No response

No surprise.

This attorney wouldn't call the FW Weekly back.  WHY not?

Call and ask him.  Check on the status of YOUR First Amendment rights.

And back up a Texas Hero while you're at it. 

Is there an attorney in the house?

Read about TXSharon and Range Resources on the Fort Worth Weekly.com.  They have the digits.

In the long run

Is it worth it?

It's rhetorical.

It's Fort Worth.

Shepherd knows drilling accidents happen, but the nature center needs the money. So, he hopes gas companies can find the value in the wildlife not just the gas reserves below.

Bursting their bubble

As soon as the Rolling Stone article hit the street, the standard responses from the industry started rolling in. 

We've seen it before. 

What's different about this "news"?  The Rolling Stone chose to answer back.  Point by point.  Read the entire article.  The closing is not to be missed.  Bravo.

Keep on rockin'.

The company entirely dodges the article’s central point: that Chesapeake is highly-leveraged firm operated by a corporate gambler who engaged in complex scheme to profit off the illusion that America has a virtually unlimited supply of cheap natural gas.
But when it came time to answer more substantial questions, all traces of transparency vanished. A quick example: I asked Chesapeake three times to provide me with a statistic for the total volume of dirty flowback water the company handled in the Marcellus Shale region last year. I got no answer.

Even more disturbing, when I asked McClendon directly if he or his company had contributed any money to presidential candidates or their PACs during the current campaign, he said flatly that they had not. This was curious to me, because McClendon has a long history of making campaign donations, and often encourages others in the industry to give to PACs as a way to make sure their voices are heard.   So I asked him again in email a few days later: The answer was still "no." A week later, a researcher at Rolling Stone discovered that Chesapeake had indeed contributed $250,000 to Rick Perry's campaign last fall. When I asked Kehs about this, he admitted it was true. Apparently McClendon operates in a world where a quarter million dollar campaign contribution can just slip one’s mind. 

Coming Soon!

Wow.

Greedy Lying Bastards.  The movie. 

YOU can't afford to miss it.

It was filmed in several countries by a US filmmaker.  Why are we reading about it in news from another country? Hats off to the Guardian, again.

YOU are invited

NCTCA invites you to hear about the State of the Shale.  If you live here, YOU can't afford to miss it.

"WHERE WE'VE BEEN AND WHERE ARE WE GOING?”

Meeting Moderator: Mr. Gary Hogan, Vice President
Hogangaryfwtx@aol.com

**With special presentations from others who have had an enormous impact on our communities**

When: Thursday, January 19, 2012
Where: HOTEL TRINITY INN SUITES
Located in the "Skyline Room" with a
beautiful view of downtown Fort Worth
2000 Beach Street and IH30
Fort Worth, Texas 76103
Networking @ 6:30 pm
Meeting @ 7:00—9:15 pm

* "THOSE WHO SAY IT CANNOT BE DONE SHOULD GET OUT OF THE WAY OF THOSE WHO ARE DOING IT!" *

*Our Champion: Former Mayor Calvin Tillman*

Putting the Cat Back in the Bag

When you cannot depend on those who are paid to protect you, you must protect yourself and your family.

A letter from former DISH Mayor, Calvin Tillman. Protector of THE PEOPLE.

YOU can't afford to miss it. Unless of course you have no skin in the game....

For those really smart people who think that everything is fine in Gasland, please let me know...I bet I could find you a great deal on a house with a compressor station in your back yard, because it is very easy to say things are fine, when you don't have any skin in the game.

Since the town of DISH released the results of the ambient air study in 2009, the oil and gas industry has worked overtime to put that cat back into the bag. They first attacked the consultant that conducted our study, and then came after me personally with numerous threats and frivolous public information requests. They also spent a tremendous amount of resources to find any angle to put a cloud of doubt around the study, although the lab results clearly showed a problem, and subsequent studies show similar results including those studies perform by the oil and gas industry themselves. This rhetoric did not stop at the industry public relations departments, but also went to the highest levels of government in the State of Texas. Our state wide elected Railroad Commissioners can be heard on public record regurgitating the same vile comments that the industry groups were spewing, all working in collusion to make this little problem go away.

