Josh Fox arrested...for pancakes??

Academy award nominee Josh Fox was arrested again.  This time for protesting what sounds like the Texas Railroad Commission, on steroids.  It's called FERC. WHY was he arrested?  We're not really sure.  All the pictures show the protestors either making pancakes or sitting.

This story will sound all too familiar to you Fort Worth locals.  From eminent domain to no approval or oversight.

Today’s protest draws specific attention to FERC’s role in using eminent domain to condemn and clearcut a wide swathe of maple trees across the Holleran family maple syrup farm in New Milford, Pennsylvania. The clearcut was ordered to make way for the fracked gas Constitution Pipeline, even though the pipeline has yet to be approved by New York state.

http://www.alternet.org/environment/gasland-director-josh-fox-arrested-pancakes-not-pipelines-protest

Did we read that right??

Did Railroad Commissioners just stand up for THE PEOPLE and their property?

Against the industry?  Against their money??

Read the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.  YOU won't believe it.

The Railroad Commission has shown some spine.

Last week, on Chesapeake Energy's request to "force pool" some residential properties for drilling in the Glen Garden neighborhood of southeast Fort Worth, commissioners Barry Smitherman and David Porter politely but decidedly beat up on the big local company and its attorneys for belligerent behavior.

One of the arguments that Chesapeake's offer was not fair and reasonable was that it asked property owners who had not signed mineral leases to take a "working interest" in the well, under which they would share in the profits but would pay twice their share of the well's costs. It gave them 14 days in which to decide, and they were told they would be given a written copy of the agreement after they said they wanted to go that route.

Under questioning from Jones, hearing examiner James Doherty said, "To me, it just seems unfair on its face to expect somebody to commit to enter into an agreement that they've never been given the opportunity to see."

Since that didn't work, he said, he joined Porter in making the vote 2-1 to deny the company's pooling application.

The commission moved to a case in which Chesapeake asked for a "Rule 37 exception" that would give it more flexibility in drilling on 182 acres in Crowley.

"In the nine months I've been here," Porter said, "this may be the poorest fact case I've seen on a Rule 37 request."

It wasn't Chesapeake's day. The commission unanimously denied that request.

Ride off in to the Sunset

Letter to the Editor in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Sunset RR Commission

At last, someone finally woke up to the fact that our state has been paying the Railroad Commission to work for the oil and gas industry.

I would like a job like that: lots of power, lots of money and not a lot of work.

This commission is outdated. Texas is looking for a way to save money. We've found a good one.

Let them find real jobs.

-- Bonnie J. Ghio, Fort Worth

More - Revolving Door

Read about the Railroad Commissioner election in the Fort Worth Business Press.

Then read below for what THE PEOPLE have to say.

The smooth pivot from regulators and public servants to immediate positions with an active player in the drilling and piping companies is a trend, bordering on a well-conceived system, that at least has a couple of positives for the people and taxpayers: (1) no more confusion about whose best interests these public officials really work for , and (2) tax dollars are no longer used to pay their salaries while they work for interests other than the people's, and often detrimental to the people's health, safety, environment, property, and legal rights..


However, the actions of a former FW mayor, by a director of FW's Environment Dept., by this former outspoken commissioner of the TRRC, (and by several laid off Star-Telegram writers), just to name a few, show that these folks hold high ethical values and do not want to be perceived as having conflicts of interest. Nevermind that their expressions of ethical integrity occur only after the taxpayers are no longer obligated to pay their salaries.

It is also very commendable for the gas drilling and gas pipeline companies for helping to fight unemployment and for helping to preserve these folks' self-esteem and the immense knowledge gained from serving as regulators or as people who possessed the public trust.

What Tony Soprano often said is true: You help me out, and I'll take good care of you. It's nice to take care of one/s of your own.

Holy Cow - Update

Earlier this month, we asked if it was going to take kids getting killed to get the truth.  Looks like the answer is yes.

Is the Texas Railroad Commission railroading another "study"?  Read about it on TXSharon.

One down...

Railroad Commissioner Carrillo claims he lost the primary due to his name. He says it's because of race.

We disagree. We think he lost the primary due to his record, his history of being an industry lapdog.

What do you think?

Read the Fort Worth Business Press article here.

Lon is right on

Read the Letter about Railroad Commission Chairman Victor Carrillo in the Fort Worth Business Press.

Airing concerns

I am extremely disappointed that Chairman [Victor] Carrillo, in his January 18 op-ed response to expressed concerns about toxic pollutants resulting from natural gas drilling in North Texas, has chosen to attack the messenger and misrepresent the facts rather than take action to protect public health.

Mayor Tillman can only be accused of doing what the rest of us, including local elected officials and relevant agency heads, should have done a long time ago – demand answers to hard questions about the hidden costs of the Barnett Shale boom.

Chairman Carrillo also severely misrepresents the findings to date of Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s air monitoring efforts.

More results will be released later this month, but to say that TCEQ “found ‘No Cause for Concern’ related to Barnett Shale exploration and production” is false and misleading (in its Jan.12 press release, TCEQ makes no such claim), and only further justifies public suspicion regarding whose interests the Railroad Commission is really looking after.

– Lon Burnam