My Explosive Neighborhood Chesapeake Energy Gas Drilling Site

Well, it's another Saturday and another bizarre encounter with a white truck. This time it is a Chesapeake Energy white truck, not an Express Energy Services white truck.

All morning long, ever since I was in the pool around 8, I'd been hearing very loud explosion like noises, sort of like an erratic jackhammer, only louder.

Around 10 I was heading to the Tandy Hills to join the Brush Bash and discovered my 2nd flat tire of the week.

Sometime around noon I decided to try and find out what was making the explosive jackhammer-like noise.

It was quickly clear the explosive noises were coming from my neighbor across the street, that being a Chesapeake Energy Barnett Shale natural gas drilling site.

I decided to walk to the site and take video of the noise. By the time I was directly across from the site the explosive noise was significantly louder. I was fairly certain there was no one working on the site that was accounting for the noise, due to the fact that the gate was locked. When someone is in there doing something the gate is open.

Now, here's the part where the story turns weird and has me once more seeing a white truck. Just as I turned my camera on a white Chesapeake Energy truck drove up. A tall, lanky guy got out of the truck, opened the gate, and drove in.

After I took a picture I switched the camera to video mode to capture the explosion noises and continued walking towards the gate to the Chesapeake drilling site. Within seconds the explosions stopped, obviously silenced by the guy I'd just seen.

So, what was making those explosive noises? Today's Saturday white truck incident did not seem as menacing as last Saturday's, but those explosive noises seemed plenty menacing.

I did not realize the explosions were going to be so quickly silenced, or I would not have talked at all on the video. You can still hear several of the explosive pops before they go silent.

An Arlington Barnett Shale Gas Drilling Operation Disappears While A Nice Lady Breathes A Sigh Of Relief

A few days ago I blogged about a message I got from Lynda, regarding her nice mom's ongoing woes that she attributed to a Barnett Shale natural gas drilling operation, a short stone's throw from her apartment balcony.

When I first talked to Lynda's nice mom it was the noise that vexed her.

And then Lynda sent me the new message telling me about chemical odors that had been wafting into her breathing space, making her mom miserable.

Yesterday Lynda sent me a new message, with good news...

Durango,

Lynda, the nice lady's daughter again...I didn't know if you heard, but the day after you posted this, the gas drilling rig was taken down...I don't know exactly what happened, but it is gone!!

Thank you for all you do.

Lynda

I don't know what the current status of this particular gas drilling operation is. Shut down?

When I first blogged about this gas drilling operation I said I was appalled at how close the drilling tower was to the apartment complex. One of the tenants told me that the rig was 40 yards from the residences. That is 120 feet. Not the 800 feet I thought was the necessary distance.

I think I said something about Arlington having a history of abusing its citizens in their homes.

Did someone go check out this drilling operation and realize it was way too close to where people are living? And order it halted?

Did someone, somewhere, in an official capacity, actually do the right thing for once regarding gas driller bad behavior?

Or is Lynda's nice mom just experiencing a lull, to be followed by water delivery and fraccing?

On a different, yet somewhat related note. Yesterday I saw that there was no White Darth Vader Truck guarding the Beach Street/Gateway Park Express Energy water removal operation.

Did someone, somewhere, in an official capacity, order Express Energy to stay off the paved public Trinity Trails? And to quit trying to intimate citizens walking on the public trail, taking pictures? Did someone alarm the Army Corps of Engineers regarding the damage being done by Express Energy Services to the Trinity River levee? Did someone from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality tell Express Energy to knock it off? Were the Express Energy White Darth Vader Trucks visited by the Fort Worth Police regarding their lawbreaking?

Or was the White Darth Vader Truck, and its goons, just taking a break when I drove by yesterday?

I'm afraid the last possibility is the most likely one, seeings how I don't think anything has happened that has lifted the protective bubble that protects Fort Worth and its surrounding area from being subject to the laws, ethics and sense of right and wrong that guides the rest of America.

Gas Driller Caused Allergy Driving Mom From Home

On December 18, 2009, I blogged about seeing something appalling while walking in Veterans Park in Arlington.

A Barnett Shale natural gas drilling rig hovered above an apartment complex, appearing to be very close to the apartments.

What about the 800 foot rule between a drilling operation and residences? Did Arlington, a town known to run roughshod over citizen's property rights, not impose any distance rules?

Doesn't the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality over see such things? Well, worded correctly, is the TCEQ not charged with the responsibility of protecting Texans and their environment?

