Howdy, Boots Smith

Boots Smith Oilfield Services, LLC is currently boring under our city streets installing miles of gas gathering pipelines which transport  UNodorized natural gas through our communities.   Notice how the shale gas industry has turned our middle-class suburbia into war-torn looking zones.   After these contractors leave, most people won't see or perceive the danger flowing just beneath the surface past  homes, schools, and parks.

This tanker truck driver seems to have taken water from a black-bagged fire hydrant yesterday on Harwood Road near Sublett Avenue in Arlington, Texas.   Thankfully, one of our concerned citizens had a camera handy to snap this photo.  Our City's Utilities Dispatcher did confirm with our Public Works Inspector that this hydrant was not allowed to be used.   Seems these guys don't know how to follow rules.  Notice that his tanker truck is on the wrong side of the road. 

Let's hope he used a meter with a city approved backflow protector device according to ordinance 11-018 section 2.08.   God help us.

Made in Taiwan

Big Gas Industry's mission is to convince us that,  "they are doing things the right way."    They also claim that shale gas boosts the economy by creating many jobs.   So when we noticed a lot of gas gathering pipelines laying out near the intersection of Highway 360 South and Camp Wisdom Road by the Grand Prairie/Arlington, Texas border, we decided to take a closer look.  Upon  inspection, we discovered that these pipelines are not being manufactured in the USA, but rather, Taiwan.  

Others were made in Korea.

We did not see any that were Made in the USA.  We just hope the integrity of these pipelines hold since UNodorized natural gas will be transported through our North Texas suburban communities.  Guess we'll just have to say some extra Hail Marys and keep our fingers crossed.

Oh, and one more thing, would you guys please call this what it is?  

It is GAS PIPELINE Construction. 

It's happening all over North Texas.  Check out this recent story, What Runs Beneath in the Fort Worth Weekly.

Remember to click on the hyperlinks, and, Oh, you may want to take out your rosary beads.

The Valve Yard

We met at a local coffee shop with two young men employed by The Railroad Commission of Texas to discuss the findings of their four-day long audit of the gas gathering pipelines in our southeast Arlington neighborhood.  This investigation was prompted by a citizen complaint.  Records in early June 2012 on the Fulson 12" flow lines indicated 'in construction phase' with a 'start date of October 2009'.  Meanwhile, the Fulson well has been in production since February 2011.   Their office workers must be buried underneath stacks of paperwork! 

During our meeting we learned that the RRC cited DFW Midstream with one violation and several other deficiencies.  The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA)  Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) states in 192.705 that surface conditions must be maintained in order to conduct leak surveys.  Since the property was overgrown, visibility was obstructed.  We certainly don't want gas leaks this close to the community - especially since this gas is not odorized.

Southeast Arlington Valve Yard which is too close to homes.

A valve yard is the intersection where gas gathering lines from drill sites converge.  Will local residents suffer health issues due to invisible emissions venting out of that stack?

This HOA could have had a community club house or swimming pool.

Now this is a danger zone.

 

 Do you know when your gas gathering pipelines were inspected?

Click here to read the latest report:  Breaking all the Rules:  The Crisis in Oil and Gas Regulatory Enforcement researched by Earthworks Oil and Gas Accountability Project.
 

Danger Zone

Friday, July 6, 2012 around 4:30 p.m.

Good grief.  This man is digging dangerously close to gas gathering pipelines at the Fulson Drill Site in Arlington, Texas.  Since those homes in the background (look beyond the gas gathering pipeline marker) are very close, we would not want him to accidentally strike a gas line and blow up the community.  

While trees are a wonderful asset to most settings and great for the environment,  we wonder why these trees are being planted so close to gas gathering pipelines which transport unodorized gas through our communities? In an effort to make these industrial drill sites look as aesthetically pleasing as possible, are we setting ourselves up for another public safety risk? 

Question:  Should trees ever be planted in close proximity to gas gathering pipelines?  A representative from the Railroad Commission of Texas told us yesterday that the State of Texas has no spacing requirements for the planting of trees near natural gas pipelines.  Other areas of the world do have spacing requirements.  