Once the Town of DISH started to get attention worldwide from this air study, the industry worked even harder to cloud the truth. Through my research it is apparent that the oil and gas industry will dispute any and all actions that cost the industry money, even likely spending more money to dispute the facts than accept responsibility and correcting the problem. Although, if they would show even one ounce of responsibility, it would pay huge dividends to their public image. One example of this propaganda is the AskChesapeake (CHK) website. Before the town of DISH air study was made public, there was a section of this website that admitted to the release of many of the chemicals found in DISH, and other areas, including the carcinogen benzene. The site indicated that these chemicals were tightly regulated by numerous state and federal agencies. When the DISH study was released, it became apparent that these sites weren't quite as regulated as Chesapeake (CHK) had indicated. Therefore, shortly after the release of the DISH air study, which had Chesapeake's (CHK) name all over it, that section of their website disappeared, and was replaced with a page that basically said " a little benzene exposure is ok".

The industry also likes to deflect blame from themselves by pointing out other industries that pollute. They act as though bad behavior by others makes it alright for them to do it. I have heard that there have been idle threats aimed at municipalities from Chesapeake, stating that if air testing was accomplished at any of their facilities, they would hire a firm to test the air around some of the area's largest employers. Hmmm, didn't see that advertised on AskChesapeake.

Now when traveling to make presentations around the country, I carry a library of air studies, and numerous photos from around the country. I explain these studies and photos during my presentation, because I know by now that someone will accuse me of dramatizing these issues. The industry would much rather show a photo of a little deer running in front of a drilling rig, than an aerial view of DISH, or better yet, the satellite images that show thousands of large well pad sites. That makes it a little difficult for them to say that there will only be a few wells here and there, and the land will be returned to its original condition. Therefore, the group of paid liars, show up and video my presentation, trying to find something to take out of context and use against me. They then write some hack piece on their websites that are only read by those looking to get paid by the industry, and that makes the band of thugs applaud.

Another issue that follows the same pattern is the small community of Dimock, PA. A private water well actually exploded and yet now the claim is that everything is fine, again trying to put the cat back in the bag. Anyone who has visited the affected people in Dimock, know that everything is not fine, but rather still quite a mess. But the state agency designed to protect the people of Pennsylvania are also working in collusion with the oil and gas industry. This agency has allowed the industry to stop delivering fresh water to those whose water wells are tainted by the irresponsible activities of others. With these sort of actions, does anyone wonder why people are moving out of Gasland? When you cannot depend on those who are paid to protect you, you must protect yourself and your family. None of us are in this position because of our own doing, or because we want to be.

There have been numerous university studies that have attempted to validate the industry's stories. Whether it deals with health impacts, or economic impacts, if they are funded by the industry, they always paint a rosy picture. While typically those who perform studies that are not funded by the industry, typically tell a different story, and if the story is not rosy, it is attacked. In the industries eyes only the studies they fund are valid, and not too many studies show a rosy picture if they are not industry funded. There have been numerous air studies accomplished throughout the Barnett Shale. First there was the DISH Study, that was followed up by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality testing, then the industry performed a study, and lastly the City of Fort Worth perform a study. If looking at only the lab results, all of the studies have very similar findings. There were the same chemicals detected and at levels above the Effects Screening Levels, including benzene that was detected in all of the studies. Frankly, some of the benzene levels found in the other areas were much worse than those found in DISH. However, the study in DISH indicated that there might be a problem with being exposed to benzene, while the other studies indicated that being exposed to a little benzene was ok, and when the levels were very high, they stated that they were being corrected. Although the lab results showed problem, the press release said everything was rosy. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality actually lied to the public about their test results, and had a subsequent internal ethics investigation that showed how this organization intentionally misled the public when they stated that they had not detected benzene in eight air samples, when results showed that half of the samples had elevated benzene levels. No one was ever held accountable for this intentional misleading of the public.

