More Trinity Trash

WFAA had back to back stories on the Trinity River in Dallas and Fort Worth. The stories don't seem to be online yet, so we'll give you the rundown.

In Dallas, the levee collapse at I-35 and Regal Row seems to be causing some concern. The culprit? A water leak in the city utility line.

Two other sections have collapsed in the upper West levees in the past few weeks, but that is blamed on Mother Nature herself.

Over in Fort Worth, money is being given to improve Riverside Park, IF the neighborhood is willing to let it flood. Trinity River Vision wants to excavate the parkland 16 feet lower than it already is.

Neighborhood leaders are concerned about the already limited green space and the contaminants that would be left behind. The city isn't.

The Trinity River Vision Authority and the City of Fort Worth are holding a meeting Tuesday for residents. They say if they really don't want it, they will find other land to use as flood storage.

They said WHAT? Is that part of the Trinity River Master Plan? What other land? How will they obtain other land?

The meeting details are listed below. Lots of meetings tomorrow. Be there! And then share your story with Texas Lone Star!

Share your ideas about a new master plan for Riverside Park, 501 Oakhurst Scenic Drive, at a meeting scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Dec. 1 at Fort Worth Harvest Church, 620 N. Chandler Drive. Residents can discuss and help determine recreational features that would be most desirable to the community. A Spanish interpreter will be available.

WHO? WHEN?

Jerry Lobdill and Don Young. 2007.

Too bad our city leaders wouldn't listen then. Prime example of nothing was done, it just got worse.

Make sure they hear YOU tomorrow.
The time is NOW.

I've been looking back at my email traffic since August 2007 when I first got into this urban gas drilling fight. Here's an email I wrote way back on September 13, 2007 talking about what I learned about the gas drillers' plans in one single evening at the Trinity Trees forum. I got the bit about rubber-stamping high impact wells wrong, but now even that part is correct.

And our City Council and Mayor want us to believe that they innocently never considered anything but the economic benefits when they were considering opening the city gates for this industry. They didn't just fail to do due diligence. They deliberately didn't think about it.

Why?

Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2007 12:08:26 -0500

To: Jerry Lobdill
From: Jerry Lobdill
Subject: About Trinity Trees
Bcc: Don Young

Hot off the press news:
http://thecaravanofdreams.blogspot.com/

DY

I posted to the blog the following comment:

We are facing a blitzkreig in the next year. Let's get real. The mayor has told all council members "I'm a very vindictive guy, and if you don't go along with me I'll get you." All but Silcox are scared of him. Moncrief's a gas industry shill and profiteer. His Barnett Shale profits this year will hit $1M. Know your enemy.

Now let me explain what the industry wants. They say they want about 3000 wells inside of Loop 820. At the Trinity Trees forum it was said (and not disputed) that they wanted a drilling pad every 7000 ft inside the city limits. These numbers are astonishingly consistent if one thinks of about 6 wells per drilling pad. This density would place 15 drilling pads on every MAPSCO page of the Fort Worth MAPSCO book. Look at any page and tell me how many pad sites you can place there that will not require a high impact variance. It sure as hell isn't 15.

So what this means is that they will be coming to council daily with applications for high impact variances. So far these have been rubber-stamped. Doing this makes a complete mockery of the ordinance. That is what is going to happen unless we can mount a strong grass roots attack to stop it. They're going to need about 400 or so to produce the city.

The ordinance is based on a desire by industry to create a moral hazard so that they cannot be held liable for the almost certain disaster that will come in the form of an explosive blowout followed by fire. There is no body of data that supports any given set back (300ft, 600 ft, whatever). The function of the law is to indemnify the producers and drillers. So let's not kid ourselves into thinking it's a safety measure. With the rubber-stamp "high impact" variance they can have their cake and eat it too. What do you think will happen to our taxes, our insurance, our property resale value?

We have to get organized on a city-wide basis, or we're going to have a city that is not fit to live in.

Just my $0.02

Jerry Lobdill

United

Don't miss today's article in the FW Business Press about the levels of benzene in the air you breathe. Just another reason YOU should attend the meeting Tuesday!

Short-term exposure of benzene can cause nausea, dizziness, headache and drowsiness, whereas long-term exposure may affect bone marrow and blood, and may cause leukemia, Honeycutt said. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lists benzene as one of 188 air pollutants that “may reasonably be anticipated to result in an increase in mortality or an increase in serious irreversible or incapacitating reversible illness,” according to the agency’s Web site.