Well, sadly, we've all come to know the answer to that question. The TCEQ has been co-opted and corrupted with the installation of natural gas industry lackeys on the Commission, letting the fox watch the henhouse in yet one more example of corruption in Texas.

After I blogged about that noisy, too close, drilling operation in Arlington, I heard from Lynda, the daughter of the nice lady I talked to who was being made miserable by the around the clock noise coming from her new neighbor.

Let me interject before I get back to Lynda. Why is it if you call 911 to report that someone is disturbing the peace, as in drilling in the middle of the night, why is this not treated by the police in the same way as it would be if an individual were producing an equally noisy decibel level?

Back to Lynda.

I heard from Lynda again today. The situation has grown more dire for her nice mom. Here's what Lynda had to tell me...

Hi Durango...

Lynda the "nice lady's daughter" again. Yes, I was a passenger in the VW.

My Mom, the nice lady has already started to have allergy problems and her apartments smells of chemicals. My daughter went to visit today and after 10 minutes, had a sore throat and runny nose and complained that my Mom's apartment smelled of chemicals. It then hit me that my Mom's recent severe allergy problems and asthma as well as headaches could well be caused by the chemicals being released from the gas drilling at the tower sitting so close to her apartment.

I then called the EPA who said I needed to call the Texas Railroad commission. I am now awaiting a call from an attorney. from the railroad commission. If nothing else, I am hoping that the property will be forced to allow her out of her lease which expires in April because with her health problems, she cannot stay there.

Whatever became of Dr. Al Armendariz? The new head of the EPA in this region. There were such high hopes, with he being the guy who had shown that the gas drilling was causing some heavy duty, dangerous pollution, that the TCEQ and the corrupt local governments, like the City of Fort Worth and its Conflicts of Interest corrupted mayor, Mike Moncrief, would somehow be giving a good sound spanking by the federal government and a no longer toothless EPA.

Where was the EPA and Dr. Al Armendariz when Fort Worth mayor, Mike Moncrief, put on his bizarre dog and pony show to announce that there is no pollution being caused in Fort Worth by the gas drillers?

It is all very perplexing. I am getting real tired of being perplexed all the time.

Fraccing The Barnett Shale Perplexes Me

I saw the notices you see in the picture, yesterday, pinned to the gate that blocks the entry to the Chesapeake Energy Scott Avenue Thomas 1H Barnett Shale natural gas drilling site.

I've been a Citizen, I mean Victim, of the Shale for a lot of years now and I still don't understand how it works. I guess I have not tried too hard to learn.

These notices indicated "Frac Dates" of Monday 1/12/09 to Wed 1/14/09. And a "Pump Time." Pumping what?

Yikes! Typing that made me realize this Frac date is not next week, it was a year ago. I forgot we have moved into a new decade and left the "Aughties" behind.

Which means the question that was perplexing me is no longer perplexing me. And that question was I thought the fraccing had already taken place at this site, because I remember video taping it.

So, is the fraccing a one time deal? Somehow a lot of chemically enhanced water is sent down into Barnett Shale via the hole that's been noisily drilled and this water causes the shale to shatter and release a lot of natural gas?

What role does the sand play? The second notice has to do with "Staging Sand Trucks." The Queen of Wink told me that she's seen mysterious giant piles of sand appear in her zone of West Texas. Is that where the sand is coming from?

After the chemically enhanced water does its fraccing job, then where does the chemically enhanced water go? Back to the surface? How does that work? I mean the chemically enhanced water has shattered the shale, releasing gas, that released gas, I assume, starts coming up the well shaft.

I'm perplexed. Maybe I'll try reading the Wikipedia article about the Barnett Shale again. When I tried that previously it didn't help alleviate my ignorance on this subject.

New Proof That Natural Gas Is Not Clean

The above video shows what looks like billowing smoke and fire coming from a natural gas well in the Barnett Shale. What you are actually seeing is plumes of invisible hydrocarbon emission through the filter of a high-tech video camera, making the invisible visible.

Seeing this video makes it easier to understand how it is that these operations belch around 200 tons of smog into the North Texas air every day. This is the dirty stuff that Al Armendariz, a Southern Methodist University chemical engineer, first brought to public attention, initially to scorn, from some, eventually validated as accurate by part of the state government of Texas.

The video was brought to you by TXsharon and FWCanDo! for BS Guinea Pig Productions.

Please visit their websites and The Daily Kos for more information.