The Texas Department of State Health Services (TDSHS) even came to DISH to take blood and urine samples. This showed several elevated chemicals in the blood and urine of over half of the households, and most of those chemicals had been found to be produced by the compressor station; however, the TDSHS said things like household chemicals and smoking caused the elevated levels, when only four of the twenty seven people tested actually smoked. I was one of the ones who gave samples for the test, and along with 2/3 of those tested, I had toluene in my system. The TDSHS blamed this exposure on my commute, which I had not accomplished in 72 hours, and the half life for toluene is said to be 4 hours. During the meeting where they presented this information, there were several questions posed that the TDSHS could not answer, such as what the number of men vs women that were tested, were there different results in men vs women, how far did each person live from a well or compressor site, did those who lived closer to wells or compressors have higher exposure than those living further away. After it became apparent that the person responsible did not do an effective study, she admitted that this was not a scientific study, and that it should not be looked at as such (you can find the presentation on youtube). However, it has been treated and touted as the smoking gun that things are fine...nothing to see here . There have even been those in academia who have supported this study after it was admittedly flawed, while both the university professors, and the TDSHS are both paid by the State of Texas, where negative talk about the oil and gas industry is not tolerated. Consequently, the governor, who has never had a real job, made a run for President of the United States due to his support from the oil and gas industry, although that is not working out to well for him.

I do not have PhD that follows my name, nor am any kind of scientist, doctor,or lawyer. I admittedly do not understand things like climate change or global warming, but I do believe that I have a little common sense, and I have a lot of smart people that consult me. Therefore, when the benzene level goes up, so does the risk of someone getting cancer, and my children waking up to massive nosebleeds is not normal. Since moving from DISH 9 months ago my children have not suffered one nosebleed in the middle of the night. So although I am not a scientist, and can't explain why my children were getting nosebleeds, or why the noxious odors gave me a headache and a sore throat, I know I feel better now, have a lot more energy, and that moving out of Gasland was a smart move for me and my family. For those really smart people who think that everything is fine in Gasland, please let me know...I bet I could find you a great deal on a house with a compressor station in your back yard, because it is very easy to say things are fine, when you don't have any skin in the game.

Calvin Tillman
Former Mayor, DISH, TX

WHO's news??

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram recently claimed they were YOUR paper.

Funny, we received an email from an active Fort Worth citizen that tells a much different story.  What happens when the officials and industry are your only customers?

The Fort Worth Startlegram has blocked me from making online comments on their stories because of my prolific responses to stories about bad air quality and the negative impacts of gas drilling on ground water sources. Also, I would imagine their censorship is because I will not back down from the real jerks who post on the ST site! Sad...truly sad that if it were not for the Associated Press and the New York Times, the ST would not even report on any of this crap we are having to deal with because of corrupt elected officials and an industry that cares not for any of us. I guess advertising dollars are more important to the ST than we are!

WHO's talking

About Texas air quality?

WHO isn't?

Read the New York Times article.  YOU can't afford to miss it.

Don't miss the connections...

Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston are the only Texas cities currently considered in "nonattainment" for ozone, meaning they do not meet Environmental Protection Agency standards. Nonattainment can cause a loss of federal highway money, though this has never happened in Texas.

On Friday the E.P.A., citing emissions from drilling activities among other factors, wrote to Gov. Rick Perry to propose including Hood and Wise Counties in the Dallas-Fort Worth non-attainment area.

It's coming...

December 6th.  Be there.

Dear Sirs:

 

Thank you for you article dated October 16,2011.  In a recent zoning committee meeting, the committee unanimously voted to deny Texas Midstream Gas Services application (ZC-11-098) at 7429 Randol Mill Road.  This was a huge victory for the neighborhoods who surround this area – Lakes of River Trails South (LORTS) , River Trails, and Mallard Cove.

 

With a small group of volunteers, we have canvassed our neighborhoods, and between LORTS and River Trails, we submitted a petition that consisted of over 1,000 signed petitions of opposition.  According to Jim Bradbury, a consulting attorney in this matter, such a petition against a gas compression station was unheard of in his history in environmental law.

 

But the fact remains that a gas compression station comprised of 15 gas compression stations at one location is unheard of in this country, according to Chesapeake’s gas representative at a recent meeting at River Trails Elementary School.