State Representative Lon Burnam will be holding a meeting immediately following the community meeting tomorrow night. There is also a meeting on Wednesday. Busy week! Mark your calendars! Details on when and where below.

You can express your concerns about the gas drilling and pipeline issues at any of these three events:

Beer and Pretzels Mixer following a Community Sponsored Forum at 6pm
When: Tuesday December 1, 7:30pm - 9:30pm
Where: The Elvis Room, Hotel Trinity Inn and Suites (-I30 and Beach Street)

A Public Meeting Sponsored by Sen. Davis, Rep. Burnam, and Councilwoman Hicks
When: Wednesday December 2, 6:30pmWhere: Meadowbrook Elemenatry School (4330 Meadowbrook Dr.)

Join me for Coffee and Pan Dulce as I File for Re-Election
When: Thursday December 3, 8:30am - 9:00am
Where: Tarrant County Democratic Party (3004 W. Lancaster Ave.)

Q & A

One of our contributors has a question, and an answer.

To all who have fought so hard for some sanity to gas drilling...I have a question.

Exactly when do you become an "activist" instead of the city labeled "naysayer," or even worse, "CAVE People" (Citizens Against Virtually Everything)?

ANSWER: When you and truth can no longer be silenced by elected leadership.

Keep making noise! Hold your leaders accountable.

Unite tomorrow! Invite your friends and your family. It's their air and water too!

Watch the lastest from WFAA.com.

Where?

Carter Avenue. That's where.

Once again, Durango has the dirt.

And where do those folks suing the gas drillers in PA live? Carter Road, that's where.

TXSharon has the dirt on that.

Coincidence?

Be there!

Reasons...

Part of the reason we started a blog - We were tired of the news not telling the truth.

We aren't the only ones...read about the failed purple river project and it's contradictions here.

If the head of the Tarrant Regional Water District "doesn't know" specifics about what he's dumping in the Trinity/Horned Frog river, do we really want these people rerouting it?

Another reason...

We are thankful for Durango.

He's always out and about showing us what is going on in the city.

We didn't realize he had yet to have the honor of hearing Mayor Moncrief speak in person until today. Today being the day the Mayor poured chemicals into the Trinity River that he renamed Horned Frog River.

Read what Durango had to say about this close encounter here.

Thanksgiving...

We are thankful for our friends on Carter Avenue! Cheers to their victory and spirit!

We are also thankful for those that play a part in trying to save our cities and protect our residents. It takes a village.

And last but certainly not least, we are thankful for Durango.

As soon as I turned off Beach Street on to Carter Avenue I saw flags, lots of American flags, in front of every home on Carter Avenue, then more flags when I turned left on Sanborn Street, flags all the way to Mother Nature on Scott Avenue, a monument that continues to weep over the damage done to the Tandy Hills by Chesapeake Energy.

Was this the people of Carter Avenue celebrating that the American Way had worked? That truth, justice and doing the right thing had prevailed. That they had used the power of their freedom of speech to let other Americans know about the threat being directed at Carter Avenue?

Following the American flags down Carter Avenue leads you to Mother Nature. That has to mean something...

And from his later posting about David and Goliath -

Using the greatest power an American has, the use of their free speech, the people of Carter Avenue fought back against Chesapeake Energy and the corrupted elected officials of the city they live in.

And won.

Happy Thanksgiving Y'all!

Texas Lone Star

This land is your land

Maybe not.

Tarrant Regional Water District eminent domain cases, just in time for the Holiday.

Read all about it in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram article, "Hearings begin for Trinity Uptown property seizures".

Sounds festive, doesn't it?

If that doesn't, you'll be happy to know the city is teaming up with the Water District to dump purple dye in the river. Again. They are also going to rename it for the game.

Check out the companies mentioned along with money, in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram article.

Want more? While we still appreciate efforts to conserve water, we have to wonder, WHO orders 7,000 toilets? WHO pays? The Fort Worth Star-Telegram has the scoop on the Royal Flush.

WHO said?

And Jerry Lobdill.


TxDot comes around on East Side pipeline; Carter Avenue route possibly averted
BY JOHN-LAURENT TRONCHE
November 25, 2009
http://www.fwbusinesspress.com/display.php?id=11461

"Pipelines are an essential part of natural gas production, and are used to transport the produced natural gas from a well site to the market via gathering lines and transmission lines, the former of which currently are being installed around Fort Worth.
Each well drilled will require pipeline access."

So...why was it that the Fort Worth City Council wasn't told this? (Chuck Silcox said this.) Why was this not disclosed before the Council changed the zoning ordinance to allow wells and pipelines in every zoning category?

