A Woo-Hoo Moment ***Update***

I spent the morning working alongside the Fish Creek Neighbors on the Linear Trail picking up a TON of litter that the heavy rains washed onto the wooded areas.  It was dirty, back-breaking work, so afterwards I took a hot bath, drank a glass of wine and decided to watch Tuesday night's City Council meeting that I missed.  Then the urge came on to write a blog post. 

The hot topic of discussion at this meeting was an item from Executive Session ~ an oil and gas lease with Vantage Energy.  A Chesapeake oil and gas lease was also on the agenda under Executive Session, but the focus for this story is the Vantage lease.  

Vantage is the operator that experienced a well blowout in April causing mandatory evacuations of many nearby residents.  This mishap spilled 42,000 gallons of produced water down residential streets and into our city storm drains.  This is also the same operator that delayed reporting this accident to our Fire Department for approximately two hours.  They don't sound like a very prudent operator.  Following an investigation, the City made a determination to allow them to Frack On on that LABC drill site.  It was a disappointment that they did not order Vantage to lock the gates and plug the wells after that fiasco.  Now they are building out that site, but that is a story for another day.  One of those West Arlington neighbors should start a blog. 
   
Although the surface location for this Vantage Energy lease is in Fort Worth, well bores would be directionally drilled and fractured under a portion of Lake Arlington, the City's drinking water source for hundreds of thousands of people.  

The speeches by Arlington and Dallas residents addressed a myriad of concerns ranging from the risk of contamination to our drinking water supply to the potential for an earthen dam failure which could be catastrophic.  Earthquakes, air pollution and climate change were also mentioned as serious issues associated with this type of heavy industrial activity.  

Fracking.  What's not to love? 

Robert Shepard (At-Large) was absent, and Jimmy Bennett (At-Large) made the motion to approve these oil and gas leases. Shame on you, Mr. Bennett!  Since there was no second, Robert Rivera then made a motion to deny, seconded by Sheri Capehart. The outcome of the vote was 7-1.   

 ***UPDATE***  

We received new information from the City Secretary's office today that there was dialogue immediately following this vote which was not clearly audible to online viewers.  While both items 1 and 2 were denied, Charlie Parker, District 1 Councilman, wanted to make sure that it goes on public record that he voted "No" on item 2  (ie, saying yes to a Chesapeake oil and gas lease on City property by Little Road and Little School Road) making the vote on item two 6-2.  So, there you have it ~ two Arlington Councilmen whose names deserve recognition in the City Hall of Shame.   

  Click Here to watch the November 10, 2015 City Council Meeting.

It was curious to witness what appeared to be a pivot ~ or maybe it was an eddy turn by seven out of eight council members present at the meeting.  Is there a skilled canoe man out there who can confirm this move?  We suspect it might have been a strategical maneuver to turn the negative PR around.   But most definitely, it was a "Woo-Hoo Moment" for mostly everyone in the chamber that night.   

A Fracking Conundrum *Update*

This blog post is late coming out because, quite honestly, we do not know what to think or say about our City or Enervest, or the October 28th Arlington, TX City Council meeting.
   

It was a busy week in the gas patch due to many fracking-related events taking place across the metroplex.  On Monday Phelim McAleer, creator of FrackNation debated Calvin Tillman, former Mayor of Dish, TX at Brookhaven College in Farmers Branch.  On Tuesday Enervest received unanimous approval from City Council for a zoning change.  On Wednesday Dr. Anne Epstein came to Mansfield with her presentation, "A Medical Perspective on Gas Drilling."  Finally, Wendy Davis visited with the neighbors in Southwest Arlington on Saturday.  And let's not forget Election Day when Denton residents get to vote on on a fracking ban. 

And now we learn that Enervest scheduled another Town Hall at 6:30 pm at the Bob Duncan Recreation Center for the Fannin Farms Drill Site on Election Day.  How Patriotic is that?  Don't they realize that some citizens are involved in the political process??  So thoughtless on their part, or perhaps strategic.  

We think it's strategic because Enervest contributed a TON of money to "Denton Taxpayers for a Strong Economy" a group opposed to the fracking ban.  According to campaign finance records the Denton Record Chronicle reports that Enervest gave $195,000 towards this cause.  We wonder if they would be as liberal with their money when it comes down to protecting the public by installing safer control technologies such as vapor recovery systems and a FLIR Gas finder camera to detect emissions which cannot be seen with the naked human eye.

Enervest also scheduled their town hall on the SAME NIGHT as the Arlington City Council meeting where the Perr Drill Site zoning change appears on the Consent Agenda.  Unbelievable.  Enervest's behavor is starting to make Chesapeake look good.

The consent agenda, by the way, is a tool used to streamline meeting procedures by collecting routine, non-controversial items into a group whereby all are passed with a single motion and vote.  Since when has drilling in an earthquake zone become routine business?  And let's not forget Enervest's history of gross violations in other states and the fact that they happened to be working over a well in close proximity to the epicenter of two earthquakes in September.

So, in getting back to Tuesday night's controversial council meeting, it is curious that three councilmen were missing in action ~ Charlie Parker, Robert Shepard, and Robert Rivera.  Does anyone know where they were?  Word has it they may have gone to Vegas, but what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. 

On September 17th the Planning and Zoning Commission recommended denial of EnerVest's request to amend the SUP to establish a drill zone for the Perr Drill Site located on South Cooper Street.