 

What remains to be seen is how the City Council of Fort Worth determines the outcome should be December 6, 2011.  Will they listen to the staff report that say this application is “inconsistent” with the already existing comprehensive plan and that it is “incompatible” with land use.  What concerns me most, however, are comments made during the November 9^th Zoning meeting by Bill Dolstrom, the attorney who filed the application, , there are “no other sites available” and that “according to the information we’ve receive, and the studies we’ve done, there is no other site available.”  Mr. Dolstrom continues, “As far as the inconsistency with the comp plan, the comp plan calls this as agricultural district.  This (ZC-11-098) use is permitted by right in an agricultural district, so I submit to you there is consistency with the comp plan.”

 

Will City Hall agree with its staff and Zoning Committee and deny the application, and if so – will Texas Midstream Gas Services and Chesapeake just build anyway???

 

Thank you for hearing me – please keep informed of the upcoming December 6^th meeting.

Are you smarter than a 5th grader?

Too bad they are buying your 5th graders too.  Read the letter in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Fracking mistrust

Really? We're supposed to believe U.S. Rep. Joe Barton when he says gas drilling isn't dangerous after he's taken more than $500,000 from the gas and oil lobby? (See: "Fracking lobby donations detailed," Friday)

We're to believe the "experts" who say fracking wasn't responsible for recent earthquakes in Oklahoma even though the number and their intensity have increased dramatically?

We're to believe Fort Worth City Council members when they say current gas drilling regulations are adequate while rejecting their own air quality study's recommendations?

Most fifth-graders would be smart enough to see the correlation between fracking and the increase in earthquakes, gas leaks, noise pollution, dirty air, contaminated water, sickened people or dead wildlife.

Why not our elected officials?

Sadly, it appears that the money has rendered them all deaf, dumb and blind.

-- Sharon Austry, Fort Worth

Water is priceless

WHAT will it cost YOU?

A letter from a Fort Worth resident to the City Council.

We're on the edge of our seat, awaiting their response.

For years the Gas Drilling Industry has  assured you and me that drilling is perfectly safe and the aquifers are 100% protected from the industry contaminating them.

What if they are wrong?  

Fort Worth Mayor and City Council

There are very few aquifers in this area and if one or more is contaminated where do we get water to drink?  There is not an answer for that.  We don't have extra water sources and even the ones we have now are depleted to a dangerous low.  If an aquifer is contaminated, will the drilling company supply us with water to drink, bath and wash our cars?  That is not very likely, in fact they will stall and remind everyone that the gas drilling industry is protected by the U.S. Government, because they (the gas drilling industry) are exempt from the clean air and water act.  Right now our political leaders are taking risks with our water supply without a back-up plan with absolutely no alternate plan for the residents.

Back to my original question, what if the Industry is wrong?  It seems they are wrong more and more often and this isn't something that can be fixed.   Of course their response is always the same, well, there isn't any documented proof.  The industry says it wont happen.

The EPA has proof it has already happened. 

Human error occurs, mechanical things wear out and break, earthquakes happen, lightening and tornadoes happen, companies take short-cuts.  Things happen.

Once an aquifer is contaminated with drilling chemicals that contain cancer causing compounds the aquifer is destroyed.  There is no fix, there is no re-do and, I am sorry from politicians will not be acceptable.

There are three things that are absolute needs for humans, one is air, then water along with food, which also requires water and air.

There is only one water and there is no replacement..  We must protect it at all cost, because Water is priceless.

Death or taxes?

Jeers in the Fort Worth Star Telegram:

To U.S. Reps. Joe Barton and Kay Granger, who are fighting the EPA on regulations that would curb mercury and other toxic pollutants being emitted from power plants and cement kilns. They profess that any increased regulation would kill jobs, apparently not caring that those same toxins can kill people.

-- Sharon Austry, Fort Worth

Nothing ever happens...

Till it happens to you.

Guess WHAT?  It's happening.  All around you. Pay attention.

Read the letter to the Editor in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

It was only a matter of time until the ugly side of natural gas finally reared its head in my neighborhood. Just when I was getting used to the natural gas wells dotting the landscape, now the lords of natural gas want to put a compressor station several hundred feet from my front door along a bucolic stretch of Randol Mill Road in east Fort Worth.