Surrender: Resistance is Futile

Over on FWCANDO Don Young wrote an interesting piece, advising Jim Ashford that resistance is futile, after Mr. Ashford objected to a few issues regarding the latest dirty dealings by Chesapeake Energy and Fort Worth's Ruling Junta. Go to FWCANDO to read what Jim Ashford said and the response to him.

---

Relax, Jim! Chill out, my friend.

We live in Age of Reason.

Ah, but I see you are skeptical? "Reason", like many other words, now have "new meanings" in Dirty Ol' Town. In this case, "Reason" means, whatever reason the gas drillers have is good enough for David, Susan and Sarah. Get it?

Call it, the "Pretend-Game"! It's fun for the whole family!

For example:

1) Protected Use, doesn't REALLY mean protection, it just means that gas drillers will have to pay for waivers or bribe city council to threaten public health and safety. No prob!

2) Free Money, REALLY means that hidden costs for health care, insurance, taxes, property marketability, etc. are shielded from you by the gas drillers and city. Until the bill comes due. It's kind of a, Don't ask. Don't tell, policy.

3) Clean Burning Natural Gas, isn't REALLY clean burning or natural when you factor in the production, processing and piping of it. Throw in disposal of the waste products and you begin to see more clearly.

4) Orderly Production of Minerals, is REALLY Sarah reminding you that "You are getting sleepy. VERRRY sleepy. Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain. Now close your eyes. This is not a zoning change. Repeat after me...

5) Barnett Shale Philanthropy, is REALLY extortion, bribery, graft and hush money dressed up for a night at the opera.

6) Parkland Conversion, REALLY means that gas drillers just have to call in an extra attorney to get what they want.

7) Green-space isn't REALLY a place to hike with your kids, get in touch with the natural world and see some wildlife, it's Prime Real Estate for a future pad-site, compressor station or pipeline.

8) City Attorney, Assistant City Attorney and City Planning Director, aren't REALLY working for the City (you and me). They work for "the current occupant" who works for Chesapeake, XTO, Devon, Quicksilver, Etc. Etc. ad nauseam.

9) The FW Star-Telegram isn't REALLY a Newspaper. It's a Barnett Shale drillers business partner. (Durango note: I've been saying the first sentence in #9 for years)

10) Texas Railroad Commission is REALLY an aptly named excuse for state regulation of oil/gas drilling. They "railroad" you until you're "out of commission." Their message is brought to you by Chesapeake, XTO, Devon, Quicksilver, et al.

Get with the program, man! Once you get the hang of it, it's FUN! Just like all the rapists say, "Relax and enjoy it!"

Click on this City of FW link for more "pretend" words. (See p.3):

Don Young
FWCanDo
P.O. Box 470041
Fort Worth, TX 76147

FWCANDO

"God bless Fort Worth, Texas. Help us save some of it."

Is Gas Drilling Killing Texas School Children?

If you'd asked me yesterday if the gas drilling in the Barnett Shale was killing school children I would have said that seems unlikely.

And then this morning I got email from Don Young about schools in Texas exposed to cancer-causing toxins, along with high rates of kids getting cancers.

Read on for today's Don Young Report....

USA Today reported Monday that, exposure to cancer-causing toxins for students near industrial areas is much worse than expected. According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, elementary schools in Midlothian, Texas "rate worst in the USA for exposure to caner-causing toxins. The city has three cement plants."

The USA Today study is based on data collected before gas drilling became widespread in the Barnett Shale. Read the entire USA Today article here.

Read more on this subject in the Fort Worth Star Telegram.

Now, consider this: There are nearly 10,000 producing gas wells in the Barnett Shale and thousands more have been permitted by the Texas Railroad Commission. In Fort Worth alone, over 1,000 natural gas wells have been drilled inside the city limits within the past three years, dramatically increasing air pollution by at least three-fold, according to a peer-reviewed study by Dr. Al Armendariz, of Southern Methodist University.

As he pointed out in a recent lecture, Barnett Shale drilling activities are the largest source of smog (NOx and VOC), greenhouse gases and air toxic compounds in North Central Texas.

How large?

>>>Substantially greater than all area airports, including, Dallas-Fort Worth Airport.
>>>Substantially greater than all the motorized vehicles in a nine county region.
>>>Greater than three cement kilns???

Good question.

Read Dr. Armendariz' complete report here. (In a hurry? Read Executive Summary on p.1 and scroll to the Conclusions on p. 34:):

Question #1:
If three cement kilns are putting kids in N.C. Texas at unusually high risk of cancer, asthma and other health concerns what will 15,000 new gas wells do to them?

Question #2:
Why are Fort Worth elected officials and the Texas Railroad Commissioners still issuing drilling permits?