Why weren't the mineral lessors told this before they signed mineral leases?

Now it is written as if it were a ho-hum fact in the FW Business Press.

Mr. Woodard has something to say in the FW Business Press too.

We're listening!

Carter Avenue in the News

So maybe there IS an alternate route that would work. WHO knew?

The residents, that's WHO.

Keep making noise

Read the article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Sounds like a plan

Article from one of the blogs we watch in PA titled- Make it Go National.

Their wish is our command.

The citizens may be on to something there. WHO's next?

Different State - Part 2

Same story.

Citizens calling for a moratorium on gas drilling in Pennsylvania as well as Texas. Can you hear them now? Read it all at www.philly.com.

Jarrett called for a moratorium on gas leases until the state can assess its ability to manage the rush. "We ought to put on the brakes until a study can be conducted to analyze what kind of impacts the drilling is having," she said.

"If they have a problem, they spend their way out of it," he said of Anadarko, which is based near Houston and has operations around the world. A single well costs $4 million to develop - each four-acre well pad may contain six or more wells - and a rig costs $50,000 a day to operate.

Different State

Same story.

Gas drillers and dollar signs...the environment and the citizens paying the price.

Check out the article on PennLive.com. We can't afford not to.

Citizens of Pennsylvania, you’re being deceived, misled, misdirected, fooled, conned, bamboozled, tricked, and taken advantage of.

2009 will be remembered as the year Pennsylvanian’s traded their most precious renewable resource: water, for a few lousy bucks and the hollow promise of a balanced state budget. In a crazy stampede for short-term profits and an easy financial fix, Pennsylvanians are placing their state’s environmental health and financial future at risk.

That smell.

Check out your area. See what's in the air and the water. TXSharon's on a roll.

She also has the latest pipeline explosion information and some good pictures of Mayor Tillman from DISH, TX.

More weekend pipeline explosion information here. One worker was killed and another injured.

Oh, and don't forget the radioactive water in Hudson Oaks.

Trinity on TV Monday

Check out KERA for the schedule. Or read some here, Living With the Trinity. Interesting stuff.

What happened last night

in Dirty Ol' Town?

TXSharon has the recap.

TONIGHT

Reminder - the time to save our city is NOW.

The League of Neighborhoods is hosting an open forum and panel discussion on the effects of oil and gas drilling on air quality at 7 p.m. Thursday at University Christian Church, 2720 S. University Drive, Fort Worth

Water Wars

The sad story rages on. The Tarrant Regional Water District was created to reduce flooding and provide clean, adequate water supply. What are they up to instead? Suing folks for eminent domain for Trinity Uptown and suing Oklahoma to take their water. Seems like their time and our money could be put to better use.

Sounds like a federal judge thinks the same thing.

Articles from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and KTEN.com.

Turkey's Ready

The FW Weekly has their annual Turkey Feast out. See WHO was voted the biggest Turkey's. You won't be surprised. Same stories residents have been talking about for years...

Part of our favorite of the many The Weekly served up.

Sigh. Mayoral turkey again?

He earned it for his recent comment expressing deep concern for how the good people in the Fort might be affected by dangerous emissions pouring out of all those gas wells he's embraced. "Identifying the impacts of gas drilling on our neighborhoods and on the health and safety of our citizens remains a top priority," he intoned. The statement followed the disclosure that the state environmental agency had found elevated levels of the carcinogen benzene in the air around gas wells and compressor sites.

This is a guy whose family has made a lot of money off gas and oil wells for decades. He had to have known what was coming when the first landmen showed up bearing promises of mailbox money - knew or should have known that neighborhoods would be disrupted and streets torn apart by well-support truck traffic. He should have known that the "salt water" those trucks were supposedly carrying was in fact dangerous chemical waste. He had to have known that wells would need gathering lines and compressor stations and delivery lines and that those lines could be taken by eminent domain. He had to have known that gas would be flared off into the air we breathe and that the monthly royalty checks paid to most mineral-rights-owning residents would be in the $5 to $10 a month range. He had to have known that gas wells produce dangerous hydrocarbons, that wells and pipes explode occasionally, and that compressor stations produce a constant low-frequency hum that drives some people absolutely crazy.

But he didn't say a word about those things. And then he stacked the drilling ordinance task forces of 2006 and 2008 with industry supporters and took away the panel's power to deal with things like environmental impacts.

Now, when even the state can no longer pretend there aren't poisons aplenty in the air all over the Barnett Shale, he sends out a memo saying he's all for protecting us.

