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.

Texas Women

Have been kicking butt and taking names this week, literally.

The League of Women Voters in Tarrant County have been asking questions.

Teri Hall's TURF helped defeat Proposition 4.  (Too bad THE PEOPLE didn't read the other Props).

WHO issued a warning about Prop 2?  (Not just Texas Lone Star)  Debra Medina.

"Rather than providing solutions to the water needs facing Texas, the additional debt imposed on Texans by Prop 2 compounds the problem," warned Debra Medina, Founder, We Texans. "InfrastructureTexas.org put out information playing on voters' fears about the drought and wildfires. Many Texans believed this money was going to fund needed water projects with no cost to them. H204Texas PAC put out an email saying Prop 2 would cost the taxpayers NOTHING. But we know better and we'll be watching TWDB's every move to ensure taxpayers and Texans' water rights are protected."

And TXSharon's tapes from the gas drilling conference made CNBC.  She has "16 hours of tape".

Texas Women, you gotta love them.

Department of Justice

Somebody has to protect OUR water.  We don't care who.

The United States Department of Justice filed a complaint today against Range Production Company and Range Resources Corporation ("Range") in federal district court, seeking enforcement of a Dec. 7, 2010, emergency order issued by the Environmental Protection Agency against the companies. In the order, the EPA determined that Range had caused or contributed to the contamination of a drinking water aquifer in Parker County, Texas. The complaint asks the Dallas court to direct the companies to comply with portions of the order and to pay a civil penalty of up to $16,500 per day of violation.

Read about it on TXSharon.
 
And don't miss Al Armendariz being honored by the Texas Monthly.  Kudos Al!

News from NY

What do New York and Texas have in common?  Hopefully soon, our water will be protected too.  Read about NY on TXSharon.

YOU are invited!

Mark your calendars for August 5th.  TXSharon has the details.  Don't miss it!

Who do YOU believe?

Do you believe what you see (breathe, taste, hear...) or what the industry says?

Guess that depends on which office you hold and how bad you want to keep it.

Josh Fox answers to the industry critics who try to discredit the Gasland movie.  Seeing is believing.  If you haven't seen it yet, do so.

And read about it on TXSharon.

SOS to EPA

What happened at the EPA meeting in Fort Worth last night?

600 people showed up. (One "news" station said "dozens", that's lots of dozens).   While the industry sent many shills as usual, seems the majority were real folks, concerned with real things...like air and water.

To read more about the meeting read TXSharon and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.  Excerpts below that YOU can't afford to miss.

"I'm sending out an SOS to the EPA," said fervent fracking critic Sharon Wilson, a local representative of the Texas Oil and Gas Accountability Project, which favors strong federal regulation of the energy industry and full disclosure of chemicals used in fracturing.

"We need you here. We need you on the ground. We need you now," Wilson told EPA officials, as supporters applauded enthusiastically.

"We don't know if it is actually contaminating the water or not" said Candice Brewer, President of the Texas chapter of the National Association of Royalty Owners, "There haven't been scientific studies."

Many representatives for the industry and for mineral owners came from Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas to underscore that hydraulic fracturing has been in use for more than 60 years and has safely stimulated more than 1 million wells around the country.

As one petroleum engineer made clear, horizontal hydraulic fracturing is VERY new. It's only been used for about 15 years. He said that industry should make an effort to be more honest.

AMEN.

What's it going to take?

Check out TXSharon for the scoop.

And as for our water (see Well Hell)...she says it, well.

It's easier to make the claim that no groundwater has been contaminated if you never test the groundwater for contamination.