There were two earthquakes in Arlington, Texas this week ~ the first one in the downtown area on September 7th with a 2.4 magnitude. The second one ~ a 2.5 magnitude ~ occurred on September 12th. The epicenter is in close proximity to the EnerVest, LLC drill site (formerly owned by Carrizo Oil & Gas.) They plan to drill a bunch of shale gas wells in the quake zone.
Dumb Idea.
EnerVest has scheduled a public meeting this Monday, September 15th to discuss future plans for the Perr Drill Site located at 2825 South Cooper Street, Arlington, TX:
After the public meeting EnerVest, LLC gets to present their case before the Planning & Zoning Commission on Wednesday, September 17th to request an amendment to a Special Use Permit (SUP) to establish a drill zone to drill more gas wells - in an earthquake zone.
Click HERE for the Perr Site Plan
We're pretty sure ALL future plans for fracking in Arlington are over ~ or at least they should be. Our next mayoral candidate tells us that gas drilling discussion will happen soon, but as one English Composition instructor taught our class ~ "show, don't tell." As human-induced seismicity continues to shake the ground in Arlington and other towns, we have mountains to move in our State.
If this amendment is OK'd at this time, it will represent the total and complete inability for a city to "re-think" its original ideas about all of this. Surprising that this operator scheduled a meeting with the community two days before the P&Z Meeting. Sounds like they want to round up support. And so it goes...don't worry, be happy. Enjoy the ride. And the Booms.
ReplyDeleteArlington is considering allowing drilling in an earthquake zone by a company with vast numbers of regulatory violations in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Louisiana and other states. In Ohio alone, one report lists about 340 violations of regulations, some that have been in violation since as early as 1991, and several that have been in violation since 2006.
ReplyDeleteIf an operator has this many violations across several states, then it would be myopic and a dereliction of duty to approve permits for them to operate in Arlington. EnerVest has done its very best to prove that it simply cannot be trusted to obey the law and comply with regulations imposed for the health and safety of the communities in which it operates. Arlington officials have an obligation to Arlington citizens to protect them from careless and unlawful operators like EnerVest.
...and a brilliant rebuttal to these violations by Shea Kirkman and Rusty Ward who either blamed the previous operators or trivialized the matter showing total disregard to the communities their lack of diligence can endanger.
DeleteUnfortunately, our State and City does not have stringent enough rules or enough inspectors to adequately oversee all the wells in the Barnett Shale. That's probably why Texas is such a desirable place for serial violators to conduct business. (except for Dallas, of course, where they established a strong ordinance.)
Allowing any repeat violator to conduct dangerous mining operations in a densely populated community is akin to hiring a known child sexual predator to teach in the public school system.
Thankfully, we still have freedom of speech to discuss the raw truth on the blogs. Where is the mainstream media?
Watched the Planning & Zoning meeting last evening that ended swiftly with the 4-4 Vote. So, the request for the Amendment failed due to the tie. The speeches were spot on and there was a sense of confidence in the speakers for the Public Hearing. Really do like the Chair and Vice Chair. Can all of our cities in North Texas elect more like them, please. And who were the other two commissioners who voted against the amendment? Like them, too. :=)
ReplyDeleteOh, and just like the vote in October 2013 with XTO's failed attempt to get that Frac Pool permitted...that was a , "WIN," too, for the home team. We will never forget.
XTO Loses 9-0 at Arlington City Hall
Congratulations! Love that word.
The other two commissioners were Patrick Reilly and Vera McKissic.
DeletePlanning and Zoning Commissioners