From Carter Ave to Coldwater Creek

Seems someone once said, if it happens here, it can happen anywhere...

Guess what?

Finally...

The Fort Worth City Council and Mayor Moncrief have finally decided to call for a report on what gas drilling is doing to our air.

Maybe they should've listened to the Gas Drilling Task Force, or the countless citizens that have been asking the same questions for years.

Again, another Texas woman, Chris Hawes from WFAA, leading the charge on this one with her Barnett Shale reporting.

Keep making noise! Elected officials have to listen to We The People, whether they want to or not...it's just a matter of time.

Calvin Fans

Another reason to love DISH, TX mayor, Calvin Tillman.

I have been asked on several occasions, by folks around the country to come and talk about the air study here in DISH. It seems a bit odd to me, but it appears that tiny DISH, TX has been the only municipality to perform a study such as this. I will happily share our story here in DISH with anyone who would like to hear about. I firmly believe that the only way to change the current situation is stand together. I further believe that helping you, where ever you may be, will also help us hear in DISH. Therefore, if you are interested in hearing about our story please contact me directly to discuss the possibilities. I will not accept funding for any travel expenses, but also need to know that my presentation would make a difference. Please give me a call or email for details.

tillman4council@aol.com
"Those who say it can not be done, should get out of the way of those that are doing it"

Another reason...

to LOVE Texas Women...

See the article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram by Deborah Rogers calling for a moratorium on gas drilling in Fort Worth.

It includes your invitation to help save our city -

The League of Neighborhoods is hosting an open forum and panel discussion on the effects of oil and gas drilling on air quality at 7 p.m. Thursday at University Christian Church, 2720 S. University Drive, Fort Worth


Drilling has occurred at unprecedented rates in densely populated areas — near our homes, our schools, our medical facilities. It was allowed without ever conducting a study to determine the consequences of such activity on our neighborhoods, our health and our welfare, and without ever putting into place a system of ongoing monitoring or controls. Short-term gain won out over long-term responsibility to local residents.

There is no historical precedent for this. We now know that we have been exposed to a known human carcinogen. If further testing comes back showing sulfur compounds in addition to benzene, then we have a greater problem ahead. While no one disputes the economic benefits of the Barnett Shale, the gas must be produced responsibly.

Breaking News

Not really...

The FW Weekly pointed out the issues with open records request months ago. Looks like the Fort Worth Star-Telegram just caught up with the Fort Worth Way.

Texas Women...

We love 'em!

They get good info and they share it with all.

Check out a sinkhole surrounded by injection wells in Wink, Texas.

And TXSharon has video on the Bushland, Texas explosion and upcoming lawsuit.

Stay tuned...

Help is on the way??

Congress tells the EPA to revisit fracing. Let's hope they are listening. Read about it @ Propublica.

Thanks to our contributors for keeping the information flowing!

THANK YOU

To ALL our veterans.

With deepest gratitude,

Texas Lone Star

Key word - AGAIN

Read about the issues in Aledo with disposal well, again. Article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

When will it end?

To drill or not to drill

Depends on if you already own the land or not, within the Urban Villages.

See the Fort Worth Star-Telegram daily newspaper for the article on last night's council vote!

Where will YOU be Tuesday?

City Hall of course.

Don't miss it. Bring your friends, bring your neighbors!

Make some noise, take back your city!

Is it noon yet?

Almost. Lots of Wild West talk over on The Outlaw's blog these days. We like it! We're listening.

See what Durango and Don Young have to say about Al Armendariz becoming our EPA Administrator!!

And Durango was out and about taking pictures again, you can't fence him in.

If you missed the information on the recent Texas pipeline explosion, Durango also has a post for that. You can bet the people on Carter Avenue did not miss the pipeline explosion news.

Ditto

Another Letter to the Editor in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram daily newspaper about the Trinity Uptown scam.

Are you kidding?

Would you really describe the Trinity Uptown as a "flood-control project"? If it were truly for flood control, the cost of improvement was estimated at $10 million. Instead, after local politicians and developers saw dollar signs and joined in, it has exploded into a $909 million economic development bill that taxpayers have to fund. With a difference of $899 million, flood control seems to be an afterthought!

When I hear a mayor or official say "eminent domain will only be used as a last resort," it makes me laugh. That phrase is code-speak for "start packing your things up." The Trinity Uptown and Arlington’s new Cowboys Stadium are two of several local examples of property owners losing their land to larger business owners. How is a stadium with restricted access an example of "public use"? How does one justify taking a person’s auto-salvage yard and handing the land over to a future restaurant owner?