Question #3:
Why aren't they enacting a moratorium on ALL drilling until the men and women who own and operate this dirty and dangerous industry clean up their act?

When Outrage Is Out To Lunch

Fort Worth's Foremost Activist, Don Young, is in the news again. This time in the Shreveport Times.

Don Young had this to say regarding the article and the controversy it covers....

Fort Worth has never been known a hot-bed of activism, but when the City of Fort Worth foolishly approved a High Impact drilling permit near Scott Avenue it was expected that area homeowners would be up in arms - that civil disobedience would take root - that the "tipping point" had been reached - that things might get ugly. Scott is a narrow street in an historic neighborhood next to an endangered prairie. This gas well pad-site would lead to the first UN-odorized gas pipeline in a neighborhood. Citizen outrage was a foregone conclusion.

Didn't happen. Why not?

Turns out, most had signed mineral leases with Chesapeake Energy and had cashed their "mailbox money" months before. They watched quietly from their front porches as giant Chesapeake trucks, assisted by the City of Fort Worth, rolled triumphantly down their street like Hitler's invading army.

C'est la vie.

Shreveport, Louisiana will likely be the next big city to allow urban drilling. People say that, the city and its residents will embrace drilling despite environmental and safety concerns. As we have learned in Fort Worth, money and false advertising blinds and deafens common sense on contact. Will Shreveportians gamble their future for mailbox money?

At least they've been warned. The message of common sense has been delivered by The Shreveport Times:

Fort Worth deals with shale environmental issues

FORT WORTH, Texas — Don Young, a Fort Worth resident, had a plan: He could park his van at the end of Scott Avenue. It's a public street, after all, and if enough neighbors joined him, they could legally block the trucks going to the natural gas drill site under construction.

But a funny thing happened. Almost no one came.

"You don't do it thinking you're going to win," Young said of his plan. "You do it to draw attention, to gauge reaction. I think I learned a lot from that too. I expected most of the people who live on the street to join me. But I discovered most of the people signed with Chesapeake (Energy Corporation) ... It was a bit of a letdown for me."

GO HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE SHREVEPORT TIMES ARTICLE

Sunday Protest Against Fort Worth Mayor Moncrief

Incoming from Don Young. Get yourself downtown to protest Fort Worth's Mayor Mikey and his outrageously corrupt conflicts of interest regarding natural gas drilling in his town, from which he receives revenue in a criminal conflict of interest that would have had him booted out of office and serving time in jail had this taken place in more enlightened locales in America.

Below is the Protest Information.....

Who among you are willing to exercise your right to protest the Mike Moncrief administration?

You can do so today...

When: Sunday, 9/21/08. Noon - 2 pm

What: Mayor Mike Meat & Greet (fundraiser)

Where: Railhead Smokehouse (on the sidewalk around the building)
2900 Montgomery St. (just south of I-30 behind the Shell station)
Parking on the street

Bring: A picket sign with your message for Mayor Mikey.

Many people believe that Moncrief with the support and collusion of his "Seventh Street Gang" of good old boys, his Oil and Gas buddies and hand-picked elected officials are DIRECTLY responsible for an out of control gas drilling ordinance that affects YOUR health and safety, YOUR property values and YOUR parks and quality of life.

In Fort Worth, the buck stops with Mike Moncrief.

Just Say WHOA! In Fort Worth

What are you doing August 7, 2008?

If you are frustrated, angry, depressed, apathetic, horrified or just generally concerned about natural gas drilling in north Texas, mark your calendar, program your Blackberry, scribble a post-it-note, tie a string around your big toe, whatever, just be sure you show up for this important event.

It doesn't matter where you live.

It doesn't matter if you are for or against gas drilling, in general.

It doesn't matter if you signed a mineral lease or not.

It doesn't matter if you Just Said YES or continue to Just Say NO.

Elected officials continue to issue drilling permits without all the facts or a master plan for dealing with an aggressive industry.

The health and safety of our communities has been compromised.

CREDO (Coalition for a Reformed Drilling Ordinance) is the "big tent" for everyone who wants to put the brakes on out-of-control gas drilling and the corrupt political system that has allowed it to flourish in our communities.

We believe in the military doctrine called The First Rule of Holes: If you find yourself stuck in one, stop digging.

MORATORIUM NOW!

See the "Metropolis" section of today's Fort Worth Weekly for more about CREDO and other gas drilling reports.

Don Young
FWCanDo
P.O. Box 470041
Fort Worth, TX 76147
FORT WORTH CAN DO