XTO Loses at Arlington City Hall

Eden Southwest Gas Drill Site Operated by XTO Energy

Tuesday was a really bad night for Walter Dueease, Regulatory Affairs Manager of XTO Energy.  This Exxon Mobil subsidiary lost their zoning request by a unanimous vote of 9-0 at Arlington, Texas City Hall.  They had hoped to expand their 5.4 acre Eden Southwest drill site with an adjacent 6.3 acre tract in order to set up a temporary above-ground frac pool while keeping the existing frac pond that is at this location.

During last month's Planning and Zoning meeting Chairman, David McGlaun, and Vice-Chairman, Clete McAlister, opposed this request. 

Even Councilwoman, Sheri Capehart, who expressed during the earlier afternoon session that she thought these frac pools were a great idea, suddenly changed her mind and made the motion to deny XTO's request. 

As long-time Arlington resident Kimberly Franklin succinctly states, "One point eight million gallons of fluid 200 feet from homes in a temporary container is a bad idea."  She hit the ball out of the park with her speech Tuesday night.  We encourage you to listen to all the speeches as everyone did a fantastic job.  Kimberly was the first of ten speakers.

This request was a terrible idea.  Fracking is not just about the water.  This is HEAVY INDUSTRIAL MINING inside our residential communities.  

As more people witness middle-class suburbia turn into sprawling industrial zones, opposition to gas drilling grows in Arlington and its surrounding cities.  A good showing of citizens came prepared to speak.  Here is that video clip.  Watch this monumental moment in gas drilling history where Arlington City Council votes UNANIMOUSLY in OPPOSITION to XTO's request. 

October 15, 2013 Arlington, Texas City Council Meeting

Now, this is the kind of dancing the people love to see. 

Be sure to click on the links within this story so you don't miss any details.

Tsunami

Our neighbors once had a small above ground swimming pool.   One day its walls gave way and the pool burst.  In a matter of seconds, the force of the water pushed our six foot tall fence panels halfway into our yard.   The water reached our foundation.  That little round pool contained roughly 10,000 gallons of water, yet its weakened structure caused a mini tsunami.

Now imagine this ~ your industrial neighbor, XTO Energy, erects an olympic-sized above ground frac pool with a diameter of 160' and walls 12' tall.   These pools hold two million gallons of water!   What if those walls were to suddenly collapse due to a situation of improper installation, defects, age, seismicity, a tornado, or even gunshots, which are becoming commonplace in our city?   The consequences would be catastrophic ~ perhaps deadly for nearby residents and anyone who happens to be walking or driving by in a car. 

A zoning amendment to add six additional acres to hold one of of these giant frac pools on XTO's existing Eden Southwest  Drill Site located at 150 Eden Road, Arlington, Texas was up for discussion at Wednesday's September 18th Planning & Zoning hearing at City Hall.   Here is that video:  (Note:  This video may not play on mobile devices.  Please view on your PC or Mac.)

"This is not a destructive type of activity at all," states Walter Dueease, Regulatory Affairs Manager, XTO Energy.

The six speakers in opposition made excellent points.  We've summarized and highlighted a few of these: 

Kim Feil:  XTO said in the afternoon session that the water would not hurt ducks.  Clarification is needed as to whether this water will be treated or reclaimed.  Reminds the commissioners that their is no language in the City's gas drilling ordinance for frac pools.  Until the ordinance is updated where residents are protected, the applicant should be denied.

Jane Lynn:   "Pennsylvania's Attorney General has charged XTO with environmental crimes for spilling over 50,000 gallons of toxic wastewater.   Do we trust them to operate in the middle of our residential neighborhoods?"  In addition, XTO has recently violated the designated truck route in the Fish Creek Neighborhood.  She also wanted to know why we are talking about frac pools when we are in a drought.

Sinikka Dickerson:  Provides testimony about the time when both she and a Veteran Arlington police officer got sickened  in a residential neighborhod  that is surrounded by gas drill sites.  She said, "I can't wrap my mind around it why smart, educated people who by now ought to know better continue approving these activities in residential neighborhoods."

J.R. Nicholson:   Speaks about the gas clouds that came over his house and how his (now deceased) mother couldn't breathe.  A cluster of his neighbors have passed away in a short span of time.   He talked about his burning lungs, unexplained weight loss, breathing problems, and headaches.  Regarding our regulatory agencies he comments, "This whole thing is a bought and paid for farce."  His plead to P&Z is to take a serious look at this issue with their heart and soul because as he states, "Money isn't everything."