As land continues to be developed, these cases will become even more commonplace. Yes, property owners, especially the working class and the powerless, do need protection from eminent domain abuse. But, if these massive tourist projects are simply going to be disguised as flood control or "blight elimination," what is the point?

— Linda A. Lancaster, Arlington

If it's in the air, it's in the water...

FW Weekly has some good blog postings about the side effects of gas drilling. Be sure to read Don Young's link included in the post.

We can't replace our air or water, neither should be for sale in the shale.

And the list grows

Speak up before another one bites the dust. Literally.

TXSharon has the scoop.

About time!

Al Armendariz is the new EPA regional administrator! Read all about it in the Dallas Morning News!

Congratulations to Al and to the residents of Texas!

YOU are invited

Please share with others that the City Council on Nov. 10th is scheduled to take up drilling in Urban Villages.

It's not just Carter Avenue. Last night the Chadwick neighborhood spoke out concerning the four additional wells the gas drillers want to put 300 ft from homes. And read on for information about Ridglea Village.

Welcome to Fort Worth. Come down to City Hall November 10th and take back your city.

From: Doreen Geiger
Sent: Sunday, November 01, 2009 7:39 PM
To: District3; Alanis, Susan
Subject: Drilling in F.W. Urban Villages

Dear Councilman Zimmerman and Ms. Alanis,

Ms. Alanis,

I tried to send a video clip to you about possible drilling in Berry/Riverside Village (hope I sent it correctly). One of many reasons I am so worried about drilling within Fort Worth is because the City Council has given permission for drilling in areas that do not meet the minimum requirements approved by the City. It is sad the City Council would approve 10 wells to be drilled on the Aussie site in the 7th St./University Village area even when 13 of the 22 residents living within 600 ft. of the site would not sign waivers.

When City Planners met with Ridglea residents a few years ago, all of the drawings the City staff presented showed a 20 acre area on Westridge Ave (just south of Ridglea Presbyterian Church) to be a part of the Ridglea Village and to become town homes. The developer who had purchased the 20 acres plus dozens of other acres on Waverly Way was present at the meeting.

I suppose due to the slower economy, the developer could not get his Westridge Ave. projects started and sold the property to Chesapeake. This Ridglea Village area which was supposed to be higher density residential skirting the retail/commercial section looks like it will probably become a drill site instead. It seems a successful Urban Village should include retail, commercial, residential, green park space, public transportation and pedestrian walkways/benches but I can not see how drilling sites should be a part of the Village concept?

Councilman Zimmerman and Ms. Alanis, will you please advocate for drill-free Urban Villages?

Thank you,
Doreen Geiger

The Oct. 30th Star-Telegram article “Bankruptcy Judge Approves Ridglea Sale” by Sandra Baker 817-390-7727 states that:

Doug King, Maulsby’s trustee, said last month that an unnamed buyer had offered $1.75 million for the west-side landmark, which also includes an adjoining two-story office and retail bldg.

On Thurs., that buyer was identified as Pergamos, a partnership headed by Mark Kalpakis, CEO of Joint Resources Co., a Fort Worth oil and gas exploration company.

Joseph Friedman, an attorney representing Pergamos, upped the offer to $1.85 million Thursday. But FixFunding, which had a right of first refusal on the property, matched the Pergamos offer and took the property back.

From: Alanis, Susan
Sent: Monday, November 02, 2009 8:03 AM

To: 'Doreen Geiger'; District3

Cc: Trice, Rick

Subject: RE: Drilling in F.W. Urban Villages

Ms. Geiger:

Thanks again for all of the helpful information you have provided on these sites. I did see the story on Berry/Riverside. We are currently working with Chesapeake to identify alternatives to that site. In addition, the Urban Village amendment to the gas ordinance will be up for reconsideration at the City Council’s meeting on November 10th. Thanks for your support on the effort.

Regards,
Susan Alanis
Director of Planning and Development
City of Fort Worth 817.392.8180

Can you hear HER?

Senator Wendy Davis has called for a Senate investigation in the great state of Texas.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

Uptown

More Trinity River Vision eminent domain talk in today's Fort Worth Star-Telegram daily newspaper.

There are reasons to have heartburn about the use of millions in federal and local tax money for Trinity Uptown...

We couldn't agree more.

Two Words

VOTE TODAY!

The Fort Worth Way

If they won't give it to us...we'll take it.

Read the latest Trinity River Vision updates in today's Fort Worth Star-Telegram daily newspaper.