We know that mature tree roots have been known to damage foundations of homes and lift up sidewalks.  Likewise, they can cause serious damage to natural gas pipelines.

CLICK HERE and scroll down a little to see an illustration of this. 

If planning to dig,  Call 811.  This Call Center notifies all the utilities for you so they can come out and mark the location of the utility lines.   However, gas gathering pipelines are very unique from other utilities.  Questions are being raised about whether these pipelines are for the public good or for industry.  To add to this, these thousands of miles of gas gathering pipelines are regulated by a small number of inspectors at the Railroad Commission of Texas. 

Now, this is where a problem arises.   In this particular case, it has come to our attention that as of June 4, 2012,  DFW Midstreams failed to turn in Completion Paperwork to the Railroad Commission for these particular gas gathering lines at the Fulson Drill Site.  According to a Railroad Commission of Texas representative, their records show the current status of these lines as "In Construction Phase" with a Start Date of "October 2009".  Well, that's not good.
 
A complaint  was filed with the Texas Railroad Commission over a month ago.  It is still under investigation. 

Ironically, while following up with the Railroad Commission on the status of this complaint, we have learned that our local inspectors are at this very moment in Austin for a week-long Pipeline Safety Meeting!   We hope and pray they are able to straighten out this mess since many of us are living at ground zero.   One mistake can have deadly consequences.

Meanwhile, men are digging trenches over here.   

Arlington, Texas: It's Christmas in July!

It's Christmas in July! 

The scraggly trees died a long time ago. 

 Time to plant more trees.

These look much nicer than the first ones.

Voila ~ a tree lined drill site and highway...

to hide all the horrible things that go on behind that fence line.

No digging here, please.

It's 100 degrees! Time for a snow cone break! 

Season's Greetings from our neighborhood drill site to yours!

 Click here to see last year's Holiday Extravaganza at the Fulson Drill Site. 
...and stay tuned for more exciting news!

Arlington, TX: A Damaged Land

 June 2009

Plans proposed to the City of Arlington, TX in June 2009
Corner of South Hwy. 360 and Sublett Road

Fast forward three years to the present, June 2012...

Nine acres of undeveloped commercial property surround the Fulson Drill Site.

In a recent conversation with an Arlington land developer, he told us that Chesapeake misrepresented what they were going to do.  When all the wells got drilled, they were going to be able to develop that piece of property.  Chesapeake's five acres would be reduced down to 1.3, and the Temporary Frac Pond would be gone.  It is three years later and Chesapeake still has not reduced the pad site to 1.3 acres and the surrounding land still lies barren.   Chesapeake was a Big Gorilla.  The City was dreaming about the $$gas revenues$$. 

Unfortunately, they created an Achilles' heel for potential land development for this Arlington location.  Even if someone wanted to develop this once, prime piece of commercial real estate, it is now covered in gas gathering pipelines, and you can't put a structure on top of gas pipelines. 

Gas Gathering Line Marker
We could have had this.

Finally, here is a letter that Chesapeake sent out to the Fish Creek neighbors in July of 2009:

"Chesapeake has recently learned of opposition to the Fulson drillsite from a development company whose property is adjacent to the property owned by Chesapeake.  The development company feels that our drillsite hinders future development potential for their property."

During our conversation with this same Arlington land developer, he agreed with us 2000% [his words] that they [Chesapeake] damaged any future land development for this cornerstone of Arlington, Texas which at one point in time held such potential as an important gateway to our vibrant city.

Gas Gathering Pipelines Regulated??

If we heard correctly at the Rocking Horse meeting last night (bad acoustics), Charles Davis of Chesapeake informed a room full of people that gas pipelines are regulated.  You can believe that rhetoric, or you can believe what this government report says:

Click  HERE.

Here is the Railroad Commission GIS map for southeast Arlington.  Pipelines are in green:

There's something else going on with Rocking Horse...more about that later.