Every Vote Counts

How many ways can we suppress the vote?  Arlington, TX City Councilman, Robert Rivera, will host his third gas drilling town hall to be held on Election Day despite objections from citizens.  There are concerns that a meeting held on this day could pull focus away from the election process and have a negative impact on the vote.  Every vote counts, so we can't afford to lose a single one.

In April, citizens suspected voter suppression when we learned that the well-established early polling location at the South Service Center would no longer be utilized.  The new location at Saint Joseph's Catholic Church ~ chosen by two City staffers ~ would be even further away from our community.   Many spoke out at City Hall on April 14th.  Council claimed that they didn't know anything about this change, even though this maneuver had been in the works for months.  Scroll 56:00 minutes into the meeting to hear Councilman Rivera's explanation about why it's too late to reinstate our early voting location for this year's municipal election.  He says, "It's already out of our control... There's simply nothing else we can do." 

This explanation did not sit well with Marvin Sutton, who is running against Rivera, District 3 incumbent.  Marvin, along with community groups, pushed to get our early voting location reinstated for this municipal election.  Click here to view the 7-minute long special meeting of its reinstatement.  

Even State Representative Chris Turner (HD101) ~ who typically doesn't meddle in city affairs ~ intervened.  Click here to read the letter he sent to Mayor Cluck.

We spoke with supporters from various campaigns throughout the week, and they all report that they have had no trouble with parking ~ one of the reasons given for the need to close that location. 

Now, since nothing of substance was accomplished during the first two gas drilling meetings other than citizens venting their frustrations over fracking inside the community, we see no reason to waste taxpayer resources on another fruitless meeting where Mr. Rivera might potentially scoop up some last minute votes for himself, and we are pulled away from working our campaign.  It interferes with the political process. 

The previous two town halls did nothing to improve living conditions for the neighbors living near the Sue Barnett Site.   XTO's operations are still an ongoing nuisance.  They reluctantly agreed to wrap the rig floor with a sound blanket, but it is still noisy. Sometimes we can hear that rig from a mile away!  It sounds like an older model in need of a tune up and a brake job.

Furthermore, it is pointless to hold another meeting to discuss gas drilling when it is more likely than not that Texas municipalities will soon lose local control over the regulation of oil & gas.  On April 30th, the Texas State Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Economic Development swiftly voted to pass HB40 with a unanimous vote of 9-0.   Click here for the link to watch this committee hearing, which is just under an hour long.  

Although the State will allow cities to regulate surface activities such as lights, truck traffic, and noise, these regulations must be "commercially reasonable," which is ambiguous language that the committee refused to eliminate from the bill.  In essence, we really won't be able to do much to protect safety or quality of life if HB40 becomes law because this is heavy industrial mining happening inside the neighborhoods in very close proximity to our homes.

NO ONE from our city attended the hearing in Austin ~ not even our lobbyists from HillCo.   When we inquired with Jennifer Weichman, Director of Management Resources for the City of Arlington,  as to the reason why no one attended such an important committee hearing on behalf of our City, she stated, "Our goal was not to change the bill...We think the way it's working is working fine...We monitored it... We put our resources where we can."

It is curious that our City chose to NOT spend resources in Austin on April 30th to defend democracy, property rights, and health and safety of its residents, yet they choose to allocate City resources for staff overtime to hold yet another pointless gas drilling meeting for Robert Rivera just hours before the polls close on Election Day. 

Early voting continues through May 5, 2015.  
For hours and locations, click Here.

Election Day is Saturday, May 9, 2015.

Click here for information on how candidates stand on local issues. 

The Fish Creek Monitor endorses Marvin Sutton for District 3 Arlington City Council.

We Don't Need No Regulation

The Railroad Commission of Texas, our State's regulatory agency for Oil and Gas, recently added one inspector to our region.  We now have a total of two inspectors to oversee 3,825 producing gas wells in Tarrant County.  Our nearest field office is located in Kilgore, a two and a half hour trip each way.   When inquiring as to why we don't have a local office in the heart of the drilling region,  they tell us that  Kilgore is historically where they've always been.   Despite a recent push by citizens and legislators for reform, our State has failed to come through.    