Paul Ulrich:  Discusses the dismal state of  the neighborhood  ~ evidence of deterioration of infrastructure of roads, sidewalks, and houses.  "We have proof of drill mud contamination from horizontal drilling."   He goes on to say that while it may seem innocuous to add a frac pool, it is not.  "This is about allowing a known bad operator to extend the range of influence in our community.  There will be more opportunities...to damage, spill, pollute."   Each time they put up the pool and take it down, it impacts the community.   He says, "We want you to stop drilling and move back out of our community and  leave us alone to pick up the pieces so we can start healing and stop the death.  If you don't, then ten years from now Arlington will be a polluted, destroyed industrial waste ghetto."  Finally, he recommends that XTO purchase flood insurance for everyone in that vicinity.

Lola Gulley:  "We need to take our neighborhood back before we're all destroyed.  If the water breaks, all our homes and the neighborhood would be gone.  Too many people are dying. Our property is being damaged from the fracking and the drilling.  I think we should stop thinking about the money and think about the residents." 

It is Powerful when community comes together.

Stay tuned to hear how that vote went down... 

A Muddy Mess in Frackland

Gas Drilling isn't working out so well in residential neighborhoods... 

Back in 2010 there was a drilling mud accident in this South Arlington neighborhood near the Eden Road Drill Site which is at the intersection of Matlock and Eden Road in Arlington, Texas.  This is one example of a horizontal directional drilling job gone bad.  The Fish Creek Neighborhood experienced a similar phenomenon in November 2012.  Click Here for that story. 

Here is the crew cleaning up this muddy mess.  We are trying to obtain documentation from the City and the Railroad Commission of Texas about this accident that affected a bunch of homes, but so far we've been unsuccessful.  Surely, there must be a record of this incident somewhere!  Isn't the company responsible required to report this?

There are a lot of gas pipelines in this area!

In addition to complaints about the white chemical clouds that residents witnessed floating over homes, we've received lots of pictures like this one from frustrated homeowners.  The people near the Eden Road Drill Site are doing an outstanding job of documenting the damages they believe to be caused by drilling activity.  
    
Now XTO Energy wants to amend/expand their drill site to add a frac pool like this one even though there are already ten drilling locations within two miles of this site.   Put on your boots and attend these two important public hearings: 

Wednesday, September 18, 2013, 5:30 p.m. 

101 West Abram Street, Arlington, TX

Tuesday, October 15, 2013, 6:30 p.m.

 101 West Abram Street, Arlington, TX

See additional information in this Scribd document:
 

Sup08-32r2 Hoa Notice by fishcreekmonitor

If you are unable to attend, please say a prayer for our City that it's not too late.

The Arlington Summer Splash: Frac Pools

Fracing requires the use of tremendous amounts of water ~ typically around five million gallons per well.  Selling water to the gas industry is one of Arlington's cash cows.   

Unlike water used for showering or watering a lawn, water used for fracing is a one-time use.  Frac water is permanently removed from the hydrologic cycle because much of it remains down in the earth and the fluid which does return to the surface gets trucked off and disposed of in injection wells.

There are several ways to hold this water:  Frac Ponds, Frac Tanks, and now, Frac Pools.

Some of you may recall the Epic Monster Frac Pond that Chesapeake excavated 12 feet from Grand Prairie resident's backyards during the summer of 2010.  If not, click HERE.  

One of these frac ponds may be coming soon to Arlington residents who live near the Rocking Horse Drill Site.  Click HERE for that story.  Our flawed gas drilling ordinance fails to specify setback distances of  a frac pond to a protected use.  Since industry provided input with the writing of the ordinance, we wonder if this omission was deliberate.   

When frac ponds are not feasible, industry uses frac tanks.  Frac tanks hold 500 barrels, or the equivalent of 21,000 gallons of water.  This method is frowned upon in our City limits because each tank means one trailer load in and one trailer load out.  That's a lot of truck traffic to handle on our deteriorating streets.

We just learned that XTO Energy now uses Frac Pools.  Here is a short video which shows how a frac pool, aka Redneck Swimming Pool is constructed:

Next is a recent picture of a frac pool taken by one of our area resident photographers.  This is  XTO Energy's Rose Drill Site located at 8101 U.S. Highway 287 in Arlington, Texas:

Notice the color of that fluid in the pool.  Since many residents expressed concerns,  we inquired about this.  XTO assured us that only clean, potable water is in that pool.  They don't want tainted water.  Whew!  We're so glad they cleared that up!!  For a minute there we wondered if  fracing chemicals are mixed in that water.  But, as Walter Dueease, Regulatory Affairs Manager of XTO explained, the fracing process is not like baking cakes or cookies where all the ingredients get mixed in one bowl before they're put in the oven.

Perhaps they should leave this pool up after they complete fracing operations.  Neighbors would love to have a community pool, and we feel  this would be a positive contribution from the Oil & Gas Industry to the residents of Arlington who have to live next door to this stuff day in and day out.  Just think of all the happy children splashing around in there!!

For more reading enjoyment, click HERE for the story, "Pennsylvania High to Host Bizarre Swim Meet - In Fracking Fluid."