Arbor Day 2013: The Third Planting

 

Celebrate Arbor Day 2013! 

For Arbor day we are featuring photos of the third planting of trees at the Fulson Gas Drill Site.
The first two plantings died.  Third time's the charm!

Meet Cassie.  She works her magic transforming drill sites into park-like settings. 

In commemoration of Julius Sterling Morton, we hope you will begin to appreciate the importance of trees.  We do.
We'd like to hug one if they ever grow large enough!

And psst...Chesapeake ~ trees need care after they are planted.  The gas drilling ordinance neglected to state that.  Looks like we need  an amendment.

More Code Violations at an Arlington, TX Gas Drill Site

We think the trees are dead. 

A City of Arlington employee (formerly with TCEQ) went out to the Fulson Drill Site operated by Chesapeake to inspect a complaint about the dead trees which were planted in the brutal heat of July.  Here is the e-mail dated Friday, November 30, 2012 of her findings:

From: "Jessica Minley" <Jessica.Minley@arlingtontx.gov>
To: "Brian Sample" <Brian.Sample@arlingtontx.gov>
Subject: Complaint

Hello Brian,

To address the tree aesthetics complaint, I found that there is a mixture of living and dead trees on the Fulson site. As it is not planting season, the trees have been noted as an area of concern to be addressed during the appropriate season. Also, the trees are upright and blend aesthetically with the surroundings (fall season). Please contact me with any further questions or concerns. Find attached a picture of a living tree on the site.

Thank you

 

We wonder if the City worker removed her blinders before conducting the investigation.  Did she note this breach??  This is not the first time we have had  gaps in these walls at this Chesapeake drill site. 

We really appreciate the ongoing  partnership between the City of Arlington and Chesapeake in keeping our communities safe.  Thank you.

(Click HERE to view the City's link of the Gas Drilling Ordinance.  For fencing requirements, scroll down to pages 39 and 40.) 

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.   

Good Grief!

It appears that yesterday's gusty winds blew over the newly planted trees at the Fulson Drill Site in Arlington, Texas.  What a shame because we really love trees.

Trees are wonderful. We have all observed their beauty. In childhood we climbed them.  As adults we lie in hammocks beneath their shade.  Trees provide food and shelter for wildlife.  They cool and cleanse the air.  At this location, they will serve as screens to hide all the ugliness that goes on at that drill site. Nothing in this world is more serene than strolling through a grove a trees. 

As Charlie Brown said, "I've killed it.  Oh, everything I touch gets ruined!"

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!