The Arlington City Council ignored their recommendation.

On October 28th eight citizens spoke in opposition at the city council public hearing providing solid reasons as to why the City should deny this case.

The Arlington City Council ignored their recommendations.

Not one person from the community spoke in favor of this item on the agenda except for Shea Kirkman, the applicant.

City Council approved Enervest's request by a vote of 5-0-1 (Kathryn Wileman abstained.)

You must watch this public hearing for yourself to understand how the democratic process works in Arlington:

It is a fracking conundrum!

Arlington, TX Public Hearing for the Perr Drill Site 10-28-2014 
Click here for the link if video won't play.

In case you missed it, here is how Enervest operates in Denton.  Coming to Arlington soon...

Attribution:  Sharon Wilson, Earthworks

By the way, this is the video that the City prohibited to be shown at the October 28th City Council meeting.  Other cities allow their citizens to present audio/visual material, but in Arlington only the applicant is permitted to do so.  It's also a challenge to do or say much in two minutes.  Citizens in adjacent cities are allowed to speak for five minutes.  

If you haven't voted yet, remember to Vote this Election Day.  If you want an advocate for the people to regulate oil & gas rather than another industry insider, vote for Steve Brown for Railroad Commissioner of Texas.  He has spent countless hours speaking with folks in our community and is aware of the myriad of problems associated with fracking inside residential communities.  He has proposed real solutions to our issues.  

Mark your calendar for these important dates.  Enervest will request a zoning amendment to establish the drill zone for the Fannin Farms Drill Site located at 2322 Eden Road, Arlington, TX.

Tuesday, November 4, 2014 at 6:30 (Bob Duncan Rec Ctr)

Tuesday, November 4, 2014 at 6:30 (City Council)

Wednesday, November 5, 2014 at 5:30  (Planning & Zoning)

Tuesday, Decembr 16, 2014 at 6:30  (City Council)

Click here for more details.

Stay tuned, folks.  There's more to come...

The Parking Ticket

      On January 22, 2013  Lynda Gearheart, Project Manager for Chesapeake, told the Arlington,TX City Council that security cameras are difficult to come by.  Installation of a camera was one stipulation for approval of a gas well permit at the controversial  Rocking Horse Drill Site.  Click Here for that backstory.  

 

In this video clip from January 22, 2013 City Councilmen Charlie Parker and Robert Rivera question Ms. Gearheart about that security camera:

Below is a document obtained by a citizen via an open records request through the City of Arlington.  These are gas drilling citations that were issued in the spring of 2014.   Security cameras must be in short supply because more than 18 months have passed and ~ as these citations reveal ~ many of their drill sites still do not have cameras!  When we called the City for a status update, they said that Chesapeake is working on it.  Come on, guys, time's up!

Gas Drilling Citations Arlington, Texas by fishcreekmonitor

Let's zoom in to examine one ticket:

 

What would Minnie the Meter Maid say about issuing gas drilling violations on parking tickets?

    Darlene (Sunnie) Minney Hubbard

 Photo Attribution Grand Prairie Historical Organization

Arlington treats gas drilling violations no differently than expired parking meters!  Perhaps they want us to believe that gas drilling in residential neighborhoods is innocuous.  Well, we know better.  These are dangerous industrial mining sites in our neighborhoods ~ not bakeries!  We live near them, experience the impacts, and study the issues.

Notice that the company names are left off every citation.  Is this intentional?  Throwing workers under the bus.  Glenn Stetson's name appears on many of these citations.  He is a Production Superintendent for Chesapeake. This seems unfair because after the third offense, this civil citation turns into a criminal matter.  It just wouldn't be right to press charges against a young newlywed when it is the City's responsibility to enforce the ordinance AND the company's responsibility to comply with it.  

Curiously, the names of the drill sites are not listed on the citations either.  Where's the transparency?  If you wish to obtain records for a particular gas drill site, you must ask specifically by address or else no records will turn up.  The City may charge for the records, but there is no charge for our tip!

We would like to point out that the last ticket in the bundle belongs to Atlas Resource Partners who acquired Titan Operating, LLC.  They have an interest in 12,000 oil and gas wells with assets of $200 million. 

 They paid their fine.   

 

If an Arlington meter maid ever issues you a parking ticket, here's how you can look up the amount of your fine.  (A city employee taught us how to do this.)  Let's practice by looking up the aforementioned code for the gas drilling violation since both are handled exactly the same way:
  
1)  Go to the City of Arlington's new website:  We've provided the link.  

Click Here.

2)  At the top right-hand side of the page click on the green tab that says 

Pay Online

3)  Now scroll down the page until you see a grouping of 8 large boxes.  Click on the blue box with a picture of a police officer that says

 "PAY Traffic Ticket."

4)  On the left hand side of the page is a heading that says, "Fine Amounts."  

    Select "Civil Fines."

5)  You will now see a 13-page listing of Civil Offenses.  Code 5655 is on page 10.  The  offense for this code is "Misc. Violation Flammable or Combustible Liquids - IFC Chapter 34."

The Penalty for each offense is $130.

As of Friday, July 25, 2014 Chesapeake has NOT PAID any of these tickets.  

   
A civil hearing is scheduled for September 24th at 2:00 p.m at the Arlington Municipal Courthouse.  Anyone who wishes to attend this hearing must check in by 8:00 a.m. 

If you are seeking an exciting new career as a meter maid,  here is salary information:

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