The Fort Worth Earthwake

For some reason this particular earthquake notification from USGS did not arrive in our inbox.  Weird.  It did appear across our Twitter feed from DFW Scanner and other news sources.  It was a big one, and many in Fort Worth felt it.

Here's the USGS link:  M3.0 - 2km NNE of Haslet

Lots of fracking near Haslet!

Railroad Commission of Texas GIS map of oil and gas wells as of 11/17/2015

(Reference key is on the left.  Each black line represents a horizontal well bore.  Red Circles without black lines indicate vertical wells.) 

Shortly after tweeting this map, we wanted to research some of these wells, but they disappeared from the website.  Perhaps it was a glitch.  It is working now.  

Time will tell if this earthquake was an isolated incident, or whether a known or unknown fault has been awakened.  We are not sure how it can be put back to sleep once it wakes up.  An ungodly amount of fluid has been injected AND extracted beneath this region of North Texas.  

Icymi ~ Read this Wall Street Journal article written by Russell Gold circa 2005: 

Drilling for Natural Gas Faces a Sizable Hurdle:  Fort Worth  

Thanks, Westchester Gasette for that Freudian slip!   

EnerVest, LLC Requests to Frack in the Arlington Quake Zone

Arlington, Texas is a rockin' and a rollin' this week, and it's not because of the great concerts at the Levitt Pavilion.

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:

PublicMeeting Notice Perr Gas Drilling Site

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. 

Perr Drill Site Public Hearings Notice

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.

It Took an Earthquake *Update*

Citizens have been trying to shake up Arlington City Hall for a long time.  

  It took an earthquake.

Thank you, Westchester Gasette for this RRCTX GIS Map with labels.

On Sunday, September 7, 2014  just before 4 am a 2.4 magnitude frackquake rocked downtown Arlington, TX.

On June 5, 2012 one of southeast Arlington's long-time community leaders spoke out at City Hall about these tremors she had been feeling since gas drilling activity began in her community.
Click Here for that link.  

On January 4, 2011 many citizens came to city hall to speak out in opposition to Chesapeake receiving a gas well permit for the Truman Site located within one-half mile of Cowboys Stadium.  When one citizen expressed legitimate concerns about fracking and protecting the integrity of a stadium with a capacity to hold over 100,000 people, Mayor Cluck replied with a chuckle, "You think it's gonna fall?"  Click Here and scroll to around 54 minutes to witness this exchange for yourself.

Ironic that a frackquake struck downtown.  

Here's what another Arlington resident said on Twitter after the earthquake:

@CityOfArlington 24 years in my central ARL. home, & first time I was near thrown from my bed from an earthquake. Time to take action, plz.
— Matt (@Centerlinegp) September 8, 2014

Now, the energy industry blames injection wells ~ not fracking ~ on the recent quake swarms in Azle, TX and other places.  The problem with this argument is that Arlington's gas drilling ordinance prohibits injection wells.  We only allow fracking, and we allow LOTS of it.  We wonder what explanation they'll come up with next. 

If you feel a tremor or an earthquake, report it immediately to USGS under "Did you feel it?"  If you felt it in Arlington, be sure to call it in to Arlington's Tremor Hotline or e-mail the Fish Creek Neighbor.

 USGS link

 NBCDFW news story

 WFAA news story

Earthquake in Arlington coincides with water main break

"Don't Frack With Texas!"

#STFA just caused a #humanearthquake on front of TX Railroad Commission. Crowd is chant "Don't frack with Texas!" twitter.com/NYGreenUmbrell…
— NY Green Umbrella(@NYGreenUmbrella) March 4, 2013

There was another earthquake today:

EARTHQUAKE! 3.5 Near OK & TX Border.earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/ev… 29 Miles NNW of Dennison, TX. #Fracking @fishcreek1269 #earthquake
— Westchester Gasette (@WCGasette) March 4, 2013

There's a lot of shaking going on....

"Don't Frack With Texas!"