This agency doesn't like change.  They seem quite content conducting business as usual.  Even their web site operates on COBOL, a 1970's era programming language.   If you don't believe it, link to their site and try to navigate around.  The web address is:  http://www.rrc.state.tx.us/

Operators are required to send in various reports and forms to the Commission.  One such form is the W-15 Cementing Report.  The one shown here is for the 1-H Sue Barnett well which is located within one mile of the Fish Creek Neighborhood.  Notice that this form was signed by Brenda Wise, Reg. Comp. Tech. of  XTO Energy, the Operator, and Jody Reeves, the cementer at Pumpco Energy Services, LP.  Scroll down to page 4 to see these signatures.)  Government Inspectors/Regulators neither witnessed or signed off on this crucial procedure.

W-15 Sue Barnett Well 1-H by fishcreekmonitor

This is a prime example of Self-Regulation!

Since we were not acquainted with Pumpco, we looked them up and discovered this disturbing review written by one of their employees:

Granted, this is just one review by one employee, but it begs the question:   Should the public place this much trust in an industry that is conducting business in our densely populated communities when it has the potential to cause serious and possibly irreversible environmental damage?

Anthony Ingraffea, PHD, P.E.,  Professor at Cornell University, published a paper in October 2012 entitled "Fluid Migration Mechanisms due to Faulty Well Design and/or Construction."  Although his research focuses on the Pennsylvania Marcellus Play,  this information is also relevant for other shale plays.

Fluid Migration Mechanisms due to Faulty Well Design and/or Construction. by fishcreekmonitor

There is a 6-7% casing failure rate for newly drilled wells and this rate increases over the age of the well.  Therefore, would it be unreasonable to guess that hundreds of wells in the Barnett Shale might already have integrity issues?  Anyone in North Texas who has a cement driveway or a cracked foundation can attest to this!

Our State does not require visual inspection of the pouring of these casings.   [If they did they would have to hire many more inspectors.]  If the State doesn't mandate something, shouldn't local municipalities fill in that gap?  Failed casings can lead to fluid migration and groundwater contamination.  

God bless Texas, the industry-friendly State that prefers the honor system of self-regulation over protection of its citizens. 

Perhaps finances can be appropriated from the Arlington Tomorrow Fund to pay for City gas well inspectors.  More about that later...

The Switcheroo

Signage on 12/19/2012 at Sue Barnett Drill Site Operated by XTO Energy

Signage on 6/29/2013 at Sue Barnett Drill Site operated by XTO Energy

The City of Arlington web site lists this drill site location as 1809 Southeast Parkway, Arlington, TX.  So, which one is it?  Can residents arbitrarily change their address whenever they want?

Industrial Terrorism - Our Children's Future?

Dropping off your child to school and seeing a gas drilling rig in the backdrop will make any parent's heart sink - particularly for those who know what we know.  

We recently listened to Dr. Theo Colborn, Environmental Health Analyst,  read a letter she wrote to President Obama about how chemicals in our environment affect our children's health.  Some of  these chemicals are by-products of the fossil fuel industry. 

Click Here to listen to Dr. Colborn's letter to the President.  In this video she states that her college-aged grandson sums it up well by noting that "this is nothing more than industrial terrorism in the womb."

 

So we must ask the question:  Why is this XTO gas drill site sandwiched between an elementary school and a community college and in very close proximity to several other public schools including two junior highs? 

Look inside the red circle.

The purple marker represents the location of the Sue Barnett Gas Drill Site.

The blue marker to its immediate left is Beckham Elementary School.

The blue marker to its immediate right is Tarrant County Junior College.

Blue marker #1 is Barnett Junior High School (remember the Barnett Sinkhole?)

O.K., you get the rest...

Sue Barnett Gas Drill Site located at 1901 S.E. Parkway, Arlington, TX

Operator:  XTO Energy 
December 19, 2012

  Environmental catastrophe in the making 12/19/12

Shale Gas operators have taken over Arlington, yet our City won't zone these sites as 'Industrial.'

   Y'all come back.

Office space available.  Seems to be a trend around here.