curious looking thing is the metal wall you see behind the bulldozer.

There have been many a gas drilling location where I wonder how they can run a pipe to carry the non-odorized natural gas that pops out after a successful fracturing.

The Scott Avenue Chesapeake Energy operation turned notorious with its proposed pipeline route along Carter Avenue. That turned into quite a brouhaha, including protests in front of the Tarrant County Courthouse.

How will the gas from my neighborhood Chesapeake operation be moved? To the south is an Albertsons with a stripmall of other businesses. To the east is Loop 820. To the north, as you can see in the picture, is storage units and an apartment complex. To the west is another apartment complex.

How is the gas going to leave my neighborhood Chesapeake Eneergy operation?

Questions From Bob About The Scott Avenue Non-Odorized Chesapeake Energy Pipeline Laying Operation

I have not made mention of the Carter Avenue Chesapeake Gate Scandal in awhile. No mention made, mostly, I assume, because the scandalous issue seemed to have been resolved when Chesapeake Energy backed off of their bizarre plan to run a pipeline of non-odorized natural gas under the homes along Fort Worth's Carter Avenue.

An alternative pipeline route was approved and everyone, for the most part, seemed  happy.

After I blogged about being on the Tandy Hills yesterday, with those hills due east of the Scott Avenue location of the Chesapeake Energy drilling site, from which the controversy pipelines was to be laid, Bob made a comment....

Bob has left a new comment on your post "Back On The Tandy Hills Thinking About Cutting Myself, Soy Yogurt & Driving Like An Old Lady":

So did you notice all the workers and work going on around the Chesapeake gas well site down the hill on Scott Ave. and along the I-30 right-of-way? I might be wrong but it looks like the workers are clearing trees and digging trenches to lay gas pipeline about 8-inches in diameter (a pile was stacked near the Hope Church on Beach St.) Is this the actual CHK gas pipeline that was originally intended to be placed under the front yards of Carter Ave. homes? Before we moved away from that neighborhood, we read that the Carter Ave. pipeline was supposed to have been built in November 2008, as soon as the last hold-out was subdued in eminent domain court procedures. BUT THAT'S THREE YEARS AGO. Can you shed any light on my state of confusion regarding this infamous pipeline and the fight against it?

I must have heard odd noises to the west as I walked on the Tandy Hills yesterday, because when I proceeded to drive on  to Town Talk I had in impulse, that I resisted, to take a right on to Ben Street to take a look at the current state of the controversial Scott Avenue Chesapeake Operation.

I drove north on Beach Street on the way to Town Talk. I noticed no pipeline stacked near Hope Church, which is on the west side of Beach Street. Then again, I don't remember looking much in that direction.

On Friday, on the way back to my abode from Pantego, driving west on Division Street, in Arlington, I was surprised to see 3 lines of water pipeline, waiting to be assembled, laying on the ground on the north side of the road. The string of pipes extended for a couple miles, eventually ending at a location where water could be sucked, near the south side of Village Creek Natural Historical Area.

How can the powers that be claim we are suffering a severe water shortage here in North Texas at the same time these big water sucking straws are draining creeks, rivers and lakes?

How is permission granted to cross property with these water pipes? How closely is the water sucking monitored?

As for the gas pipeline that apparently is now, after all this time, being installed to take non-odorized gas from the Scott Avenue location, where is that gas heading? Where does the pipeline go? To the compressor stations on Randol Mill Road? Is that the destination? Where can one go to see a map of the ever growing matrix of non-odorized natural gas pipelines that is being installed under us here in Gasland?

I am heading east today in the noon time frame. Tomorrow I will head west and check out the Scott Avenue pipeline laying operation.

Fort Worth & Chesapeake Energy Are Conspiring To Take Away The Life, Liberty & Pursuit Of Happiness Of Steve Doeung

That is Fort Worth's #1 Lone Ranger, Steve Doeung, armed for battle against the Fascist powers attacking him.