You might not think much about the barnlike structure if you saw it. But the fact that this compressor station requires a zoning exception should tell you a lot. Not only is there the potential for a lot of noise, but these installations also emit benzene and formaldehyde, two compounds sure to dampen interest in buying a house in my neighborhood.

It's my understanding that ZC-11-098 is still under review. But if this is approved, it leads to one conclusion: The powers that be have decided a little collateral damage for the greater good is perfectly acceptable. That's all fine and good -- until you're the collateral damage.

-- Keith Sternberg, Fort Worth

They forgot to buy the doctors

More than 250 pediatricians, family practitioners, otolaryngologists, endocrinologists, oncologists and other doctors, along with the Medical Societies of at least seven upstate counties and the regional office of the American Academy of Pediatricians, wrote to Governor Cuomo today, warning that the state has failed to analyze public health impacts of hydraulic fracturing in its rush to approve permits for drilling.

“We are greatly concerned about the omission of a critical issue related to the development of natural gas using high-volume hydraulic fracturing, or fracking: human health impacts,” the doctors and medical authorities wrote.

What's new in Cowtown?

Not much.  New Mayor, same strings.

Read about the "Land of Pretend" on FWCANDO.

WHO owns YOUR city?

Does that say FORT WORTH??

The City council wants to look at the gas drilling ordinance?  OUR city council?

Somebody pinch us, we must be dreaming.

Read it in the Fort Worth Business Press.

At the Pre-council session of Tuesday’s regular City Council meeting, some council members raised objections to issues related to multiple-well site permitting, grandfathering and other factors related to gas well drilling.

Just say no

To fracking.  That's what the subject of another New York Times post is about.  This time in Andes, N.Y.

If a reporter calls something "inspiring", YOU might want to pay attention.

There might be limited short-term benefits to a few, but the boom will be followed by a bust, and when it is all over “people won’t want to live here anymore.”

There was agreement that regulation wasn’t the answer, first because no regulation could prevent the disasters that come along inevitably with a project this large, and second because the state couldn’t be counted on either to pass or enforce regulations: “I can’t trust an industry that has got itself exempted from the air and clean water act.”

Fort Worth Air Quality

Or lack thereof...

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram has an article written by Jim Bradbury that YOU don't want to miss concerning the recent air quality study in Fort Worth.

The value of royalty income will prove fleeting if we discover all too late that the health of our young and old was diminished because we were unwilling to press this issue.

Credibility was key for this work. After the protocol was developed and Eastern Research Group selected to do the work, the city staff folded back into a behind-the-scenes process of developing the contract. The process was not open to the Air Quality Study Committee or the public.

Benzene, the contaminant that has drawn much of the current attention on air quality, was detected 94 percent of the time. It is the best marker of an emission problem.

Seven other volatile organic compounds were detected at rates higher than 90 percent. That these values were collected citywide underscores the gravity of the situation.

The report identified seven key pollutants for Fort Worth. Eastern Research's analysis appears to judge the presence of the pollutants only by whether they produce an "urgent health hazard." That leaves open a very important question about Fort Worth's overall near- and short-term air quality.

This may be too simplistic for air scientists, but if we find benzene 94 percent of the time, we have a problem.

Top City?

When Fort Worth was named a top city, we wondered, top of what? 

Failing schools? Embarrassing ISD? Corrupt Politicians?  Committing taxpayers to debt?  Eminent domain cases? Worst air quality?  For running out of water?  Or contaminating it?

We weren't the only ones wondering, check out the short and sweet letter to the editor in Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

All choked up

So Fort Worth is an award-winning city? Guess the judges sat in their offices at their computers and didn't come down here to breathe the highly polluted air we enjoy. I would have thought that would be a main criterion for a top city.

-- Christina Davis, Fort Worth

Feil giving them Hell

Another North Texas Watchdog, watching out for YOU. 

Read about Kim in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. 

Among her goals is to have Arlington, which has more than 380 active gas wells, and other cities require vapor recovery systems aimed at reducing the amount of smog-causing volatile organic compounds being emitted from drilling sites.

Feil criticizes the city leaders as too dependent on statistics and studies provided by the gas industry.