Oh, Bruder!

Oh, Bruder!  They're at it again!  And there's nothing brotherly about it.  Here is what local residents have to say about the production process spewing dust and fumes from this Chesapeake operated gas drill site located at I-20 at Park Springs Boulevard in Arlington, Texas: 

They have been going at it hot and heavy like this for at least 3 weeks. Constantly draining and refilling the frac pond with our water. How long does it take!? We've been breathing this air, dust and voc's for so long that the leaves on my plants are coated! I didn't bother with a veggie garden this year. I wouldn't let my kids eat what we grew last year!

Just awful. I live on the other side of the highway from this monstrosity. Arlington city council is so greedy that they allow this. They even gave a permit for drilling 359 feet from a day care center. Wtf? Who has a conscience anymore?

We've had a history of problems at this drill site with all that silica dust.  No telling what's it's doing to our lungs.  

Gassed

A resident called 911 at 1:14 a.m. today when he heard a loud noise coming from the Bruder Gas Drill Site near his home on Glen Springs Drive in Arlington, Texas.  This site is operated by Chesapeake.

This is how close gas drill sites are zoned for residential neighborhoods:

While we did not receive a response from the City, the Fire Department promptly released this Incident Report to us when we requested information:

Bruder Gas Drill Site Incident Report 052113 by fishcreek

Apparently, these incidents are fairly common in the gas patch. We heard Fire Chief Crowson testify at a recent Energy Resources Hearing in Austin that there have been approximately twenty gas releases in Arlington over the past year.  That's too many.  We were gassed.  These residents were gassed.  Who will be next?

I'm a Pepper, are you a Pepper?

Last night Chesapeake held a community meeting at the Southwest Branch Library to discuss progress on the Bruder Gas Drill Site located at I-20 and Park Springs in Arlington, Texas.

This location is slated to have up to 19 wells with four six leaseholds converging on one pad site.  In other words, the nearby residents will experience the  negative impacts of the process such as truck traffic, dust, fumes, and noise while others benefit from the royalties.  Somehow this does not seem ethical, but it must be fine since Chesapeake has an ethics representative who happened to be present at last night's meeting.

Before the meeting began, we learned that a resident who asked Chesapeake for a copy of their mineral lease was inadvertently sent a spreadsheet containing the names and social security numbers of lessors.   That was a huge mess!  Supposedly, Chesapeake attempted to make things right by offering LifeLock to the parties involved.  

The overall vibe in this community meeting room was contentious.  On their own website page (shown below),  Chesapeake forewarns us about this:  "At each council meeting, a small handful of vocal opponents pepper the council with dishonest reasons to stop progress and take away your rights as mineral owners."

In our estimation, there is no reason for a person to be dishonest if they oppose heavy industrial  mining operations where they live.  The facts about the process alone, along with the industry's history of accidents is scary enough reason to oppose this type of activity.  

There were many peppery type of people at the meeting last night, but sadly, the majority of the folks in the room are still concerned about receiving their royalty checks which are not being mailed as quickly as expected.  One woman actually believed she would receive $300 a month!  In a subdivision where most homes sit on quarter-acre sized lots, taking away one of the zeros will probably be more realistic.

One gentleman in the room did not hold back expressing his lack of trust in a company that is under investigation with the SEC.  He appeared frustrated when no one in the room could answer his questions - one being whether or not  Chesapeake sells their gas at the Henry Hub.   He should have received "The Pepper Award" for presenting the most challenging questions. 

What was both disappointing and surprising was that no one talked about The Process which is taking place - in this neighborhood - a mere 300 feet from homes.

It Ain't Just Steam

Arlington's Gas Drilling Status Report does not mention that flowback operations are happening today at the Bruder Drill Site located at the intersection of I-20 and Park Springs in Arlington, TX.  Fortunately, we have Fish Creek neighbors out in the field equipped with video cameras.  

Julie Wilson, Public Relations Spokeperson for Chesapeake, states that flowback vapor is just steam. 

“The “vapor” you see from the tanks on this site is steam from hot water. […] Despite the alarming stories that are unfortunately sometimes circulated, we can assure you there are no harmful emissions to worry about.”

The evidence is in.   It's not just steam.

The City of Colleyville hired Modern Geosciences, an independent environmental consultant firm to monitor Titan's mini-frack job.   Methane, VOC's, Xylene, Toluene, Ethyl Benzene, Nitric Oxide, and Ammonia were detected during both the fracking and flowback process.  Here is the link of their findings:  http://www.colleyville.com/images/content/files/communitydevelopment/final_air_quality_analysis_summary.pdf

We think Arlington should hire an independent consultant to monitor drilling activities, but our gas well regulator has been busy these days.  Here he is sitting on a panel with industry representatives promoting gas drilling at a recent UTA seminar.  (He's the one on the right.)



There are lots of rules for all of these drill pad sites.  Feel safer now?