A couple days ago I realized I'd sort of stuck my head back in the sand, tired of being a fruitless ostrich, howling at the moon. I'm one of the naive sorts who think if you point out something obviously wrong, that the obvious wrong will get rectified. Sometimes it does. But more often not.

Like if you explain what Conflicts of Interest are and how the Mayor of Fort Worth, Mike Moncrief, makes more than $600,000 a year from the various Barnett Shale Natural Gas Drillers operating in the town of which he is mayor, and who does not recuse himself from decision making regarding the gas drillers, well, this is what is known as criminal activity, possibly even racketeering.

Minimally Mike Moncrief should be removed from office. Ideally, removed from office, brought to trial, convicted and imprisoned with a healthy multi-million dollar fine.

I don't know why the federal government, via the FBI does not do something. Then again, Texas is now a state willing to sue the federal government, as in the EPA, to try and put a stop to the federal government's attempts to get Texas to stop being so environmentally irresponsible.

The various Texas state agencies, like the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, show little concern, if any, regarding the air pollution issues which have arisen from the Barnett Shale drilling and how that pollution is affecting the health of Texans. Even after troubling statistics crop up, such as something like 25% of Barnett Shale kids have asthma, while the non-Barnett Shale kids of Texas have a 7% asthma rate.

So, the state of Texas decides to deal with the pollution problem by suing the federal agency that is trying to look out for the best interests of the majority of Texans, not just those Texans making money by poking holes in the ground.

Now, back to Steve Doeung, Fort Worth's #1 Lone Ranger. He is due to be back in court, to face Chesapeake Energy and the City of Forth Worth, again, in a few weeks, in his solo fight to stop the abuse of eminent domain to take his property so that an un-odorized natural gas pipeline can be run under his house.

Would you like an un-odorized natural gas pipeline under your house?

How would you feel about eminent domain being abused, in cahoots with the city you live in, to attack you in this way?

How would you feel if, after you resisted the attempt to take your property, the city attempted to intimidate you by ordering a Goon Squad of Code Inspectors, along with Fort Worth Gestapo Stormtroopers to invade your house, terrify your kids, issuing all sorts of bogus "code violations?"

If Steve Doeung had committed a crime, I don't know, like if he had invaded someone's home to intimidate someone, Steve would be provided with legal assistance. But here we have Steve being attacked by what is widely believed to be a very corrupt, likely to a criminal level, corporation called Chesapeake Energy, in cooperation with the City of Fort Worth, which is also corrupt, and there is no legal help available for Steve Doeung.

A wise man once supposedly said, "What you do to the least among us, you do unto me."

Is there not one single lawyer in all of North Texas, or America, willing to help Steve Doeung in his fight to keep his home safe?

Is there not one lawyer, anywhere, who can see the possibility of helping Steve Doeung bring a counter-suit against Chesapeake Energy and the City of Fort Worth? Just go from the city ordered home invasion and build from there.

In the oft chance that 60 Minutes has someone watching for Google Alerts that mention 60 Minutes. Well, here in Fort Worth we've got a story that the rest of America needs to know about. We've got a man named Steve Doeung, who came to America to escape the Khmer Rouge, who is now under an equally insidious attack in his adopted country, America, a place Steve Doeung believed really was about Truth, Justice and something called the American Way, that American Way being a country where we can speak our mind to fight for our rights.

Ever heard of the phrase "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness?" Those 3 concepts are at the base of our rights as Americans. Without fearing repercussion you can not trifle with the Life of an American. You can not trifle with the Liberty of an American. You can not trifle with the Pursuit of Happiness of an American.

In Fort Worth, Texas, which is part of America, the City of Fort Worth and its partner, Chesapeake Energy, has conspired to extremely trifle with the Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness of American, Steve Doeung.

There will be repercussions.

This trifling with Steve Doeung needs to stop. Why is this case even being allowed to continue, after Chesapeake Energy admitted there was another route for the pipeline, one which would not go under homes? Why has this case not been thrown out?

I am tired of being perplexed.